Opposition Politics Under Your Leadership Is Ugly And Awful, We Cannot Be In One Party-Lukwago Tells-Off Bobi

Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has publicly rebuked National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, stating that the opposition politics under his leadership is “ugly, awful, and sickening.”

Lukwago made these remarks on NBSTV’s Morning Breeze show on May 12, criticizing Bobi Wine’s recent public lie about former Leader of Opposition Mathias Mpuuga’s alleged involvement in the arrest and incarceration of Allan Ssewanyana and the late Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya over the machete killings in Greater Masaka after the 2021 elections.

Lukwago emphasized that instead of fighting key opposition figures from Buganda, the opposition’s focus should be on pressuring the regime, rather than engaging in infighting.

“We cannot turn guns against each other,” Lukwago said, “the least we can do under the circumstances is to have a common front.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA) national coordinator has been actively advocating for a common front where all opposition leaders ought to meet and engage in honest conversation about their differences and work towards a solution that would yield a united force against Museveni’s 40-year rule, as opposed to the squabbles largely stirred by NUP leader and his deputy in Buganda, Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi.

The veteran politician Lukwago expressed frustration with Bobi Wine’s leadership, stating, “after 30 solid years of [our] struggle, and we are still trapped in the same mantra, same quagmire, it pains me.”

Lukwago asserted that the cause of intrigue, pettiness, and hatred within the opposition is due to “dangerous political scheming.”

Lukwago made it clear that he and others like him, as well as Bobi Wine, cannot be in the same political party, citing their differences in ideology and approach.

“Let me tell you, we are not going to belong to the same political party. That is the fact, and that is what we fought. Monolithism is what we fought when we sought to dismantle the movement political system, which Museveni calls a novel political system. We said that is an illusion,” Lukwago said.

He added, “We fought monolithism, and now we are struggling to create a dispensation that will engender free competition for power. We cannot be in the same political party.”

In a veiled attack on Bobi Wine’s apparent desire for uniformity, Lukwago said, “What would you lose if today I went to Kavule for an activity, and I participated and retained my [political] identity?” He emphasized the importance of allowing individuals to maintain their political identities without fear of being blackmailed by Bobi Wine and his all-praise subordinates in NUP.

Lukwago’s strong words underscore the deepening divisions within the opposition.