Bobi Wine unveils new political party

The People Power political movement leader and Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine has unveiled the National Unity Platform (NUP) as his new political party ahead of the 2021 general election.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday at Kamwokya Bobi Wine said that for long, their supporters and several leaders have been asking them about the symbol they intend to use in the upcoming elections.

"Although many political parties and organizations had reached out to us, our first and most important criteria was to identify a political formation which shares the objectives and values that we share as well,"Kyagulanyi said.

"Therefore, I stand before you to announce that we're unveiling the National Unity Platform as the political wing of the People Power movement."

The Nile Post understands that the National Unity Party was registered with the Electoral Commission (EC) as a political party in 2010, ahead of the 2011 general election as the National Unity Reconciliation and Development Party (NURDP).

Kyagulanyi, in his address however, said that the name has since been dully changed to National Unity Platform.

He said that they changed it in July 2019.

The immediate former president of the NUP, Moses Kibalama Nkonge, who was present at the press briefing said that they had fully handed over and installed Kyagulanyi as the new party president.

"When Kyagulanyi competed for Kyadondo East, we followed him closely and wondered how the young man was echoing all the values of our party and since then we have been working closely with him. Today, we come with clean hands, we handed over everything to him,”Kibalama said.

At the function, an umbrella was unveiled as the new party symbol that all People Power movement's candidates will use on the ballot paper in 2021.

Kyagulanyi said that the launch will not affect all their relationships with candidates who are already attached to other political parties.

"We are People Power and in the next few weeks, we shall formalize the People Power alliance with different political formations and parties we have been working with and those that are willing to join us going forward, we shall continue our activities as People Power movement and this launch will only be a symbol of political platform to usher us into the 2021 general election," he said.

The legislator the launch is not a new phenomenon but has happened elsewhere where "liberation struggles have found themselves having to run their cause alongside political activists, political and military wings."

"As the ANC of the Great Nelson Mandela found themselves having to form a military wing called uMkhonto we Sizwe, for us, we have no plans of making a military wing. Our military wing is People Power and our weapons are the words," Kyagulanyi said.