By Mulengera Reporters
During what will go down in history as one of the most listened/followed radio programs ever moderated by Med Nsereko, Mr. Abed Bwanika has denounced Bobi Wine Kyagulanyi Sentamu portraying him as a unilateralist who doesn’t believe in elective processes.
Bwanika told millions of CBS listeners that what happened Wednesday at Magere Command Center where Mr. Wine unveiled his coordinators amounted to betrayal of the original principles on which he (Bwanika) and others founded People Power which Mr. Wine embraced later.
Bwanika, on whom Betty Nambooze had a filled day branding him a social climber who has finally been exposed, said by appointing (as opposed to allowing PP fraternity to elect their own) coordinators, Mr. Wine had showed his contempt for leadership that derives from electoral processes. “This means it has now become individual power and not People Power anymore,” Bwanika said.
He said the list was full of moles, money-makers and self-seekers 70% of whom will by December have defected to NRM leaving Mr. Wine with a mere 30%. “This has worked for President Museveni because he now knows who is who and he is going to buy off all of them. I’m here and by December 70% of them will be with NRM. The 30% remaining will be moles just spying for President Museveni on what remains of PP,” said Bwanika who personally has for an eternity suffered mole allegations by many in opposition.
INFLATED BOBI WINE
In a bid to downplay Mr. Wine’s political weight, Bwanika denied ever using him to pull crowds at DP reunion events in the different parts of the country. “The reunion started in Makerere and at that time, Bobi Wine was a nobody. He didn’t even have any idea for Presidency. He came when a large crowd had already assembled and nobody came expecting he would even be there. The last we had him was in Jinja and he found a very large crowd seated and we never even used his name in our mobilization. In fact, he asked ‘where do you get all these people as DP Bloc.’ So, its not right to say we have been using him to revitalize DP and just exploit his popularity,” Bwanika said.
To discredit the process preceding the enactment of the list of coordinators that Mr. Wine released, Bwanika claimed many of the people on the list paid. ‘I know of one whose name had been omitted and was only included at the last minute after paying Shs10m. And that isn’t the only one. There are many others who paid to be on that list,” Bwanika said as Nambooze protested saying it was bad manners to accuse people in absentia.
NOW CAPTIVE
Bwanika also said the team had people who are too clever and have a history of previously working well with Dr. Kizza Besigye under the Suubi arrangement. He said this means Mr. Wine has effectively been captured and made a captive of political actors who are too smart for him to control. The Suubi heroes he was referring to include Muwanga Kivumbi (who DP bloc calls unreliable), Medard Segona and Mathias Mpuuga. They respectively coordinate Greater Mpigi, Greater Kampala and Greater Masaka. Added to them is Asuman Basalirwa (Busoga coordinator) who equally previously had very excellent relations with Dr. KB. The Suubi trio too are close confidantes of Semujju Nganda, Erias Lukwago, Betty Nambooze, Moses Kasibante and others who are strong Besigye allies in PG. Fact is Muwanga Kivumbi solely originated the idea of DP reunion and even funded the Makerere meeting but Bwanika said Muwanga’s role had merely been exaggerated.
WORKING FOR M7
Bwanika said what Mr. Wine did on Wednesday thwarted DP-led efforts aimed at forging a joint opposition front and inadvertently favored President Museveni. “We have been speaking to other parties like ANT, JEEMA, DP and even FDC asking each to prepare a proposal on how we can work together under PP as a joint opposition platform but the list Bobi Wine released has taken us back to square one. He has turned PP into a political party yet it was supposed to be the umbrella under which we come together. I have been in talks with FDC Chairman Amb. Birigwa and we were expecting their written proposals on how we can work together under PP as a joint opposition front. But now this isn’t possible anymore because he has turned PP into one of the competing entities at the talks,” Bwanika ranted.
He said his prediction now is that even the relationship between Mr. Wine and Gen Muntu’s ANT is going to become complicated not only because of inclusion of Muntu’s diehards in the Magere lineup but also because “as a soldier Gen Muntu is very disciplined and can’t associate with things which are disorganized the way PP now looks. They have hijacked it and this isn’t what we intended we the original thinkers behind it.”
MAO SWINGS
Defending the earlier media statement Norbert Mao released warning DP members across the country to shun and stay away from PP Coordinators, Bwanika said: “Even if you are Bobi Wine you don’t just go dealing with our members as DP and giving them responsibility. You have to come through us as leaders. You consult and we give you names of people to include. This is why all those who have denounced membership of that list are right. It simply can’t work that way. You are PP not DP and yet you want DP members to go mobilize for you.”
In his release, circulated by his PA Fred Mwesigwa, Mao says its impossible for the new coordinators to work for Mr. Wine without undermining their own parties hence the need for DP members to keep away from them. Mao doesn’t disclose what will happen to the DP MPs and other leaders who already accepted positions in PP coordination team but only says more guidance would be issued after their DP Bloc high level meeting on Monday.
Mao anticipates thereafter they will summon Mr. Wine and his team to discuss more but that meeting is unlikely because reliable sources tell Mulengera News that the mood in the Kamwokya base where PP operations are coordinated from is that DP Bloc bosses are enemies who must be decisively dealt with on first sight.
And there is background to this animosity; three weeks ago, DP Bloc bosses (suspected to be using Chameleon to overshadow and neutralize Mr. Wine) convened a meeting at Makerere Guest House which PP adherents, led by Sauda Madada, violently disrupted. A close Mr. Wine confidante, Madada vowed to lead operations to crush all DP Bloc advocates because it was now clear they are out to annihilate Mr. Wine.
She accused the Bloc of being full of moles out to sell Mr. Wine for 30 pieces of silver. Just like Bwanika vowed to release a list of moles in the new coordinators’ list, Madada vowed to release a list of DP Bloc activists who had been paid to facilitate the assassination of Mr. Wine during the Arua fracas.
Bwanika, who conspicuously missed the Magere ceremony to instead be in Luwero for DP Bloc activities, said there was a conspiracy by some people close to Mr. Wine to deny him audience with the Kyadondo East MP “because I’m too clever and ever giving him good political advice.”
PAID TO B’ME PP COORDINATORS
He claimed its such moles close to Mr. Wine that collected money from people for inclusion in the list of coordinators especially those meal card politicians seeking to use him to win MP Seats. He said for anything to improve going forward, Mr. Wine must be liberated from those money-makers who he said had effectively laid siege on him.
“In my case, they have been working to chase me away because of Chameleon. I know get it from what Med you have just said here and Hon Nambooze. But we didn’t mean badly because Chameleon isn’t a competitor with Bobi Wine. He wants Kampala Mayorship.” But Nambooze and moderator rejected this reasoning as defective wondering why they had to make him DP national mobilizer to give him same country wide reach to directly rival what Mr. Wine was already enjoying.
WAY FORWARD
Bwanika, who admitted this was the hardest radio program for him (as even callers bashed him like never before), said it wasn’t too late. There is still room to talk to revive unity between DP Bloc and PP but said it would all depend on how prudently Mr. Wine acts in the coming days including availing himself to meet DP Bloc bosses on Monday or Tuesday.
Nambooze, who eloquently defended Mr. Wine to the excitement of PP power callers who previously demonized her for sticking to KB, claimed the plan to politically deflate Mr. Wine has been on for a while. “They [DP Bloc] have been working to own him as a project as they said. But the man is too smart for them. They used him to pull crowds yet when they sign their things, he is nowhere. At Hotel Africana they signed something and he had no where to sign. They were only using him to fight Besigye for them. At the reunions they use him to pull crowds and wanted to determine for him who he talks to. They are proposing a Special Purpose Vehicle where principals of political formations will meet to discuss joint candidature yet they don’t want him to constitute a team of coordinators for his political formation,” Nambooze said.
THE IPOD TRAP
She added at the same time, the anti-independents electoral reforms Museveni has sent AG William Byaruhanga to table before Parliament, were agreed in IPOD following a proposal DP SG Gerald Siranda tabled. “They don’t want him to have his own team and yet they say PP is theirs and should be the ultimate outcome of the joint opposition negotiations. They us IPOD to undermine independents like him and at the same time preparing Chameleon to overshadow him nationally. Dr. Bwanika just know Bobi Wine isn’t the fool you thought he was. He has eyes and sees the game you are playing on him.”
Indeed, Bwanika said for Mr. Wine to enjoy their support as the joint Presidential candidate for PP, he must prepare to be subjected to primaries with others like Mao and if he wins, he can then be allowed to become the PP candidate against Museveni. Bwanika maintained the PP they conceived, and Mr. Wine joined, was meant to be amorphous and not with known structures.
“That is why we think he has hijacked what we started and is giving it a new look different from what we intended it to be. If he wants something with coordinators then he can register a party which can’t be PP because that one is for all of us. He is just a major principal actor but not the owner. But even when he registers a party, the law won’t allow him to have appointed leaders. It must be through elections to have a bottom up approach. Even in parties that is how you become a party leader. You can’t just sit somewhere and impose leaders on the people. That wouldn’t be PP it would be individual power [which is dictatorship].”
Bwanika said because of the way Mr. Wine (captive as he called him) has messed up things, Museveni’s NRM is now back in number one position and “their winning margin is going to be very high this time round. How do you unleash your team one and half years to elections? That is exposing them to bribery and President Museveni now knows who to buy. In fact, in 2021 the NRM winning margin is going to be unprecedented.”
Bwanika said the chaos Mr. Wine’s actions have created will demoralize millions of would-be opposition voters to boycott 2021 polling “yet those of NRM are emboldened and will vote in large numbers.” Bwanika, who always claimed to chair the PP high command, clearly died in his own movie as Nambooze celebrated: “I always told you that you are a nobody in PP.” She said they had 7 high level PP/PG meetings and Bwanika wouldn’t even be mentioned. Bwanika said he one time drove to Kamwokya and urged Mr. Wine never to interact with KB and his PG-and that his refusal complicated their political relationship. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
