The National Unity Platform (NUP) leadership has made it clear that they will not extend an apology to former Leader of Opposition Mathias Mpuuga following the court’s ruling to uphold the service award.
NUP dismissed Mpuuga from his role as Deputy Party President for the Buganda region following corruption allegations. He was accused of accepting UGX 500 million as a service award after his tenure as Leader of the Opposition in the 11th Parliament.
According to Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro the party’s deputy spokesperson, NUP will not be offering any apology to Mpuuga because they believe he does not deserve one. As a party they believe in openness and accountability to the people they represent and believe they did nothing wrong by firing him from that position.
“As NUP we believe, we don’t owe Mpuuga any apology, he does not deserve it, we know he is corrupt, by the court ruling in favor of the service award does not mean he is clean, we know he is not clean he messed with taxpayers money when they chose to award themselves as commissioners of parliament with people’s money,” Mufumbiro said.
These remarks come in the wake of the court upholding the service award where they noted that it was legal since parliament passed it. Following this ruling Mpuuga demanded an apology from NUP for having accused him of theft and corruption leading to firing him as deputy president of the Buganda region.
According to Mpuuga NUP and its leadership should be decent enough and climb down their high horses and apologize for all the negative narratives and propaganda spread about him due to the service award.
“Apologizing is what decent men do and if Kyagulanyi is a decent man, let him climb down his high horse and come and say my brother, I am sorry I was reckless, I should have done better as a leader, so it is up to him. He can’t be compelled to apologize but he can be advised,” Mpuuga said.
Mufumbiro also said that Mpuuga has no moral authority to demand an apology from NUP, claiming that they know how he operates and Mpuuga obviously bribed the court to rule in his favor.
“When I make these statements people think I am jealous or against Mpuuga, but let not his good English fool you. The guy is dirty and a real conman. He is so corrupt I speak with evidence not out of the blue or malice,” Mufumbiro added.
Mufumbiro emphasized their confidence in firing Mpuuga and they believe that his actions do not align with the party’s values and mission, which has led to their firm stance of not offering an apology.