Bobi Wine trying hard to prove I'm a terrible human being - Mpuuga

'I have only been hearing him speak in the media, press conferences, and funeral trying so hard to convince the country that I'm a terrible human being, which the country has not accepted'

By Catherine Ajuna Ayebare

Mathias Mpuuga has no intention to quit the National Unity Platform as speculation has been suggesting his days at the biggest Opposition party in the country are numbered.

The former Leader of the Opposition has been asked by NUP's National Executive Committee with the party writing to Parliament to withdraw him from the position of Parliamentary Commissioner.

But amid the seeming festered relations, he says he is not leaving the party. He accused the principal, Robert Kyagulanyi, of telling lies to the nation about meetings that did not happen.

"I have not had a meeting with my party leader," Mpuuga told journalists at Parliament on Tuesday.

"I have only been hearing him speak in the media, press conferences, and funeral trying so hard to convince the country that I'm a terrible human being, which the country has not accepted.

Mpuuga has been under pressure since revelations surfaced last month that he had attended a meeting that negotiated and gave him Shs500 billion "service award" in 2022.

At the time, Mpuuga was the Leader of the Opposition, which office he lost in December for reasons the party never conclusively explained.

While NUP retained Mpuuga as a backbench commissioner in the new team headed by Joel Ssenyonyi, it [NUP] has since moved to take away that position from him as well over what the party termed as "corruption" and "abuse of office".

However, the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP did not indicate whether he will step down as demanded or address himself on the push that has turned to shove, instead he said he is not leaving a party he helped found.

"I'm here to state that I'm a founder of NUP," Mpuuga said.

"I did not join NUP, I was a part of the founding blocks of NUP where I served as a Deputy President in charge of Buganda. I'm here to reaffirm I'm not leaving NUP."

Mpuuga was tentatively replaced by Mityana Municipalilty MP Francis Zaake as parliamentary commissioner.

The acting President of NUP, Lina Zedriga, said the decision was reached in a meeting with the party's National Executive Committee on March 4.

Mpuuga, however, said he does not hold any grudge against Kyagulanyi and that if anyone has any questions about the unknown rivalry, they should look for him [Kyagulanyi] and find out.