By Mulengera Reporters
NUP Principal Bobi Wine Kyagulanyi Sentamu was on Monday forced to reach out to former NUP Electoral Management Committee (EMC) Chairperson Mercy Walukamba-seeking to be advised.
Bobi Wine had been stuck over the turmoil that greeted the release of the list of NUP flag bearers for the local government positions of councillors, mayors, LC5 and LC3 chairpersons’ positions. Especially in the Kampala Metropolitan Area, there has been lots of chaos, a thing which has given NUP bad image and publicity.
There are credible fears that the contradictions emanating from the giving out of the tickets, are only going to escalate in the coming days, weeks and months.
So, in a bid to rectify some of the most glaring mistakes, an optionless Bobi Wine contacted Mercy Walukamba and asked for some guidance. He reached out and engaged her as he prepared for a crisis meeting with his Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya and the NUP’s EMC chairperson.
Kyagulanyi was ashamed that they had blunders as basic as people’s electoral areas being messed up. This was common in especially Kampala, and the most urban parts of Wakiso and Mukono. In some cases, flag bearers were allocated to Electoral Areas which actually don’t exist.
Walukamba was asked to call back some of the volunteers she worked with as she processed flag bearers lists for 2021.
Besides mixing up electoral areas, some councillors were made flag bearers for positions they never expressed interest in. The examples include that of Faridah Nakabugo who was made Lord Councillor flag bearer for one of the Rubaga electoral areas yet her expressed interest was for Bukomansimbi Woman MP seat.
The Walukamba team advised and guided Bobi Wine to be careful not to over alter things by reallocating party tickets, lest he creates a pandoras box. The principal felt ashamed that even scouting of good candidates hadn’t been done properly, which is why the party ended up with flag bearers who have flatly been rejected by voters and community members in areas where Kavule had deployed them. Many have outrightly been rejected as unelectable.
Sources say that Kyagulanyi looked nervous and exhausted during many of the flag bearer harmonization meetings and discussions he engaged himself in on Monday.
“The bottom-line is that the party is beginning to realize the dangers of not allowing structures to choose their flag bearers. If we don’t decentralize decision-making to the branches and regions like other parties are doing, NUP is going to disintegrate faster than many people think,” says a concerned insider.
This same source added that Bobi Wine (who is renowned for being thin-skinned) is increasingly becoming frustrated on seeing the crudeness and fearlessness with which aggrieved foot soldiers have been directing insults at Kavule in the past few days. Some foot soldiers have threatened physical violence on key decision-makers like Rubongoya. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
