By Mulengera Reporters
At the NUP Headquarters on Wednesday, Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya called on party members not to be demoralized about the persecution their top leaders are currently going through. He said one day their struggle will end in victory. The members had gathered to celebrate 6 years of the party’s existence and 9 years (2017-2026) of Bobi Wine’s leadership over the People Power Movement, which evolved into NUP.
Rubongoya said that if they could start from a small room in Kamwokya when there was no IPOD money, the party can still soldier on and thrive even at a time Museveni is determined to strangle them using deprivation of IPOD billions. The SG said that what made Bobi Wine such a great idea whose time had come was the genuine love and support of the people and not money.
He enumerated the achievements NUP had registered in its first six years of existence including turning former poverty-stricken foot soldiers like Yusuf Nkeretanyi and Bukhooli’s Jamal Mukuve, into fully fledged MPs. He observed that the Bobi Wine-led NUP revolution has been able to do all those things and much more because of the support of the people and not IPOD money.
He also talked about the headquarters at Kavule and in the regions, which he said had been accomplished not merely because of IPOD money but because of the forward-looking leadership Bobi Wine has ushered in. He said what their party has achieved in just six years in terms of buildings, Gen Museveni’s NRM hasn’t been able to put up in more than 40 years.
He said he suspects this is the reason why Gen Museveni is very envious of Bobi Wine and is determined to deny them access to IPOD money yet they are entitled to it. He added that such deprivation notwithstanding, NUP will surprise Gen Museveni by keeping growing from strength to strength. The party intends to demonstrate growing political strength by winning many seats in the upcoming LC1 elections.
He also said that Museveni will end up a very miserable man without ever seeing the realization of his dream and public threat to wipe out NUP and the entire Bobi Wine group. “He said he will finish off that Kyagulanyi group and that is on video but we are still here and growing stronger every passing day. We are here forever because God is with us and also because we aren’t the wave they thought we were,” Rubongoya bragged as the crowd ululated.
But having seen what happened to Erias Lukwago, Miria Matembe and later on Muwanga Kivumbi, the leaders at the NUP event were cautious and many of them avoided criticizing PLU or even directly calling out Gen MK’s name. Rubongoya only said they had decided not to cut a cake to mark 6 years of NUP because they wanted to do it as an act of protest to what befell Muwanga Kivumbi and other party heroes who continue to languish in Luzira.
Rubongoya also said he was proud of belonging to a young party which had managed to produce so many honorables. Referring to Fred Nyanzi whose Kawempe South victory was allegedly stolen in favour of Madina Nsereko Ntale, Rubongoya said the party would be having many more MPs if it wasn’t for the rigging machine of the NRM.
He said he was also motivated by the fact that many foot soldiers remain committed to the NUP cause even after getting bruised and subjected to political persecution, torture and imprisonment. Party leaders also celebrated the fact that the Bobi Wine charisma had continued to be attractive to hundreds of local and international journalists even after 9 years of leading the overall struggle for a better-governed Uganda.
LoP Joel Ssenyonyi, who continues to be a victim of envious PLU MPs who are determined to oust him, celebrated their leader Bobi Wine for using his personal charisma to turn small people and small political actors into giants. He said Bobi Wine has been able to accomplish so much in such a short time simply because he is honest, always acting lawfully, loved by millions of Ugandans and favored by God.
He castigated elites who still support NRM and said they must be ashamed of the fact that even blind people like singer Kennedy Muwanguzi, who was present and performed at the event, long saw that Gen Museveni was no longer the best thing for Uganda and deserted him. He said Bobi’s popularity had caused plenty of nervousness among key actors in the Museveni universe which is why they keep making mistakes and credibility-eroding blunders.
In his pre-recorded speech, President Kyagulanyi, who was preceded by Ag Party President JB Nambeshe, thanked Ugandans for their solidarity and called on them not to relent because in his view, victory is around the corner. He predicted that Uganda’s political salvation moment is closer than it has ever been at any one moment in the last 40 years of Musevenism.
His pre-recorded statement was beamed on large screens as cheerful supporters stampeded to have a look at their generational leader who continues to live in involuntary exile after he got reports that the regime had plans to harm him. Bobi Wine also called on NUP supporters to always be deliberately synonymous with quality and high standards-asserting that is the only way people/voters will tell the difference between them and NRM as the country counts down to the LC1 elections. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
