PPF Denies Ties With Mpuuga, Slams Kyagulanyi’s Unfounded Accusations

The National Unity Platform (NUP) leader, Robert Kyagulanyi, is facing backlash after alleging that his Deputy President in charge of Buganda who he arbitrarily suspended, Mathias Mpuuga, was being used by the regime to register People Power as a political party to undermine NUP.

In an interview with Sunday Monitor (30^th September 2024) Kyagulanyi claimed the government was using Mpuuga to register People Power as a political party, part of a larger scheme to implode NUP from within.

“We are now aware that they [the government] are trying to use our former Leader of Opposition in Parliament [LoP] to register People Power as a political party. This process started two years ago when he was still LoP and deputy president,” Kyagulanyi claimed.

However, Spattan Achilles Mukagyi, the People Power Front’s (PPF) acting Secretary General, issued a scathing statement on September 4^th, 2024 to debunk Kyagulanyi’s “unfounded accusations” declaring Mpuuga’s non-involvement in PPF.

Achilles expressed disgust at Kyagulanyi’s unfounded accusations, emphasizing that information about PPF’s founders is publicly available if he had wanted to know about their entity.

“The president of NUP Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi stepped it a notch higher by confidently making unfound utterances and wrongfully accusing Hon. Mathias Mpuuga as the Architect of PFF in a presser on the 30^th September 2024,” the preamble of the statement read, “it is public knowledge of who reserved PFF, and Hon. Mpuuga does not appear to be involved in any capacity.”

He added, “It is however, concerning that a president of the leading opposition party [NUP] makes statements without conducting comprehensive research, and due diligence.”

Achilles asserted, “information about the founders of People Power Front can be easily accessed through the Electoral Commission and has been publicly available for some time through mainstream media. Additionally, PPF has not made any statements or taken any actions to criticize or attack NUP in any manner.”

“However, NUP appears to be unequivocally interested in politically marring [damaging] PPF,” the Secretary-General, wondered.

Achilles who questioned Kyagulanyi’s moral standing and transparency, highlighting the importance of responsible political discourse, used the statement to clarify five issues;

1. He said, “the document circulating on social media as the concept note for PPF is not authored by PPF promoters and accordingly should be regarded with the utmost disdain/contempt it warrants”
2.  He argued Robert Kyagulanyi “as the president of the leading opposition party is implored to build a cohesive environment in the opposition political arena instead of fighting and attacking emergent parties as he is doing with PPF.”
3. “As the leading opposition political party, the NUP leadership ought to demonstrate their commitment to a multiparty system by acknowledging both established and emerging political entities, with PPF being one of such entity.”
4. “The promoters of PPF urge all political stakeholders to engage in mature and responsible political discourse, characterized by tolerance of dissenting views, and focused on effectively selling political ideology to the public as opposed to politically marring [damaging] emergent participants in the political space through blackmail and sabotage.”
5. “PPF promoters advocate for unity and encourage active participation in the transformation of the country’s leadership, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing Uganda for the current and future generations.”

The PPF Secretary General’s denial statement has left many wondering if Kyagulanyi is in “control of NUP or if external forces are at play.”

For starters, Achilles is a known long-time assistant to the NUP Secretary-General David Lewis Rubongoya, and until recently, a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in charge of organization at the National Unity Platform.

The big question would be, why is Kyagulanyi unwaveringly involved in manipulating information to damage Mpuuga’s reputation?