As the National Unity Platform (NUP) embarks on countrywide registration of members, the elimination of those suspected to be supporters of Mathias Mpuuga is a top priority to allegedly cleanse corruption out of Uganda’s leading opposition party.
The directive was given to the party district registrars during a two-day interface with party leaders, which ended on Monday, April 29, 2024, with party president Robert Kyagulanyi launching a nationwide membership registration drive aimed at enrolling party supporters in their national register.
According to several registrars from the Buganda region who spoke to us after the interface, the party president reiterated his call for zero tolerance to corruption in NUP and directed that registrars should not allow the party register to be infiltrated by corrupt leaders and their supporters.
Recently, Kyagulanyi branded MPuuga corrupt after he received a service award amounting to UGX 500 million for a job well done while he served as the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in parliament for a two-year tenure that ended in 2023.
The accusation fractured the NUP into two factions, and all those who sided with Mpuuga, including Abed Bwanika, Muwanga Kivumbi, and Medard Ssegona, among others, have been labeled corrupt, and the party has been devising means to have them out.
With the party presenting new members mid-April, among whom former Masaka District LC5 chairperson Jude Mbabali was recruited from the Democratic Party (DP), analysts believe that the new cohort is composed of possible replacements for the Mpuuga faction, and the formulation of the party register will help Kyagulanyi kick out his rivals.
On the other hand, NUP revealed that it is expecting to collect over UGX 1 billion from the sale of membership cards, which cost UGX 1000 each, and that this will help facilitate party activities in addition to about UGX 6 billion due to be received from the government in the 2024/2025 financial year.
However, the party is still grappling with allegations of lack of accountability, with some members accusing their president of granting his family exclusive access to party coffers, allowing them to misuse party funds.
