Mpuuga Lashes at NUP For Blocking Electoral Reforms
According to him, as the leading opposition party, the NUP had a grand opportunity to champion logical amendments in the election laws ahead of the next election cycle, and the chance was lost in what he describes as petty squabbles.
Member of Parliament for Nyendo-Mukungwe division in Masaka City, Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba has accused the leadership of the National Unity Platform NUP party of blocking the opportunity through which the country could get a meaningful election process.
He observes that the NUP party’s stand against the proposed Constitutional and Electoral reforms was a serious obstacle in the pursuit of a free and fair election, as one of the available modest options for causing political change.
According to him, as the leading opposition party, the NUP had a grand opportunity to champion logical amendments in the election laws ahead of the next election cycle, and the chance was lost in what he describes as petty squabbles.
While serving as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament in 2023, Mpuuga clashed with his party’s top leadership after they discouraged his attempts to mobilize other opposition leaders and civil society actors; to jointly push the agenda of constitutional and electoral reforms.
The party indicated in a statement, that while they acknowledge the need for the country to have better laws and policies including electoral laws, there was no hope that the proposed constitutional reforms could see the light of the day under the current government.
The party accordingly discouraged Uganda from banking their hopes on any legislative reforms under President Yoweri Museveni.
But Mpuuga who was speaking at the belated Women’s Day celebrations for Masaka City, at Evergreen Park, expressed great frustrations with the attitude of the NUP leadership, whose actions he says are not genuinely conceived.
He says that part of his disappointments is the failure of the opposition side to push the government for a harmonized national Voters’ Register and obtain assurance for a peaceful election.
Mpuuga who is currently mobilizing under a new political formation of Democratic Alliance-DA, urged the women council leaders in Masaka not to lose their political momentum over the wasted energies and efforts they invested in mobilizing for the establishment of NUP.
He appealed to the women leaders to summon high levels of commitment to remobilize their communities for what he says is a meaningful political transition.
However, the NUP Secretary General David Rewis Rubongoya says that the party leadership is currently engaged in strengthening its support base, and has no time for what he says distractions from deceitful political groups.
Juliet Kakande Nakabuye, the Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament also called upon the women leaders to desist from acting out of excitement and being manipulated by political opportunists who do not understand their predicaments.
She also appealed to women to dedicate enough time to nurturing their children to avoid possibilities of raising irresponsible citizens.
“While we are encouraging you to actively participate in politics and take up leadership responsibilities, you should not abdicate your roles in raising responsible families,” she noted.
Zahara Nalubyayi, the Masaka City Woman Councilor for Kimamya-Kabonera division also challenged the women to actively participate in all livelihoods improvement projects that can elevate their social-economic statuses.
