By Mulengera Reporters
Bugiri MP Asuman Basalirwa has appropriately described NUP President Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu as a very intolerant politician who will either kill or force all his political opponents to exile the day he becomes President. He says that the man is so intolerant and hated him simply because he was envious of his friendship with the Speaker of Parliament. Basalirwa says he is among those who will either be assassinated or have to flee to exile should Kyagulanyi ever become President of Uganda.
That one-time Asuman Basalirwa asked a top NUP official why Kyagulanyi had all of a sudden turned against him and he was told the principal was uncomfortable with his close relationship with Speaker Anita Among. Basalirwa says that, whether Kyagulanyi likes it or not, he is an intelligent politician who God gifted with plenty of wisdom which is why all Speakers of Parliament have always found it inevitable to closely work with him.
He says he was one of the 10 most valued MPs when Rebecca Kadaga was the Speaker and the same carried on when Jacob Oulanyah took charge. Basalirwa adds that there was no surprise when Anita Among became Speaker and found it hard to avoid working with him closely.
He says that he is an effective legislator who every Ugandan ought to be proud of regardless of party affiliation. He adds that Anita Among is even closer to him than any of her predecessors because she made him her personal lawyer who does her legal work on private business transactions at his law firm. Basalirwa also says he is a personal lawyer of Anita Among and not just a mere bag boy as hateful NUP foot soldiers keep saying.
He also downplayed claims that he wouldn’t have become MP without Kyagulanyi’s support during the 2018 by-elections in Bugiri. He says it was God’s timing for him to become the MP in 2018 after trying many times before. He says he was supported by DP, UPC and even CP’s Ken Lukyamuzi. He says this was a grand coalition of opposition forces which Kyagulanyi only joined leveraging the momentum that accompanied his Kyadondo East victory.
Basalirwa also says he is the one who pioneered the monicker people power except that his was in Lusoga. That this had been inscribed on his campaign poster for Bugiri Municipality of 2018. “He [Bobi Wine] is very creative and upon seeing that word on my poster, he asked me what it means and I told him in English and he coiled the word people power by merely translating my campaign slogan into English,” Basalirwa said.
He added that he had tried to restrain himself and avoid fighting back even after Kyagulanyi demonized and branded him a 5th columnist during his BBC interview. “And by the way that wasn’t the only attack he directed at me. He also went to Bugiri and attacked me but I ignored him. How do you go to tell the people of Bugiri not to vote me back yet you know very well I’m one of the best 10 MPs in that house?” Basalirwa also says that even when he doesn’t belong to NUP, he has always submitted to the authority of LoP Joel Ssenyonyi in the interest of the broader opposition.
That he tried reaching out in order to mend fences-while asking questions demanding to know why a lot of hostilities were being lobbied at him-but all this was frustrated when Kyagulanyi blocked him on phone and thereby making it impossible for him to communicate to him.
Basalirwa says that, because he can’t accept Kyagulanyi’s demand that he stops being a good ally of Speaker Anita Among, his conclusion is that his relationship with Kyagulanyi is now irretrievably broken and he is focussing on mobilizing his people in Bugiri Municipality to ensure that the candidate NUP has fronted against him is decisively defeated in 2026. He says that he is sure his people understand why he is the best for Bugiri and won’t be duped by the wishes of Kyagulanyi who he says has a curious resentment towards the educated, the intelligent and smartly dressed.
He says whether Mr. Wine and his foot soldiers like it or not, Parliament is for the intelligent, eloquent and smartly-dressed because the work that is done there isn’t the business of the low-grade politicians similar to what his NUP party is busy fronting against decent leaders of experience. He says he is convinced that Kyagulanyi is part of the broader conspiracy that is aimed at destroying, trivializing and weakening Parliament as a very serious arm of government. He predicts that Kyagulanyi’s chauvinism won’t succeed because the people of Uganda are wiser and way much more sophisticated than the NUP Principal thinks. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
