The National Unity Platform (NUP) is heading for a mega-split, a move that is likely to undo all the political gains and achievements it has made since 2017 when it was formalized as a national movement. Unity, Reconciliation and Development Party (NURP) before changing its name to NUP in 2020.
This emerging party has achieved a lot in this short period of time, including eclipsing the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) as Uganda’s largest opposition party in the number of lawmakers signing it. Thanks to several NRM, FDC, DP and independent MPs who allied themselves with People Power in connection with the 2021 general election wave in which the party gained 57 MPs in Parliament.
However, information received by this publication indicates that one of the party’s key figures, Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo-Mukungwe Ward MP, Masaka City), is on the verge of leaving the party. And that’s not all: Mpuuga, former opposition leader in parliament and also NUP vice-president in the Buganda region, is in the final stages of establishing his own political party.
Sources say he has been planning this for some time but has gained momentum as NUP bosses “aligned against him” over the last three weeks over his alleged involvement in the Parliamentary Commissioners’ Service Awards saga.
Mpuuga found himself at the centre of attention in an ongoing protest on social media under the hashtag #UgandaParliamentExhibition after leaked documents revealed that he and three other parliamentary commissioners were irregularly awarded taxpayers’ money labelled “prize service”. Mpuuga was personally allocated 500 million. NUP has asked him to resign as commissioner, an order he has defied.
NUP sources say the next decision is to send him to the party’s disciplinary committee, which will eventually remove him as Buganda vice-president. They are careful not to throw him out of the group in order to minimize the damage caused by this fight.
Given all these events, Mpuuga has decided to form his own party. The name, symbols and other necessary requirements have been obtained to enable the registration of your new party. He is expected to register this party with the Election Commission (EC) this week. The NUP Party is reportedly holding back-and-forth meetings on how to deal with this new development.
It is feared that Mpuuga will leave with several MPs, especially those with whom he came from the Democratic Party in 2020.They include Betty Nambooze Bakireke, Medard Lubega Sseggona, Florence Namyanja, Veronica Nanyondo, Joseph Ssewungu and Allan Ssewanyana, as well as Emmanuel Kigozi Ssempala (Makindye-Ssabagabo). Mpuuga is also likely to be joined by other disgruntled NUP parliamentarians such as Kawempe South’s Bashir Kazibwe.
There were reports of a covert conspiracy by defectors from the DP bloc to oust Bobi Wine as NUP director and install Mpuuga in a coup that would be incredible. Bobi Wine found out and acted quickly to disarm Mpuuga. The sources also said that the unseen force behind Mpuuga was Buganda Chief Minister Peter Mayiga.
We have exclusively learned that prominent Baganda nationalists are behind the move and their aim is to restore Buganda’s influence in national politics, particularly in post-Museveni-era Uganda. To do this, a new leader with national charisma must be installed. There is Mpuuga and Buganda Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga. One of them, according to sources, may appear in the presidential elections in the near future. Insiders say the plan is for Kabaka to speak out for Mayiga or Mpuuga and his subjects will do the same and Bobi Wine will be no more.
According to sources, this explains why Bobi Wine’s supporters do not want to go down without a fight. Observers believe that Buganda nationalists need someone who is not radical like Bobi, but determined, conciliatory, good at negotiating, patriotic, knowledgeable, competent, experienced and, above all, transparent: And for them, Mpuuga or Mayiga are the right candidates. Buganda nationalists or traditionalists accuse Bobi Wine of usurping Mengo’s power.
While in the past those with political ambitions in the central region flocked to Mengo (Kabaka) for guidance, advice and blessings, today they go to Magere (Wine’s House). Since Bobi Wine entered the political scene, there were rumours that Ugandans and Baganda started listening to him politically and rejected Mengo (Kabaka). Lean replaced Mengo. It was always the exclusive domain of Mengo to set the political agenda for the rest of his subjects, and the word of Mengo officials was always final.
This has not gone down well with the traditionalists of the Buganda Kingdom who believe in the be-all and end-all of the Buganda Kingdom. This also explains why Mengo no longer has a say in vice-presidential, ministerial and other important appointments as before. Furthermore, it was unthinkable that non-Baganda like Shamim Malende (Kampala woman) and Derrick Nyeko Keko (Makindye East) could compete and win in the heart of Buganda.
These Buganda Kingdom traditionalists are of the opinion that Mengo has lost his influence in politics in Uganda because of Bobi Wine and that this must be reversed and Mpuuga or Mayiga can be his lightning rod. Sources also say that had it not been for pressure from the Buganda Kingdom, maybe Mpuuga wouldn’t have been the LoP.
Bobi Wine’s first choice was reportedly Kassanda district Woman Mp, Flavia Nabagabe Kalule. Curiously in the days leading to the LoP appointment, she started behaving in funny ways akin to a mad person and she had to be dropped.
