{UAH} Museveni’s Shs 4.8bn splits UPC
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- Written by Edris Kiggundu
Billions of shillings given by President Museveni to the Jimmy Akena-led Uganda People's Congress (UPC) faction during the 2016 elections have split the group. Some faction members now accuse Akena, their leader, of pocketing all the cash.
According to impecca- ble party sources, Shs 4.8 billion was given to the Akena faction to shore up a political cooperation deal between the ruling NRM party and UPC. Under the deal, UPC was supposed to work closely with NRM in Lango sub-region, the opposition party's stronghold.
In the last election, Akena's group was supposed to mobilize support for Museveni and lend its party structures in Lango to the NRM. In return, the NRM gave money to the party, in addition to a pledge by President Museveni to appoint members loyal to Akena to cabinet and other government posts.
Now sources suggest that the money has split Akena's faction and some of his erstwhile allies are bitter that they did not receive even a cent.
According to insider sources, the money was supposed to go to four categories of people: Akena's immediate family, the UPC secretariat workers, the party cabinet and the wider Milton Obote family.
However, now sources claim that Akena and his wife, Betty Amongi, the minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, are not forthcoming about how the money was utilized. The suspicion among some members is that the money was diverted for personal use.
MEETINGS
There have been a series of meetings between Akena and some of his cabinet members to iron out these, and other pending, issues. But sources said the stormiest of all took place in June last year, shortly after Amongi was appointed to cabinet.
The meeting, which took place at Akena's new palatial home in Bwebajja, along Entebbe road, had been called by Akena to nudge the party cabinet to endorse Amongi's ministerial appointment.
It was attended by the late party secretary general Edward Sseganyi, Maxwell Akora (national treasurer), Fred Ebil (assistant secretary), Brenda Kinyera (youth leader), Fahad Kinyiri (workers' league) and Kellen Mugizi (women league), among other people.
Before the endorsement could be made, some members pointed out that Akena had kept them in the dark about the deal with the NRM.
One of the thorniest issues, according to sources, related to the Shs 4.8 billion given to the party by Museveni. Sources said Akena first said that to his knowledge, the party had received only Shs 1.8 billion through his wife who he had delegated to handle the matter.
However, later when it was put to him that they had information (from within Akena's family) that they had received all the cash, the Lira municipality MP got angry.
"He started shouting at whoever was disagreeing with him and said UPC and NRM are still in talks and nothing had been concluded," one person who attended the meeting, said.
According to sources, at this point, the meeting turned into a shouting match. One of the attendees said Akena and his wife had been bribed to bury UPC because the party had not benefitted politically from the deal. Another shouted that they will not allow Uganda House, the party headquarters, to turn into an extension of plot 10, Kyadondo road, where NRM's main officers are located.
The meeting ended unceremoniously but the acrimony did not. From the resulting fall- out, some of the party officials who have been vocal against the deal were recently suspended.
They include Moses Higenyi Kemba, the party's chief administrative officer; Andrew Omara, the head of communication at the secretariat; and Richard Angweri, the head of security at Uganda House.
Akora, the national treasurer, who has also been outspoken, is reportedly under probe and the party recently tried to evict him from his office at Uganda House. Akena said yesterday that he did not receive any money from the NRM, adding that those saying so are spreading "fake news."
"I have seen an SMS about that fake news but there is nothing, my brother. There is no money I received," Akena said.
He added that the suspension of the party officials was a management issue. He declined to explain specifically what the officials had done. Kemba told The Observer yesterday that his suspension was done arbitrarily and illegally.
"I was suspended by Ebil who has no power to discipline me. Only the UPC cabinet can punish me," Kemba said.
He said Ebil was being used by Akena to fight people opposed to the UPC- NRM deal. Yesterday, the party was scheduled to hold a meeting to cool the tension and to discuss the suspension of these officials, among other issues.
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