One wise man once said if you want to use an angry dog against its owner, feed it, show it some love and care which the owner failed to offer, definitely it will turn against its master. And thats what former Security Minister Gen Henry Tumukunde is trying to do.
It has turned out that the former President Museveni ally is busy in the trenches trying to buy out some NRM MPs who lost in the recently concluded party primaries.
In the last month’s NRM primaries over 40 incumbent MPs lost the tickets to represent the party in next’s general elections.
Some of the legislators who lost blamed them woes on the NRM party National Chairman Museveni following his late decision to have all party members to vote in spite of the fact that some did not appear in the yellow book.
Some disgruntled MPs have since confirmed that they will stand as independents and in case they win they will stay in the opposition.
Having realised that the MPs who lost are no longer Museveni’s darlings becuse he has asked them to accept defeat yet most of them allude that their losses were intentionally made by the party’s head, Tumukunde, a presidential hopeful has started to approach them one by one pledging his support to them in their campaigns as long as they also go back to their constituencies and campaign for him.
Sources who were in the meeting when one of the senior ministers was reporting to Museveni on how Tumukunde is using some NRM MPs to stab him in the back said that latter’s offers are mouthwatering than what he (Museveni) has been giving them.
“Your Excellency the man is offering alot of money to the members who lost in the party primaries and has promised to support them as long as they come as independent or from other opposition parties, he has asked them to come and work with him. And most of our MPs who lost are in deep-sea of loans, therefore, they are desperate for money and some of them have already accepted,” she said. (Name withheld for security purposes).
The same minister said that Gen Tumukunde has embarked on a mission of showing the lost MPs that Museveni was just using them to secure his future on the throne but he didn’t care about them, that is why he(Museveni) supported young people or new faces that contested against them because in his next term he needs new people who are political novices that can be easily manipulated to secure the future of his son.
In line to the above, it’s also alleged that Gen Tumukunde has targeted the strongholds of NRM that is to say in deep villages where the famous National Unity Platform has not yet reached. His plan is to use the MPs there to mobilise for him.
“Subregions like West Nile, Acholi, Lango, Karamoja, Ankole and Kigezi are already following his preachings and several MPs there are on verge of allying with him if the Kikofira man does not wake up,” one of the MPs said.
However, Tumukunde might also surprise his fellow opposition candidates by using those who were also trashed from the party primaries. Currently, since Buganda is a very sophisticated region in the formation of Uganda’s politics, Gen Tumukunde is targeting Buganda rejects especially from the NUP and so far on his list, he has the likes of Mike Mabikke, Sam Lubega and others from DP Bloc.
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