Political Risk Analyst Charles Ole Barasa has dismissed Paul Mwiru’s reasons for leaving the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) and joining the National Unity Platform (NUP) as a move to keep enjoying the benefits of political relevance.
Barasa made the statements while appearing on NBS TV’s Morning Breeze.
Former Jinja East Member of Parliament Paul Mwiru over the weekend switched sides, moved on from the ANT where he had been for only three years and joined the NUP, another opposition party.
While crossing over, Mwiru said he was joining NUP to support the party achieve its goals.
However, Barasa says that Paul Mwiru is only looking for another meal card after politically anticipating a hard ground for him in future.
“We are talking about someone who has been in three political parties in the last ten years, it is not new that Mwiru lost an election on the ANT ticket, he has realised that the party (ANT) is no longer a vehicle to his political aspirations, so he chose NUP so he can be able to return,” Barasa said.
He called upon Mwiru to be honest enough to accept the situation he finds himself in.
https://nilepost.co.ug/2023/07/15/nup-leaders-should-not-see-me-as-a-threat-to-their-positions-mwiru/
“We should be honest with each other, people deserve to know the truth. There's nobody who joins a political party to stay in the Opposition. Everybody who goes to politics has an agenda,” he said.
Responding to Barasa’s claims, Kassanda North MP Patrick Nsamba said that Mwiru’s move to NUP was only reinforced by the realisation of the strength of the NUP.
“I understand Paul Mwiru has been an asset to ANT that they probably wouldn't have wished to lose but in his political understanding, probably he has discovered that the force to reckon with for the country’s development is NUP,” he said.
“I find no problem with people changing their views about where they are and where they want to be, especially when you are driven by the public interest,” he added.
https://nilepost.co.ug/2023/07/16/mwiru-did-not-inform-ant-he-was-leaving-party-learned-of-departure-from-media/
Nsamba said that If Mwiru joined NUP to win an election in Jinja, he is going to become a weaker person but if he joined NUP to add efforts to bring down the regime in this country, he will come as a stronger person.
Nsamba said that the NUP is enforcing unity within the population for a better focus on the country, something Barasa contends.
“What is the Opposition uniting about? If the aspirations of NUP, ANT, FDC, and other Opposition political parties are the same, then they would simply have a merger. Why do they have separate entities?” Barasa posed.
NUP is accused of frustrating fellow opposition parties, being directly in charge of the collapse of the DP by fishing out its members, and it is also accused of fishing FDC members and now ANT members.