The National Unity Platform (NUP) Party president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine has made a final decision on who will take on the role being Leader of Opposition in the 11th Parliament.
A position which is reserved for the opposition party with the most number of MPs in the August House, Bobi Wine saw his newly born party beat the Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] and Democratic Party (DP) having attained 61 legislators at both constituency and district levels of representation.
This meant that Bobi WIne’s NUP will now dethrone FDC as the main opposition, and therefore he will have to make a decision on who will take over from Betty Aol Achan as the new parliament opens up in May.
A number of names have in the last couple of months come up in speculations over who will take up the highly coveted position, with Mukono Municipality’s Betty Nambooze Bakireke, Busiro East’s Medard Lubega Ssegona and Masaka’s Mathias Mpuuga as favorites.
However, the fact that they are all from the Central Region where party leader Robert Kyagulanyi hails, and the only region where they won in the January 14 polls and the party haters branding NUP an ethnic Baganda group, appointing a Muganda to the office would make less sense.
This has since sparked off rumors within the party with many indicating that Kyagulanyi has now narrowed down to choose from only two members on the list of suitors for the position of LOP which in so doing, will be considered a regional balance rather than seniority.
This leaves only two non Buganda legislators in pole position to take up the role, that is, Hon. John Baptist Nambetshe of Manjiya County, who defected from the ruling NRM party to join NUP and Jinja City Woman MP Manjeri Kyebakutikka, a newly elected representative for the new city.
Insider sources further reveal that, Kyebakutikka of Busoga region has odds in her favour should Bobi Wine opt to reward the region for massively voting him against Museveni in the January polls.
As for Nambetshe, the only serving MP to have defected from NRM to NUP, Kyagulanyi will consider him only if he wishes to reward his loyalty and also send a signal to members of the ruling party that they would be well received and rewarded if at all they ever consider crossing.
Do you have a story or an opinion to share? Email us on: [email protected] Or join the Daily Express WhatsApp channel for all the latest news and trends or join the Telegram Channel for the latest updates.
