The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Five National Resistance Movement (NRM) party MPs who have been blocked from attending the Parliamentary Caucus retreat at Kyankwanzi have vowed not to backtrack on issues that have put them in dispute with the party.
On Monday, the NRM Parliamentary Caucus Spokesperson, Margaret Muhanga, listed six MPs who were not invited for the retreat because of their conduct.
The MPs include Kasambya County MP Gaffa Mbwatekamwa, Patrick Nsamba Oshabe for Kassanda North, Buyaga West MP Barnabas Tinkasimiire, Kumi Woman MP Monica Amoding, John Baptist Nambeshe for Manjiya County and Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo.
They are among the over 20 NRM party legislators who in 2017 opposed the lifting of the Presidential age limit in the Constitution.
Addressing a press conference at Parliament on Wednesday, the MPs said that the move by NRM to continue locking them out of their party activities shows the shrinking political space within the party.
They insisted that they still stand by their decision to vote against the removal of age limit, a matter that prompted their exclusion from parliamentary caucus activities.
Ssekikubo said that none of them is under any disciplinary action within the party and that being locked out of the caucus retreat is a hijack of the party and a move that increases factions within the party.
Tinkasimiire said that their names were clearly read out for character assassination even when they are NRM party cardholders.
Maracha East MP James Acidri who was also not invited for the retreat said that the action violates their right to associate. He described NRM as a party full of contradiction and intrigue.
Nambeshe, who had earlier threatened to storm the retreat, says that they have decided to remain calm since confrontation will not yield anything positive.
Oshabe said that nothing good will come out of the caucus retreat apart from political decisions that are to maintain President Museveni in power.
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