By Mulengera Reporters
Having increasingly found it hard to sacrifice Shamim Malende and throw her under the bus, the NUP top leadership at Kavule have referred the quarrel over who should be flag bearer for Kampala Woman MP slot to the Women League of the party.
Headed by Kasanda Woman MP Flavia Kalule Nabagabe, the Women League has its offices at Kavule and every female who professes NUP is its member by default.
The Kampala race has been heating up with key influencers at Kavule preferring outgoing KCCA Speaker Zahara Luyirika Maala as opposed to Shamim Malende who they believe long reached her sale-by-date on the political shelf of Kampala. However, Malende has turned out more complicated than was originally perceived.
Malende, who suffers a terminal female-centric illness condition which is synonymous with complicating child-bearing capabilities in women, has lately garnered lots of sympathy from voters and foot soldiers in Kampala, contrary to what her adversaries anticipated.
They thought she could easily be thrown under the bus and subsequently be forced to ease out without a fight. The war her persecution has ignited has caused plenty of bad publicity for NUP and threatens to create serious fractures in Uganda’s leading opposition party.
Those who know her well say that Malende, who recently lost her father, still has a lot up her sleeve including plans to undress at Kavule to stage a Stella Nyanzi-like scene in order to create additional publicity for her persecution inside Bobi Wine’s party.
The Kavule strategists, convinced that Fred Nyanzi has clearly been rejected yet they aren’t comfortable with Dr. Roy Ssemboga whose charisma they are envious of, had suggested that Shamim Malende takes Kawempe South. She, however, has flatly rejected this because her home (near Riham plant) is located in Ttula which is in Kawempe North, and not South.
Meanwhile, the consistent targeting on social media painting her as being complicit in the Nakivubo channel give away which has become controversial and is threatening to erode NUP’s public image, has gradually made Luyirika seem damaged and hard brand to sell to Kampala voters.
Opposition groups, uncomfortable with Kyagulanyi’s leadership style, have lately ganged up to invite growing public scrutiny into Zahara Luyirika’s public service record since 2011 when she first joined KCCA as mere Lord Councillor. This has caused her backers at Kavule to tread carefully.
All this has increased the dilemma for decision-makers at Kavule, hence the need to involve more stakeholders so that a more inclusive resolution decision can be arrived at.
It’s against this background that the Women League has officially been requested to give an opinion guiding on who should be favoured for the Kampala Woman MP card. Yet, ironically, even when Luyirika has been an active presence and funder of their mobilisation activities, the Women League report favours neither her nor Shamim Malende.
They are recommending that someone else be considered so that the two babes get disregarded. That a neutral person would help unite the party after the fracturing the two babes’ public feuding has ignited. Sources at Kavule say that the Women League’s report on the Kampala Woman MP issue has only made things more complicated rather than availing a solution.
Kavule insiders say that the Women League report has disfavoured majority of the NUP foot soldiers who are publicly more popular. They are recommending that the flag goes to less social media-known NUP members who they say deserve the ticket because of their seniority and perceived decency.
The Women League argues that the party needs to consider high profile candidates to carry its flag in order to erase the negative image some in the public have about NUP being a party of the poorly-raised foot soldiers who are synonymous with vulgar words and generally abusive language. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
