When musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine first made his presidential ambitions publicly known,all that was expected of him was a non structured movement under a non political party ideology of People Power.
This would give the public an opportunity to identify with the leader of the ideology without having to decamp from their respective political parties.
Kyagulanyi had also variously preached against political parties, arguing that they had partly been the reason behind the delayed end of Museveni’s rule. As such,he argued that he had brought a platform that would bring together political party actors and those that didn’t believe in political parties to speed up the revolution.
At the start, Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change, Muntu’s Alliance for National Transformation and Basalirwa’s JEEMA were targeted for recruitment and dissolution in order to embrace the new ideology preached by Bobi Wine.
Eventhough the less politically serious members of the DP bloc – an umbrella of splinter groups from the Democratic party were swift to get assimilated, the rest kept Kyagulanyi waiting and when he couldn’t wait any longer, the result became the formation of his party – the National Unity Platform.
A number of high profile politicians mainly from the Democratic Party, including 11 members of Parliament officially announced they had joined Bobi Wine’s new National Unity Platform party after dissolving the original people Power.
The motive of the defectors has recently come under intense scrutiny following the highly contested flag bearer selection exercise where some members of the original DP bloc have cried foul after they were reportedly targeted for elimination by the Mercy Walukamba Electoral Commission that identified the candidates for the party flag bearers.
As a result, DP defectors like Samuel Walter Lubega Mukaaku, Mike Mabikke, Moses Kasibante, Joseph Mayanja alias Chameleon, Kenneth Paul Kakande were eliminated despite the fact that there had been a backdoor agreement to award the flag to them unchallenged according to Mabikke.
Most of these losers in the candidate selection exercise have so far vowed to defy the party and stand as independents, with some openly hurling insults at the leadership of the young party for being too incompetent in their choices.
Rubaga North MP Kasibante furiously vowed to ashame the Kamwokya outfit by winning as an independent, a fit he has ever achieved in the past. The same has been the case for former Presidential Candidate Lubega Mukaaku, Makindye Ssebagabo MP Emmanuel Kasozi Ssajjalyabene among others.
Sulaiman Kidandala who heads the NUP coordination committee is one of the aggrieved after losing out on the party flag for Kawempe North to Kawempe North Lord councillor Muhammad Ssegirinya. Roy Ssemboga is also among those that have declared intention to contest as independents after being rejected for journalist Kazibwe Bashir Mbaziira in Kawempe South.
Although Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze was among the very lucky ones, her conduct since joining the party has been depicting discomfort. Just over a month ago, she stunned the country when she openly vowed to support Erias Lukwago for Lord Mayorship regardless of who would be the official card bearer of her new political party.
During an interview with a local TV station, Nambooze was at it again by appearing to question the rationale of NUP choosing inexperienced people while dumping those that would add a lot to the party out of their seniority.
This was in response to the decision by the party’s Electoral Management Committee to drop Mabikke, Ssajjalyabene and Kasibante.
The top politicians decision to stand as independents after being dropped by the Kamwokya based party is largely interpreted as defiance- an act that was put to life by former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party president Dr Kizza Besigye. And if the aggrieved people within NUP continue to defy the managerial orders, the party is headed for the worst even before its first birthday.
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