It is stipulated in the constitution of Uganda that an opposition party with the biggest number of members of parliament is mandated to appoint the shadow cabinet, committee heads and the Leader Of Opposition. In late December last year, the NUP leadership made a reshuffle in its shadow cabinet and committee heads, where the first LOP of NUP Hon. Mpuuga was replaced by the former COSASE chairman Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi as the new Leader Of Opposition.The most affected in this reshuffle was the NRM leaders because it is believed that in his tenure, the former Leader Of Opposition Hon. Matthias Mpuuga had made a deal with the ruling party NRM on how they can paralyse the works and moves of National Unity Platform. Hon. Mpuuga officially handed over office to Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi on 10th -January -2024.
Rumours have it that Mpuuga used to share the NUP confidential information with the top officials in security and the top leadership in NRM and it is one of the reasons why most activities that NUP used to plan secretively, security operatives would always be aware of their next move.
Hon. Mathias Mpuuga was very well aware that he wouldn’t bounce back as the LOP, so he started planning for his exit and how he benefits as a former LOP like the way the former Speakers of Parliament were appreciated.
Remember when Hon. Ssegrinya and Hon. Ssewanyana were released from incommunicado, there were negotiations between the then LOP (Hon. Mpuuga) and the ruling government and some conditions were set for the MP’s to be released, and Mpunga also manged to negotiate for some pension which is likely to reflect in this coming budget.
Most of the policy analysts he was working with, their contracts were terminated the moment Hon. Mpuuga was removed from the position of LOP apart from Barbies’s sister and his press secretary Kitata,whom he negotiated a job for before his departure, and kitata is now on parliament’s pay roll, which left many complaining why Kitata remained yet all other colleagues he came in with were sucked.
Most people didn’t know why Hon. Zake was sucked from the Commissioner job to an extent of changing door locks when he tried to come back into office. Remember Hon. Mpuuga wasn’t even active in processes of bringing back Zake into office. Francis used to share their secrets with the Party President and they knew that the presence of Zake in that position would alter the agreement they had made with the speaker of Parliament Hon. Anita Among.
This reshuffle was facilitated by the British tour where the NUP President had spent more than 10 years without visiting because of the comments he had made on homosexuals. So he had to make a cabinet that would resonate with what he had said in the interviews he had had with the BBC media person-ales on homosexuality.
Some shadow cabinet Ministers like Hon. Basalirwa were also seen throwing tantrums because they were dropped. He said he doesn’t need NUP to win an election and that he was strong enough to stand on his own as Hon. Assuman Basalirwa of JEEMA.
Hon. Joel was the best choice because he wasn’t part of the processes of passing this bill. By the time this bill was passed, he was out of the country. They had thought of giving this position to people like Hon. Mwanga Kivumbi but he was part of the processes of passing the Anti- Homosexuality bill and the second option was Hon. Flavia Nabagabe but he had health issues and she got pregnant along the way.
Another irony is on the fact that Mathias was an adopted child from Democratic Party and most of the fresh entrants of NUP had trust issues with him. We all know that Joel started his active politics with The National Unity Platform and he is truly considered as a true son of the house.
So because of the fishy works of Hon Mathias Mpuuga, they found it fit to have their own in that position of authority.
The relationship between Mpuuga and the ruling party started way back when he was still in Democratic Party and we all know that DP has always been like NRM’s branch in opposition.
As I conclude on Hon. Mpuuga’s issue, those who know how to read facial expressions and voice tones will honestly tell you that Hon. Mathias Mpuuga left the LOP position as very dissatisfied man. He is now a Commissioner of Parliament, replacing Hon. Francis Zake who was impeached from the position on allegations of misconduct.
