The 2024 National Unity Platform party conventions in the diaspora have registered a worrying low attendance compared to the previous ones following the failure of the top leaders to provide substantive accountability for funds offered to them in the past years.
According to Dr. Daniel Kawuma, the NUP Diaspora team leader, the low attendance of two diaspora meetings in Chicago, USA, and Toronto, Canada, by supporters and well-wishers was due to a lack of transparency in the manner in which the mobilized resources had been spent.
“Many party supporters have this time shunned our convention because they know the money contributed has not had a major change on the ground, and it is now upon the NUP leadership in Uganda to use the funds rightly,” said Dr. Kawuma while addressing party leaders in Edmonton, Canada, on August 18, 2024.
Kawuma added, “To the NUP top leadership, we have had concerns from many diaspora supporters who believe there is a lack of accountability for the funds sent to Uganda to help grow the party, and unless these doubts are cleared, the membership and support from the diaspora will continue diminishing.”
During the same meeting, Kawuma presented full accountability for how his office has always sent money to the NUP Kampala office.
“The diaspora team may not be in Uganda to support the struggle physically, but when they send their little earned contributions, it is paramount that they are accounted for to build trust, and we hope moving forward this will be done if we are to lure more members to support the diaspora, “Kawuma added.
The NUP leadership has in the past few weeks been accused of being double-sided as they suspended their NUP Buganda vice president Mathias Mpuuga over corruption allegations, but they have been accused of exaggerating the price of land where they built the party headquarters in Makerere Kavule, extravagance on foreign trips, and no accountability for funds meant for regional tours, among others.
