Big interview: "I have the experience to become NUP president," says Nambeshe

President Museveni and his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) performed dismally in the 2021 elections in the central region in which more than a dozen party top shots from Buganda were trounced as they sought re-election to Parliament.

This performance in Buganda, was attributed to a number of reasons by some observers including the view that some people in Buganda voted for NUP's Robert Kyagulanyi because he is one of their own.

Speaking to The Nile Post in an interview, the opposition Chief Whip John Baptist Nambeshe described the tribal claims as “cheap talk”  saying such accusations are “misplaced.”

Excerpts below

*********************************************************************************

As the country gets closer to the end of the 42 days, many Ugandans are calling for the lifting of the lockdown. Do you think this is the right time?

The government should begin easing some of the restrictions on the lockdown and actually should borrow a leaf from other countries even neighbours like Kenya where they have had even the worse upsurge of the second wave but are you aware that in Kenya, unlike here, they never closed schools? The first lockdown interrupted the schools briefly but then they mooted an idea of a universal testing of all learners and not only testing but they even had isolation centres for the learners subjecting them into intensive care treatment.

Bobi Wine’s brother Fred Nyanzi told The Nile Post that his phone was allegedly tapped by the Rwanda government, isn’t NUP scared?  

That could be the work of NRM because why on earth should Rwanda take interest in an opposition party’s sibling? The leader being Robert Kyagulanyi and then tapping Hon Nyanzi who is not even anywhere in the hierarchy of political leadership. This could be the work of the government that has deployed heavily their spying network on NUP members and they know the closeness of chairman Nyanzi to his brother.

The major reason is that they {regime} are all the time gathering intelligence to know the whereabouts of Kyagulanyi because they know that Nyanzi definitely knows and has the inside information.

Were you not surprised when you were appointed the opposition Chief Whip in the 11th Parliament?

I was not surprised. For your information, I am a respecter of consensus and democracy goes by the numerical strength. I knew that we had to have consensus within. You may not be privy to the understanding of what we had, so what if he {leader of opposition} serves one year and then Nambeshe resurfaces? NUP is a young party. We have just started.

There are some NUP MPs who were not happy with the committees that were allocated to them in Parliament. Isn’t that going to cause divisions among the members?

I think there was no serious cases of NUP members being discontented with what had been allocated to them. I whipped the entire opposition and I witnessed sharp disagreements and exchange of words in FDC where my predecessor had used his discretionary powers to designate members where they never expressed interest but in NUP, I don’t think there is any member who has come out to complain. These committees are of equivalent weight or strength. It is you the member to add value to the committee not raise expectations like most people do.

We had taken our NUP members through this during our retreats. Those complaints were minimal. They were only few in our opposition parties. I remember even mediating between the UPC whip and one of our members. Eventually I resolved it amicably.

What strategies do you have to deal with indisciplined members more especially the NUP MPs?

We have strengthened our committees that we have in the party and the one which is mostly strengthened and empowered is the disciplinary committee. We have severally warned members against falling victims to these committees.

As our constitution is being reviewed, it is even going to empower that committee further. It will have all the powers to exercise disciplinary control on whoever is found capable of anything.

How far has the process of reviewing the NUP constitution gone?

I have just signed the terms of reference because as we talk, I am the acting president of the party. My immediate superior went on official duties.  We have a select committee of legal experts. These are seasoned legal brains we have assembled to do the needful. This is a constitution which we inherited from our friends, definitely like any other constitution or legal documents it is not cast in store. We have to review it through this committee of experts.

Some people claim that Bobi Wine overshadows NUP. Do you think the party can survive without him?

Those people who talk like that, I think they are either the usual detractors or the opponents who are of course malicious and this could be coming from our major contender, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). They will always want to say that this is a tribal party. As we talk, I am the acting president of the party hailing from the East and this brings hope that sooner or later we are swinging the presidency to the East.

When Buganda overwhelmingly supported and voted for NUP in the last 2021 elections, the sub region was accused by those in the government of being sectarian. What do you think?

Anything has to have a beginning, NUP is even better than NRM which is concentrated with people from one clan.  How old is NUP? It has not taken more than a year. It had to have a start. The NRM started in Luweero, It had more of those people who started it, and it had more people from the West [than] Buganda.

Even when they have had to open up for other regions to join, they have maintained that selfish aspect of promoting and having at the top of the leadership people from the same region and they don’t call that tribalism.

NUP should be given a benefit of doubt, it has just started, and it has suffered at the hands of the ruling party during campaigns. We were even denied the opportunity to consult, then President Museveni used Covid-19 as a political tool. He imposed so many restrictions on candidate Kyagulanyi, he [Kyagulanyi] became the most teargassed, most arrested, most tortured and the most harassed candidate. So Kyagulanyi must be saluted because charity begins at home. There are some people who don’t have that charity, there are people who are hated right from their home areas.

Isn’t it shocking that you are the only NUP MP who emerged from Bugisu sub region?

Even when I am the only one from that far East, for your information there was massive rigging. We would have had more than ten members of Parliament from the sub region of Elgon alone. Most of the NUP supporters, prior to the polls, had been arrested. There were a number of mysterious disappearances of our supporters prior to the elections even during polling day itself.

Having spent some good time in the ruling party and now in NUP.When you compare the two parties, do you feel comfortable where you are?

In fact, I regret serving NRM for that long. I should have left and joined the opposition because my people are free to express themselves. You know I come from a constituency or district which was predominantly NRM and we have been voting NRM almost 90% and above. All the pledges they make, nothing has ever been fulfilled.

Look at Bugisu sub-region, we have only three slots of ministers. When you compare what we have benefitted out of NRM in 35 years down the road and what NUP is doing, it is more promising and it’s more encouraging.

Where do you see the future of NUP as a party in five years to come?

On the top of the leadership hierarchy in this country, by that time if it is not Hon Kyagulanyi, it will be Nambeshe John Baptist. You watch the space. We are not a joking subject on this matter .You know we are still reclaiming our stolen victory and we are not taking it by lying down. Don’t you think that when the likes of Hon Kyagulanyi are away on official duties, it’s also a form of reclaiming our lost victory? We are using all  means and ways to reclaim our victory. So come 2026, you never know by then, we might have taken over the leadership of this country.

As the Chief whip what are some of the challenges that you have so far encountered as you execute your duties?

There are many, actually one of them is when you are designating members in the committees... some of these members come with those expectations and the senior ones tell them that some committees are "dry" while others are lucrative. Under normal procedure, they [MPs] are supposed to apply for the committee of their choice but we ended up with nine committees vacant.

Nobody had expressed interest in being a member on the nine committees, you can imagine. So there you have to use discretionary powers. It is very difficult to lead leaders, you have to go an extra mile to convince them and that of course consumes a lot of resources and time.