By John V Sserwaniko
In a long phone call to this news website, State Lands Minister Parcis Namuganza has extensively discussed the circumstances under which NRM candidate Francis Oketcho was defeated by JEEMA’s Asuman Basalirwa for the Bugiri Municipality MP Seat. In elections held last Friday, Basalirwa polled 3,928 against Oketcho’s 3,267 votes. FDC’s Eunice Namatende trailed with 928 votes! Specifically responding to our story titled “How M7 Money, Intrigue cost NRM Bugiri MP Seat,” Namuganza who is renowned for speaking her mind told us the following:
VERBATIM;
I have read your latest story and I’m intrigued by the following; you have portrayed me as politically very weak because of what [Bugiri woman MP] Agnes Taaka said. That the FDC person won to become LC1 chairman for Nangonde village which is exaggerated in your analysis. I have 112 villages in my constituency and Nangonde is the only one NRM lost to FDC. The rest are NRM. This was good performance and even the President was very pleased. We got all those villages even when there was intrigue against me. They wanted to fail me to portray me as failing to win for NRM. The party facilitated MPs to market LC candidates and the President said even independent MPs who are NRM-leaning should be given facilitation to mobilize. In my case, the woman MP Mariam Naigaga picked all the money; her own Shs100m and my Shs52m to cripple me. She did the same for the Busiki County money but my colleague Paul Akamba fought until she vomited his share. I ignored her because I didn’t have time for such lousy fights. I went and used personal resources and delivered for NRM except only one village out of 112. By the way many women MPs picked money and sidelined the other MPs.
In contrast, Naigaga that FDC mole who took all the money lost badly in her own Bulange Sub County. She is FDC since her days in Centenary bank and only came to NRM to eat. That is why she ensured NRM candidates didn’t stand and her FDC people won 10 villages unopposed in her own Bulange Sub County. It was very embarrassing to the party and the president has been given that comprehensive report already. I confronted Siraje Musongoire who is the NRM chairman Namutumba district and said to him how can this happen? I was hurting too much. How can NRM fail to get candidates in 10 villages? I had to speak to him because he is Naigaga’s fellow Muslim and they are always in syndicates against me in the politics of Namutumba. That woman Naigaga is one of the FDC moles we have in NRM and I’m going to reawaken my countrywide youth network to expose all those moles and tell the President to denounce them. [Secretary General Kasule] Lumumba is one of them and the way she disrespects the President these days shows she is returning back to her PAFO ways. Why must you always brag about voting against 3rd term in 2005? This provocation is becoming too much and I’m going to lead a youth movement to eject all those saboteurs from NRM. Naigaga is no doubt FDC at heart and only opportunistically came to NRM to win elections otherwise her best friends were always in FDCyet she is now here pretending to be NRM and love Mzee more than all of us.
RESPONDING TO TAAKA;
It’s unfortunate for that cheap woman [Bugiri woman MP] to go saying I’m weak because I lost NRM primaries and I came on independent. Does she know what she is talking about apart from just speaking what her godmother Lumumba tells her? She is envious of the might with which I won to become a constituency MP and not just woman MP slot which is for the weak. Even the President knows how I was fought by all the powerful figures in Busoga including Kadaga and Lumumba. He even called a meeting at State Lodge and asked them why are you fighting that child of mine? What exactly is the problem? They ganged up on me and backed Micheal Saire a whole LC5 incumbent chairman [Namutumba] and I still defeated him. I take on men and not just fighting for woman MP which is for the weak politicians. We voted 5 times for NRM primaries and when I saw they wanted to frustrate me so that I don’t get nominated in the general elections, I decided to let go and I still won in the general elections. How could I do this if I was weak? I’m independent for reasons which are well known to all including the President. Those Busoga heavyweights were afraid seeing a young girl who was rising without being owned by any godfather or mother in Busoga. They were too terrified seeing how the President considered me an effective mobilizer. Can you imagine even [NRM EC Chairman] Tanga Odoi was against me not to become NRM flag bearer but I still prevailed. For me it’s the people who really matter most and it’s to them that I went and defeated all those heavyweights. How could I if I was so weak politically? Taaka is very afraid of my popularity amongst the youths which is countrywide. I command more youth support even in Bugiri than Lumumba and Taaka.
RECKLESSLY POURING
MONEY INTO BUGIRI;
You know I’m from Namutumba which neighors Bugiri district. I have a network of the young people across the country and I got intelligence reports that Lumumba was conniving to embarrass the President in Bugiri. I crossed over and I didn’t require an invitation. How can you be Secretary General and you refuse to meet members of DEC [District Executive Committee] of the NRM? Everybody was bitter. The young people were saying we have been sidelined for too long. The chairman of the PWDs was saying I can’t mobilize my people to attend the President’s rally because we have no transport. The publicity secretary for NRM Bugiri was saying I can’t get involved because I have been disempowered and can’t go talking to people mobilizing for the President’s visit. They asked to meet SG to prepare for the President and she refused to meet them. The young people of NRM carried placards denouncing the President on the whatsapp tax and it was even aired on NTV. I said my president can’t be humiliated like this when me Parcis a minister and MP who is well grounded on NRM principles I’m here looking on waiting for an invitation from Lumumba who actually has no heart for the NRM? She just came to make money. I crossed over and gathered information. This was in the last three days. The candidate Francis Oketcho told me he was being laughed at for being very broke. He could even fail to fuel his car.
All this because Lumumba never wanted him to win because she wants that seats herself and saw him as Tanga Odoi’s man. She was for Siraje Lyavala. So I rang the President and said Papa if you come on Tuesday you are finished. There is a lot of hostility here and the young people are going to humiliate you publicly. That is how he pushed to Wednesday. I was asking how can you be SG and can’t mobilize these young people? Are you for real? How do you have all these powerful people from Bugiri; powerful people like Kyawa Mugoya, Solomon Silwanyi a whole chairman NRM Caucus, Agnes Taaka? I mean all these are senior cadres and as well as the SG all coming from the same district and decline to engage opposition youths? Which mobilization is that? You know this clearly was a youth vote the moment Bobi Wine came in and I had to devise a strategy. The President is my witness he knows how little he gave me but because I’m not a thief, I delivered all the money and used it to mobilize. How do you say I was giving Basalirwa defectors Shs100,000 daily? Is that even possible? Where could I get the money for the 1000s of young people I was interacting with every day? Lumumba controls all the party money and refused to facilitate party work. She couldn’t give Oketcho even a coin. Just look at the misery at the venue when the President came. We had only 2 very old tents and the venue never looked presidential at all. The only reasonable tent was the one of the President and Oketcho the candidate kept crying to me. He had only Shs100,000 which he used to hire those two tents each at Shs50,000. The rest of the people had to be in the open. The public address system was for Balaam and you can ask him it wasn’t Lumumba paying him. He is always paid by Mzee directly. So where did the SG spend the money? The little facilitation Mzee gave me I used it transparently and it was my mobilization for only three days that resulted into the defection of 150 FDC youths including the district youth league. I’m the one who ensured Oketcho came 2nd. That is why Wafula Ogutu was out saying I’m bad. Now your SG hated me for that. Can you imagine criminalizing me for wooing defectors from FDC and Basalirwa? She frustrated that group.
You know they feared JEEMA goons and were hiding in a school from where they came to be received by the President. She has custody of the party’s small buses and we asked for them to transport those defectors to the venue and she refused. She is so selfish all those buses are being controlled by her own brother. It took the intervention of Gen Nalweyiso for her to release those buses. Can you imagine she refused to give us T-shirts to cloth those defectors? Did you know she remained seated and refused to join the President to receive those defectors? What do you call that if it’s not open sabotage to the President? You expect me Parcis a youthful mobilizer of the NRM to just look on when the so-called Secretary General is openly undermining the president? She has lately become very disrespectful and hostile to the President. Can you imagine she jeered at him in that VIP tent? Honorable Wanyoto and Hon Silwany were there and said this is becoming too much. Silwany is her person but he also said “ha mum is not being right on this one.” The President tried to reconcile us insisting we people from outside Bugiri should be co-opted to boost the candidate’s campaign in the remaining hours. He walked us towards his vehicle and that woman Lumumba disrespectfully pushed the President’s hand away. It was very painful for me seeing Papa being disrespected at that rally. She is from PAFO and we are beginning to see her true colors come out.
FAILING OKETCHO;
She preferred a weaker person like Lyavala to become the Municipality MP just to keep warming the seat for her. People keep saying munange this Municipality is personally for the SG because she is the one who lobbied the President to grant it. It’s her personal property but I’m saying no way. The truth is I have confirmed she wants to come back to elective politics and represent that Municipality. That is why she was nervous about a strong person like Oketcho becoming a strong NRM incumbent there. Her people released Shs20m through Lyavala in the evening after the Basalirwa final rally and that was NRM money which went to bolster Basalirwa’s camp on the last day. She wants a vacuum on the NRM side so that she comes in 2021 and grab the seat from Basalirwa. It’s in fact a very small Municipality when compared to big ones like Iganga. That is why I’m wondering why a whole SG backed by all those senior cadres wouldn’t deliver a win for the NRM. It’s a constituency you can cover in one day. It was all sabotage because Lumumba didn’t want an NRM person there until she comes herself to be the candidate. They de-campaigned Oketcho openly saying he can’t make it because he isn’t a Muslim but their NRM candidate for Mayorship was a Muslim but didn’t win still. Why? It’s because there was a much bigger problem by the SG to embarrass NRM in Bugiri. You starve the party candidate of funds and also chase all senior people from coming to campaign for him. You as Mulengera just ring Capt Mike Mukula and ask him why he stopped in Njeru. She called him and said I don’t want you in my district. She chased the entire NRM EC team and that’s why the Tangas were nowhere to be seen to motivate our polling agents. She only allowed Rogers Mulindwa to stay and it’s him who took the role of the EC. She told Mzee moreover on the microphone that since this rally is done let all your guests the friends you came with withdraw and leave us alone as Bugiri leaders. We don’t need them. Why would you be hostile to people who have come to assist you? The President returned to the microphone on seeing the confusion she was fermenting and said let these people stay and help you as co-opted members because this is what we do elsewhere. He even referred to the opposition which had many people from outside Bugiri. I said to Lumumba why did you have to embarrass the President on the microphone? Can’t you talk to him quietly since you are always free to access him? She didn’t listen. Instead she returned to the microphone after the President had guided on what we considered final and insisted the following people should withdraw. We don’t want them in Bugiri.
These are Parcis Namuganza, Doka Milly [Babalanda the PA to Museveni as NRM Chairman] and Hellen Namutamba. Lumumba and Taaka were very hostile to Namutamba yet the President introduced her as the successor of Kyalya helping him on OWC and poverty alleviation in Busoga. Agnes Taaka said they don’t want her because she isn’t known in NRM structures. If you are a serious SG why would you chase away Doka well knowing she has women structures through her BRUDA? She kept telling the President since the rally is done your guests can leave because we can manage our vote. This was all aimed at fighting Oketcho and I’m sure the votes he got left Lumumba in shock. She must still be in big shock because we achieved all this in the last three days from Sunday. She was happy with Basalirwa’s win because she sat in the EC tally center and rushed to congratulate him for defeating her party candidate. On the polling day, our agents were timid and disorganized. People kept calling me saying we have a problem here. Basalirwa’s goons were threatening especially old voters and Doka said why don’t you call Tanga? I said I can’t do that. Doka called him and Tanga said I can’t come to Bugiri that woman will fight me. Doka was restless wondering how our candidate’s DR forms was going to be secured with agents that are so weak.
WAY FORWARD;
What happened in Bugiri provesthat NRM hasn’t been winning because of the SG being strong. It’s the NRM structures that are strong and have been winning. How come NRM leaders delivered Nebbi without the SG stepping there and yet her own district was lost to JEEMA? This shows she is hot air always exaggerating herself. Bugiri has clearly demystified her even at that rally Mzee saw for himself. They connived with Agnes Taaka who was the MC to block me from making any speech but I kept it cool. The youths who are my supporters even in Bugiri kept heckling and shouting my name. Taaka became angry and started attacking me instead of marketing the candidate but I didn’t mind because I went to Bugiri for a mission which I accomplished and this was to ensure our candidates performs well and that Lumumba’s plot to humiliate Mzee in Bugiri doesn’t succeed. We blocked it and that was a win for me in terms of what I set out to achieve on Sunday when I moved to Bugiri. We exposed her thoroughly and the youths turned against her. They blocked her car and Bugiri became too hot for her. That same [Wednesday] evening she even feared to meet NRM sub county chairpersons and went to hide in Iganga Mama Hotel where she spent the night. We thwarted her plans. She invested all her efforts to ensure Oketcho is number 3 but we overturned that in just three days. The good thing I had structures that are loyal to me personally in Bugiri Municipality. NRM won the youth council elections there recently because of me. I got intelligence the SG had refused to meet and empower the youths and being from the neighboring district I crossed over. I addressed the Electoral College of over 200 youths and facilitated NRM candidates and that’s how we defeated the opposition. These were available to me as I worked hard to ensure Namatende doesn’t become 2nd. It was me who diminished her votes to just 900. How could she campaign without the FDC youth league which I uprooted? The SG has clearly been demystified as NRM has lost in her region first in Jinja and now Bugiri yet the party is booming and winning other places. She can’t claim Kamuli Municipality because her best friend Salaam Musumba defeated. Rehema Watongola won because of her husband’s popularity. Muslims like him there the way those in Kampala love Prince Kassim Kakungulu. Lumumba can’t claim to have delivered her against her friend Salaam. As a way forward, I’m going to revive my entire youth network countrywide and launch a series of activities calling on Mzee to expel her from being Secretary General. She has become a liability and outlived her usefulness. We are doing this to protect Mzee whom she has resorted to belittling and disrespecting in public. Anybody who was keen at observing should be offended with the way she belittled Mzee during that Bugiri rally. She is very divisive and sabotaging the party. She isn’t going to kill our NRM party when we are looking on as young people. We have a duty to protect the NRM and our party chairman. How can everybody else be bad except yourself? Namuganza is bad, Doka is bad, Kadaga is bad. Richard Todwong is bad. Tanga Odoi is bad. Mike Mukula is bad. How can it be that you are the only one who is right? We are tired of her and I’m going to reawaken the young people across the country to rise up and begin saying enough is enough. As young people we must rescue Mzee who has become hostage to the blackmail of that woman. She doesn’t fear the President anymore and that endangers NRM. She likes ashaming him publicly instead of talking to him privately because she has all the audience as Secretary General. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
