Embattled UNAA president sacks all Board members

The President of Ugandans in North America Association (UNAA), Mr Monday Atigo has sacked all members of the Association’s Board of Trustees (BOT).

In a press statement Friday morning, Mr Atigo said that the decision is effective immediately. He accuses the board of undermining the confidence in the organisation.

“The acrimonious stance of the UNAA Board of Trustees has been unbecoming thereby causing upheavals and undermining the confidence in the organisation, especially when the situation involves the organisation's most recognisable face of the association, hitherto, the UNAA Elected President/Chief Executive Officer. I must emphasise that UNAA's success is tied to the zeal of its primary representative: The President/CEO and thus the UNAA Executive will no longer tolerate undue interference, we have a fiduciary and legal duty to manage the day-to-day affairs of the organisation on behalf of UNAA's Supreme organ who are the members,” the statement reads in part.

 

“In light of the above, the UNAA Board of Trustees, as currently constituted, is hereby disbanded effective immediately. It has been, but a painful overdue decision, done to ensure that the organization can effectively carry out its mission,” the statement continues.

 

Mr Atigo adds that a new Board will be constituted at the earliest opportunity.

 

“A new BOT will be nominated according to the Constitutional requirement of one having been a member in good standing for 5 consecutive years preceding their appointment. Unlike the disbanded group which had people who didn't qualify such as Mr. Martin Musinguzi, Dr. Joseph Buwembo, and Dr. Michael Kisembo,” Atigo said.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2017/12/20/unaa-crisis-deepens-as-two-presidents-send-xmas-message-fake-emails-created/

This comes a month after Mr Atigo vowed to terminate the contract of the Board members after their chairman Dr Joseph Buwembo called for his resignation.

“Their term of office ends next march. They have demonstrated a lack of understanding on the goals and objectives of UNAA. We can’t have such individuals as leaders. None of them will return to office, they also know it and that’s why they are fighting so hard to see me out,” Atigo said in December.

It all started when the group disagreed over elections held during their convention in Miami. The allegedly fraudulent election was won by Monday Atigo who beat his rival Daniel Kawuma with a difference of 23 votes.

However, the UNAA Board of Trustees (BoT) sat and annulled the election saying it was a sham. The same meeting asked Atigo to vacate his position as vice president and that his deputy Julius Muwulya takes over on interim basis.

However, Atigo on record insisted he would not heed to the BOT’s directive since they “do not wield the mandate by constitution to withdraw any member of the executive from office”. He instead swore to sack the members.

After back and forth exchanges between the top management, the association’s EC settled to hold the repeat of elections during their annual convention in Seattle in September 2018.

This did not go well with the BOT, who retaliated with terminating the contract of the EC secretary, Peter Simbi who issued the communication stating that the election had been pushed to September, albeit by consensus.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2017/12/04/unaa-shifts-repeat-of-election-to-2018-seattle-convention-as-embattled-president-vows-to-sack-board/

In their reason for sacking Dr Simbi, the BOT cited “unbecoming and detrimental conduct”. Mr Atigo again reminding the BOT of their lack of mandate said he would not allow the termination of Simbi.

Atigo instead revealed that the five members of the BOT have no qualification to sit on the bench. “They were sneaked in by a recent regime; the majority did not meet requirements to sit on the Board.”

With the exception of Miss Rossette Serumaga and Mr. Edward Nantamu the other five members did not meet the UNAA constitution requirement. All members of the Board of Trustees are required to have been UNAA members for five consecutive years.

Constitutionally, the President and CEO of UNAA reserves the right to renew or not, the term of contracts for Board Members.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2017/12/05/unaa-ec-secretary-sacked/

Accusations by Atigo

Despite caution by the President, the BOT continued to undermine the various organs of UNAA thereby causing division, unrest and confusion within the organisation. It should be remembered that members of this group especially Mr. Edward Nantamu have threatened to sue the UNAA Electoral Commission prior to the UNAA Elections last September when the Electoral Commission admitted that they were not prepared to conduct online election. A move that would be a disadvantage to his favoured candidate (Mr. Daniel Kawuma).

Rosette Serwanga, another member of the group also is believed to have reached out to former UNAA Leaders to come out and endorse Mr. Kawuma publicly but failed. Upon realising that Atigo might be unbreakable, they attempted to sneak in Constitutional amendments to give them powers to overturn the elections after Atigo's victory. According to the Massachusetts law, an organisation such as UNAA can only amend it's constitution through a scheduled meeting. in UNAA's case it would be the Annual General Meeting where two thirds of the members have to be present to vote on the amendments and not online. Once voted on and passed, the amendments still have to be filled with the Massachusetts Secretary of State before these amendments become part of the Organisation's Constitution. None of the above was followed making any changes to the UNAA Constitution illegal and therefore any amendment null and void.

Meanwhile, Atigo's deputy Julius Muwulya still insists he is the legitimate President and Mr Atigo has no constitutional mandate to sack any member.

"Under what constitution has he made the sackings?" Muwulya said when contacted by Nile Post, before adding that he is the interim president and only him has the power to make such decision.

On the other hand, Atigo's rival, Kawuma is calling upon members to turn up and vote next month.