Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, the NUP party president, has turned his gun to the opposition Chief Whip in Parliament, John Baptist Nambeshe, who is being accused of pocketing extra per diem from parliament.
According to documents from Parliament seen by this website, Nambeshe, who is also the NUP’s deputy president for eastern Uganda, requested five days of facilitation from Parliament together with the Leader of Opposition (LOP), Joel Ssenyonyi, to pay a visit to their ailing colleague, Muhammad Ssegirinya, in Nairobi, Kenya. However, the two NUP parliamentarians visited Ssegirinya for only a few hours and pocketed the balance.
Following immense pressure on Ssenyonyi from social media, he exonerated himself by refunding the extra per diem to parliament. However, Nambeshe decided to give a deaf ear to those calling on him to refund the extra money, which has angered the party president, who has opted to take stringent measures.
According to a source privy to the issue, an angry Kyagulanyi called Nambeshe and grilled him on the phone for over an hour, asking him why he had not embraced Ssenyonyi’s act of refunding the extra money. The conversation ended with Kyagulanyi ordering Nambeshe to refund the extra cash and make a public apology for embezzling public funds.
The source further revealed that, just like he did with Mathias Mpuuga, Kyagulanyi had asked Nambeshe to step down from the chief whip post, but he pleaded and he was spared. Nonetheless, he was warned that he would be exposed publicly if he fails to refund the money and apologize.
As the public awaits Nambeshe’s course of action, analysts maintain that Kyagulanyi is not fighting corruption as he is portraying; rather, he is against established politicians in NUP who are threatening his power as the party president.
