NRM leaders clash over launch of pressure group

Rukungiri, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  National Resistance Movement-NRM party supporters and leaders in Rukungiri district clashed on Sunday during the launch of a pressure group dubbed Team 1 (YKM) Sevolution.       

The pressure group that is led by Moses Karangwa, the Kayunga District NRM Chairperson, Mbarara NRM Women League Chairperson, Hope Tumwebaze and Ambrose Kibuuka Tumwesigye, the Rukungiri district coordinator was launched at Riverside Hotel in Rukungiri Municipality.  

The pressure group intends to recruit 10 people per village and 50 people per sub-county to help mobilize support for the NRM presidential candidate, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. However, drama ensured during the launch when a section of NRM leaders especially candidate demanded an explanation as to why the pressure group  was being launched in the district without the presence of the district party chairperson and former Information and National Guidance Minister, Jim Muhwezi.     

They also demanded answers as to why intrigue has persisted within the party leadership and demanded assurance that Team 1 (YKM) Sevolution will not fleece voters like the case was with Boona Bageigahare Nyekundiire group that was founded by NRM mobilizer, Peace Rugambwa.   

Engineer John fisher Barigye, NRM support in Rukungiri Municipality and the Kebisoni Town Councilor, Leonard Muhunguzi Tiberondwa, said intrigue has greatly affected the progress of the party in Rukungiri because some members are treated as inferior.   

They argued that some NRM leaders in the district have a tendency of pushing their own agenda and end up falling the party’s goals. They also said that the party is yet encounter the onslaught by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party. 

Geoffrey Tindarwesire, the Rukungiri municipality NRM mayoral candidate asked the logic behind the pressure group and why it’s leaders decided to launch such a vital pressure group in the district without involving their chairperson, Muhwezi and other top party leaders. 

Tindarwesire says that they are now sceptical of such groups because during the 2018 Woman MP by-elections some people turned up under the pretence of supporting Winfred Matsiko, the NRM party yet they were targeting to embezzle

Enock Karuhura, the Rukungiri Municipality NRM chairperson, who is also the General secretary for Rukungiri NRM youth council, said there is disunity among party mobilisers. Karuhura argues that mobilisers have a tendency of blocking local party leaders from accessing top leaders for discussions on how they can fight the opposition.     

He also says that Kibuuka should first explain the whereabouts of shillings 50 million that Museveni donated to the youth groups during the woman MP by-election.   

Ivan Tumwesigye, the Southern Division NRM youth chairperson, said such pressure groups have always convinced Museveni that there is strong opposition in Rukungiri yet the real problem is within the party. 

But Kalisa says that they informed party leaders in the area about the launch and they gave them greenlight.   

Kibuuka says that there is no need for the public to equate Team 1 (YKM) Sevolution to Boona Bageigahare Nyekundiire group where people were cheated. 

Rukungiri is a home district of former FDC presidential candidate, Dr. Colonel Kiiza Besige.

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URN