Kyagulanyi said that the reports are meant to divert the attention of the public away from the soaring fuel prices, abductions of members of the opposition, and the bad leadership in the country.
The
President of the National Unity Platform-NUP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu
aka Bobi Wine has described as propaganda the news that
there is infighting within the party.
Kyagulanyi, the runner-up of the 2021 Presidential election says the government is the source
of the propaganda which is intended to divert the public from the real issues
affecting the country. A story published in the government-owned New
Vision newspaper on Monday alleged that NUP
has disagreements that could lead to its downfall.
But
Kyagulanyi who was addressing a press conference at the
party offices in Kamwokya said the government is using the state-owned media to divert the attention of the public away from the
soaring fuel prices, abductions of members of the opposition, and the bad
leadership in the country. He said NUP shall not be diverted
by propaganda, and that they are still committed to the cause of
rescuing the country from what he called NRM misrule.
//Cue in:
"So it is...
Cue
out: ...cheers"//
Kyagulanyi
further added that the regime has co-opted some members from the opposition
whom they are using to fight NUP. However, he added that anyone no
matter their party affiliation, whose words and
actions help to speed up the downfall of President
Yoweri Museveni, is their friend. “And anybody
who; no matter where they come from, no matter which
religion or tribe, no matter who they are, for as long as their words
and actions are helping the dictator to oppress us further, that person is an
enemy to Uganda and Ugandans, remember that,” Kyagulanyi said.
He appealed
to those in the opposition but aided the government to realize
the impact their actions have on the struggle for change.
//Cue in:
"It is sad...
Cue out:
...are watching us"//
Speaking at
the same press conference, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mathias
Mpuuga also refuted the existence of internal fighting
in NUP also calling the allegations diversionary from the
challenges faced by Ugandans. Mpuuga said that the propaganda is
an attempt to scatter NUP, a young party whose hey days are clearly ahead.
/Cue in:
"The picture that...
Cue out:
...can do better"//
For his
part, the Opposition Chief Whip in Parliament and Manjiya County
Member of Parliament John Baptist Nambesye said that what is happening to their
party is the handwork of President Museveni who has in the past vowed to
obliterate the opposition.
//Cue
in: "The advent of...
Cue out:
...are controversial issues"//
Although
party officials have vehemently denied the existence of these ideological
differences between pacifists led by Mpuuga and activists who appear to be
having Kyagulanyi’s blessing, sources independently told URN in a story
published yesterday that actually these differences exist and are intense.
A number of
NUP MPs and party leaders told us that they believe Mpuuga is steering the
house in the wrong direction by choosing to be conciliatory to the NRM other
than aggressively attacking them. These MPs said this is not what their people
voted them for.
“Mpuuga’s
style of leadership is too gentle and that is not what we are as NUP; a party
of young people. Even the people who inspire us like Julius Malema [South
African opposition politician who leads the Economic Freedom Fighters] don’t
handle every matter in a dialogue form. With the government we are dealing with
today, we must be very aggressive because this is a government that doesn’t
believe in dialogue or democracy,” an MP said.
