Big Interview: "I shall not be compromised by the state," says Nkunyingi

The opposition has on several occasions accused the government of unfair allocation of resources citing a number of issues including political ideology among others.

The regime has also been accused of human rights violations, restricting mobility, deepening inequalities and shifting the priorities of public and private sector institutions, including the allocation of funding.

In an interview with The Nile Post, Haroon Muwada Nkunyingi, the MP for Kyadondo East, said his predecessor the regime has frustrated the performance of his predecessor in terms of putting up development projects in the constituency citing political ideology.

Excerpts below:

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How ready are you to effectively represent the people of Kyadondo East in the 11th Parliament?

My coming into the political limelight is because first of all I am a resident [of Kyadondo East] and part of the expectations of my people is good representation. I promised first of all to start by consolidating the gains made by Hon {Robert} Kyagulanyi, the former area MP.

You could recall when he was still doing his concerts, he supported Kasangati Health Centre. A day before, I went for swearing in, I also visited most of these health centres and I realised that his contribution was still standing. I want to strengthen our health sector because we have limited government owned facilities like Kasangati Health Centre. Majority of health centres are privately owned.

I want to put forward a national agenda of supporting health centers. I will continue to look for support from people of good will, both locally and internationally so that we can support our health sectors.

There have been a number of issues regarding land evictions and property ownership in your area. How do you plan to handle them?

You must have heard about the eviction in Lusanja and the rumoured eviction in Magere, almost the whole village. The law talks about lawful and bonafide occupants especially for Bibanja holders, you will understand that some people have recklessly come in and illegally evicted the people. As I speak now, our people in Lusanja, are still in the tents, so as a lawyer, I want to support our communities with comfortable settlement and I want to support their lawful rights.

What new ideas do you bring to the table as you begin your term?

As a lawyer, I know how to advocate and how to pursue legal issues. I want to continue with the legacy of Hon Kyagulanyi, I want to maintain the legacy he has actually demonstrated. It is all about representing what the people stand for.

I will always consult my people and I will always stand for those issues and values they actually want me to stand for. We promised them that they will always be our bosses. I will put people’s interest first. I will strive for their welfare. I will strive for improved livelihood. I will improve on security

What unique qualities do you possess that enabled you to win a highly contested race that attracted very many candidates?

I stand for what is right and I was for the National Unity Platform. We had a people centred campaign but as well as a lawyer, I supported many people in the area before in terms of the law. I am a fellow resident, so they trusted me as one of their own and I was also fit for the task of representing the people.

I had a very spirited campaign full of messages coming from the bottom of my heart touching the people. I presented myself to them in 2016 and again in 2017 [during the by election] and this was my third time presenting myself to the same people. I have supported health care. I supported education. I supported those who were being challenged on land issues, so I have been part of them and I have suffered with them.

What are some of the major challenges you encountered during your campaign?

It was impossible for us to campaign and reach out to the people. It was impossible even to protect our votes, they had deployed heavily to ensure that they [regime] destabilise our electoral exercises.

Your party leadership expressed fear that you might be bribed by the regime as you joined the August House, what do you think?

I am sure that all of our members are very stable and solid. Our campaign was structured on clear principles. our actions will speak for us, we are judged by our actions.

We know that we are dealing with the dictator but we must remain firm and solid and that is why we don’t focus on positions. We focus on what our people stand for and what our people expect from us.

Some of us are very solid and some of us are very strong. We shall stand even if we are the last people standing to defend people’s rights and rule. We shall never be compromised. We are strong and I can assure you that no effort of the dictator will fail the people’s cause. Whoever fails, will fail individually but the cause will never fail.

NUP announced its new leaders in Parliament and you are one of the people I expected to see in the list. What happened?

The appointment was for the leader of opposition and the opposition whip which is okay because those are standing members with a lot of experience and most of them have been in Parliament. We all sat down as party leaders including MPs to agree on them, these are just preliminary stages for example even the party will come up with a shadow cabinet, there are so many roles but all these are procedural roles. In terms of other engagements, we are assigned to two committees each and that is the process for all the parties, so you will see so many allocations, the party whips are handling all these.

How do you rate the performance of Robert Kyagulanyi for the time he spent as the area MP?

I have been part of his team at constituency level, so we have worked together, I don’t want to rate him alone. We actually worked together. Secondly there was a deliberate effort by the government [to fail Kyagulanyi] that is why you see that the illegal evictions which were done have been supported by security forces. These are deliberate efforts, he actually warned me, how the government has deliberately tried their level best to fail [development projects]. It was even impossible for him to move through Kyadondo East and even interacting with the society.

As a member of Parliament, what is your take on the current security situation in the country?

We used to complain during the election season that the moment you allow militias and militants to kidnap people in plain clothes, to kidnap people using drones and vehicles, it is impossible for a civilian to report someone carrying a gun to the police because it is now normal to see people carrying a gun without uniform.When you move away from the rule of law, we all become victims. The state has failed to investigate past killings until today.