By KT Reporter
Before addressing the Monday press conference at Kavule, NUP national executive committee members of NEC first attended a NEC meeting. In that meeting, the secretary general Rubongoya pleaded with them to quickly pass and approve the party’s budget and work plan. He told them it was urgent because failure to do so would cause NUP to be deregistered as a party by the EC and to also be locked out of IPOD, in which case they would miss out on billions of money.
The meeting didn’t go well because first of all few members turned up and came late. Those who came looked exhausted and disinterested. They revolted and were openly hostile to Rubongoya. They accused him of disrespect which is why the meeting started late. After sometime, Rubongoya, treasurer Benjamin Katana, Joel Senyonyi and Nubian Li walked in with a document which they called the budget and work plan. They asked members to approve and pass both of them. Members refused demanding to get copies and study the budget document properly. They weren’t given any copy and the secretariat said there was no time.
Members said ‘over my dead body’ and refused to pass something which they haven’t looked at. They wanted to make their input and the secretary general refused saying there was no time. Only a few items were read to them showing the department of arts headed by Nubian would have 3bn, that of secretary general was given 5bn. Some departments like that of youths and women didn’t have any budget line. They were told you will be facilitated under party activities.
Fred Nyanzi’s diaspora department was given 40m and when Nyanzi protested, he was asked to tell the meeting what he needs the money for. Members said this was unfair and refused to pass anything. Some members were saying there is no Coram because less than 10 people were present. Majority stayed away and they made it clear they are not happy with the way Rubongoya is running the show. They said they are tired of being excluded from the making of key decisions for the party. Some accused Lina Zedriga the acting of lacking charisma, which is why vibe has been reducing in NUP.
Some members refused to come protesting failure by the secretariat to pay their allowances for the past NEC meetings they had attended in the past. They said they are tired of being told your party is broke, yet they know it very well that the more than 40 NUP MPs and other elected leaders are putting in cash. They threatened to boycott NEC meetings forever until their past allowances are paid.
The secretariat pleaded with NEC members present to approve the budget and work plans to save the party from big problems it’s going to find itself in once the EC/IPOD auditors come to carry out the audit. The secretariat informed the few members present that Gen Kainerugaba, who is determined to destroy NUP and its leaders in parliament like Joel Ssenyonyi, is going to use that audit to cause the deregistration of NUP should the audit report not go well. NEC members remained firm and unmoved.
Lina Zedriga didn’t come and informed the organizers of the meeting that she wasn’t feeling well yet the bitter truth is she has been having a cold war with Rubongoya. Even at the press conference where the LC election issues was discussed, the revolting Zedriga was nowhere to be seen. She has issues with Rubongoya and the two are involved in a silent power struggle which started when Rubongoya’s supporters tried and failed to convince Kyagulanyi to sideline her and make the secretary general to be the acting party president, in his absence.
Kyagulanyi refused saying that would make him misunderstood besides making his three deputies Nambeshe, Zedriga and Jackline Jolly Tukamushaba to feel undermined. Rubongoya’s supporters then proposed that the position keeps rotating between their man and Zedriga but Kyagulanyi still refused that. This was the beginning of the cold war between the office of secretary general and that of Zedriga.
At the Monday NEC meeting, members also asked the hard questions on why Nubian’s department of musicians was being given more budget money than that of women and youths. They said this should be revised but the secretariat refused saying there was no time to change things. In the end, members told Rubongoya to organize a proper NEC meeting and call them back to pass what he wants. They said their concerns must be reflected in the revised party budget or else they won’t pass it no matter what Rubongoya does to them.
Rubongoya faced even more problems when it came to the issue of the upcoming IPOD summit meeting, which Mao says Kyagulanyi will be allowed to address via zoom since he isn’t in the country. The secretary general told the meeting that there will be a big NUP delegation to that summit and it will be led by the acting party president. NUP must have a delegation of 50 top officials and Zedriga will lead the team but must be accompanied by all NEC members and selected number of senior NUP MPs like Betty Nambooze.
Members at the NEC meeting assured Rubongoya they are not prepared to go for such a meeting because they fear photographs of them with Museveni which will be used by their rivals to decampaign them on social media. They said voters will use such photos and videos to say they have eaten Museveni’s money.
The secretariat explained that this was time to show pure leadership and that politicking has to end because the party badly needs IPOD money and that without it, operations are going to stall because all the party’s bank accounts are in red. Some NEC members said they are ready to be expelled from the party but won’t be joining the IPOD summit to be photographed with Museveni, the very act they had been decampaigning Yusuf Nsibambi for. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com.
