Disagreements split NUP leaders in Tooro

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Disagreements have emerged within the top leaders of National Unity Platform – NUP in Tooro sub-region.

The disagreements stem from several issues including failure to account for the party funds on the side of some of the leaders while others are accused of supporting opponents of NUP candidates in the different races.

For instance, Davis Rwamuhumbu, the NUP coordinator in Kabarole and Fort Portal city is accused of failing to account for 500,000 Shillings that was given to him to prepare for the campaign rallies of presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi when he was in the districts of Tooro last month.

Innocent Natukunda, the NUP team leader in Tooro sub-region says that after Kyagulanyi’s rallies, they tasked Rwamuhumbu to account for the money but he failed and the accountability he gave was unsatisfactory.

Natukunda also discloses that as a party, they agreed to have one official WhatsApp group for mobilization in the sub-region but Rwamuhumbu has gone ahead to create other groups, something that he says is unacceptable.

In response, Rwamuhumbu who is vying for the Fort Portal central mayoral seat argues that he accounted for all the money he was given and even reached an extent of incurring more shillings 1.5 million.

“There is no law that stops someone from creating a WhatsApp group. It is because some leaders are not on ground and they want to show that they are working,” Rwamuhumbu says.

Rwamuhumbu is also accusing Natukunda of fighting him, saying that other people in the party have equally done wrong things but they are not being talked about. He gave an example of Sylvia Kihunde, the NUP candidate in the Fort Portal city Woman Member of Parliament race, whom he said was given shillings 3 million for mobilization during Kyagulanyi’s campaigns in Tooro but did not account for it.

But Kihunde argues that she had not received the money from Rwamuhumbu and therefore could not account to him.

In Fort Portal city, another coordinator, Thomas Kakuru has since quit all the WhatsApp mobilization groups for the party and is no longer engaged in its activities.

In Kyegegwa, John Alinaitwe, the NUP registrar in the district openly showed support for Flavia Rwabuhoro, the NRM flag bearer for the Kyegegwa district Woman MP race.

Natukunda who is also in the Mwenge North Parliamentary race in Kyenjojo district says what Alinaitwe has done is so bad because the same race has an NUP candidate, Rehema Kunihira.

But Alinaitwe argues that Rwabuhoro has supported him since his childhood and there is no way he can deny her support.

Natukunda says he has written to the party’s secretariat to ensure disciplinary action is taken against his colleagues and has also suspended them from the party’s social media platforms.

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