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Fort Portal, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Leaders of the National Unity Platform-NUP in Tooro sub-region are divided over calls for peaceful demonstrations by the party president Robert Kyagulanyi.
For the past few weeks, Kyagulanyi, a former presidential candidate has been calling for peaceful demonstrations across the country in a bid to force President Kaguta Museveni to step down from the presidency.
Kyagulanyi also says that hundreds of his supporters are being illegally detained in different places in the country over unclear reasons and has been clamouring for peaceful demonstrations to compel their release.
Even though Kyagulanyi attempted to demonstrate with a few other party members in Kampala, he was arrested and driven back to his home and the other demonstrators were dispersed by security agencies.
In Tooro, some NUP members are trying to respond to his call, and are preparing for demonstrations in different districts. However Thomas Kakuru, one of the NUP coordinators in Tooro sub-region says the demonstration strategy will not achieve anything and is not worth his time.
Kakuru who had expressed interest to contest in the Fort Portal North Division parliamentary race on the NUP card before he pulled out citing financial constraints says his party should concentrate on 2026 general elections and not demonstrations.
He has already started using social media platforms and local radio stations to express his dissatisfaction with Kyagulanyi’s decision. He argues that there is nothing that can be done to oust Museveni at this time and NUP should not be wasting time engaging in demonstrations that he calls useless and unrealistic.
He says their efforts should instead be directed at building party structures from the village level to win the hearts of more Ugandans by 2026.
However Innocent Natukunda, the leader of NUP coordinators in Tooro has already come up to condemn Kakuru’s statements, saying they are against the party ideology. In a statement that our reporter has seen, Natukunda, a former NUP candidate in the Mwenge North parliamentary race in Kyenjojo district says they are going on with preparations for peaceful demonstrations.
John Kagaba, an NUP mobilizer in Kyegegwa district says that Kakuru’s statements are unfortunate because they are clearly against the party’s efforts to have their members who were kidnapped released and other issues that they are fighting for.
Disagreements within NUP in Tooro are not new. A few months to the January general elections saw the emergence of serious clashes within the party members and leaders. Some leaders decided to support NRM candidates in parliamentary and local council elections while others remained who remained loyal to the party accused them of betrayal.
In Fort Portal, Davis Rwamuhumbu, the NUP coordinator in Kabarole and Fort Portal city was accused of failing to account for 500,000 Shillings that was given to him to prepare for the campaign rallies of Kyagulanyi when he was in the districts of Tooro.
Natukunda said after Kyagulanyi’s rallies, they tasked Rwamuhumbu to account for the money but he failed and the accountability he gave was unsatisfactory. Around the same time, Kakuru quit all the WhatsApp mobilization groups for the party and stopped engaging in the party activities.
Meanwhile, Alinaitwe openly showed support for Flavia Rwabuhoro, the NRM flag bearer for the Kyegegwa district Woman MP race even when NUP had Rehema Kunihira in the same race.
Some people think that the disagreements were at the expense of NUP’s support in Tooro since all of the party’s candidates from parliamentary to local council races lost.
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The idea of demonstrations is not a wise idea, yes it’s a constitutional right to do it , most demonstrations at the ineption are peaceful, but it will enventually turn violent, the desired results of the demonstrations is to force Museveni to relinquish power and that is the whole idea of Kyagulangi’s call .But can you successfully use peaceful means to attain power forcefully?, Is it really attainable?.
Ugandans know themselves and their country, the call for Ugandans to demonstrate failed, nobody to heap to this call because the know the consequences, people will loose property, you can’t demonstrate on an empty stomach, property will be looted by the demonstrators and all these will be counted on BOBI WINE, people still not accept to be locked in bouses because they can’t work, most Hussle daily to feed their families.
Ugandans seems to be tired , any demonstrations will be inviting brutality which will lead to eventual death and maiming of both young and old .
Hon BOBI WINE must strengthen his party base by attracting Ugandans from all corners of the country to embrace his leadership, otherwise Ugandans are now for peace.