Lumumba “sorry” over mishaps during NRM delegates conference; Museveni defends her

The National Resistance Movement Secretary General, Justine Kasule Lumumba has apologized to delegates that happened during the party’s national delegates conference.

There was chaos during the NRM delegates conference at Namboole on Saturday afternoon after some of the delegates booed Lumumba to interrupt her speech for over five minutes.

It took the intervention of President Museveni who calmed down the situation by promising to look into the grievances by some of the delegates.

However, speaking at the closure of the conference, Lumumba apologized to delegates over any mishaps that she said were never intended.

“I take this opportunity to apologise for whatever has not gone on well. Some of the issues were beyond me but every day is a blackboard for us to learn,” a remorseful Lumumba told the ruling party delegates.

She said that anything that could have gone wrong was never her intention but noted that there is always room for improvement.

Museveni defends her

Earlier, Museveni had summoned four representatives from the group of delegates who had issues with Lumumba and were heckling her.

These, according to Museveni accused the NRM Secretary General of mistreating, them whereas some had missed out on allowances for attending the delegated conference.

“The people reported to me some weaknesses. They said money (allowances) was given out yesterday and some of them missed. They also said they missed food, the disabled were not catered for whereas others missed out on t-shirts and shirts,”Museveni said.

He noted that the issues were small and that there was no need to attacking the party Secretary-General over the same.

“The Secretary-General had briefed me about it but the issue of money was brought about by lack of enough tags and no one could be given money without being properly identified.  All these issues have been noted and I pledge that they will never happen again,”Museveni told the delegates as the conference came to a close.

Party condemns sponsored hooliganism

In a statement released after the incident, the NRM party spokesperson, Rogers Mulindwa condemned what he termed as an earlier planned move .

“The attempt to interrupt the speech of the Rt. Hon Secretary General Justine Kasule Lumumba during the NRM Delegates' Conference at Namboole was a big shame to its plotters before our National Chairman and the Foreign Delegations,”Mulindwa said in the statement later.

“The act did not, however, take some of us by surprise since the mobilisation started a day before and we can proudly say, the faces of those behind this move are well known to us.”

He, however, heaped praise on Lumumba for handling the matter by exhibiting a high level of maturity.

“As a party, we are headed for a busier and hectic season as we draw closer to elections and such diversionary issues won’t turn us back. We call for maximum respect for each other and build a strong teamwork straight from the branches to the National.”

He warned party leaders to desist from such gimmicks of “smearing dirt” to others in order to take their positions.