Andrew Mwenda, the Managing Director of Independent Publications Limited and a leading political commentator, has moved swiftly to register as a member of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and will vie for a ticket to be its President and presidential candidate in next year’s election.
“There should be a delegates conference to elect a party leader and I will contest. I noticed that many assume Bobi Wine is the sole presidential candidate by anointment. That also must be rejected,” posted on his social media accounts after receiving a membership card at the party headquarters in Kamwokya.
The seasoned journalist also called for a presidential debate between himself and National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Bobi Wine on joining the party.
His full post on Facebook reads...
So today I went to the head office of NUP expecting to be lynched! I was prepared to die at the hands of what I thought was largely a collection of intolerant radical extremists. To my surprise, and except for a few noisy radicals, the young people I met there received me well and with overt excitement.
I went to NUP to register as a member, pick forms to be nominated as a candidate for both party leadership and party presidential candidate! I will be running against Bobi Wine for both positions.
Some radicals tried the threaten me, but some young ladies held their ground and told them off that I am a citizen of Uganda and welcome to join NUP. I was impressed.
So now I formally declare my intention to seek both the presidency of NUP and to be the party presidential candidate in the next elections.
I will bring civility, strategy, policy awareness, political depth, military and security knowledge and connections, regional and international experience, a large network of contacts across the country, region and globe, and the best fundraising skills the opposition in Uganda desperately need.
First, we need to make NUP democratic! The party has anointed a president, Bobi Wine - the very sin it claims to be fighting in NRM. There should be a delegates conference to elect a party leader and I will contest.
Second, I noticed that many assume Bobi Wine is the sole presidential candidate by anointment. That also must be rejected.
So I am calling for a debate between me and Bobi Wine on the future of NUP and the strategy to defeat Museveni! I call upon all party members to rally behind this call for internal democracy in NUP.
As the noble Mugisha Muntu never tires of telling us, you cannot give what you do not have. NUP cannot give democracy to Uganda it cannot practice it internally!
Mwenda is a controversial Managing director of the independent Publications Limited that publishes the independent, a current affairs newsmagazine.
He is an admirer of Socrates, Karl Popper, and Frederick Von Hayek, he is an activist, a journalist, a columnist, a part-time poet, a businessman, and a social entrepreneur.
Mwenda worked as a political editor of the Daily Monitor and general manager of its affiliate on FM radio, KFM, before establishing The Independent in 2007.
On 3 February 2019, Mwenda launched the Uganda National Peoples' Democratic Revolutionary Front (UNPDRF) in the bushes of Kanyandahi in western Uganda with six men and five sticks.
Comments