KAMPALA – Outspoken Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze has likened the ongoing primary elections of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) with the 18th century folktale of Ali Baba and the forty thieves.
According to Nambooze, the NRM primaries are all about fulfilling selfish interests and have nothing to do with the governance of Uganda.
The primaries, particularly those of MP flag bearers were marked by violence, intimidation, voter bribery and rigging.
And the legislator, who now subscribes to the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, the NRM elections were all about those with the highest amount of money.
“It is all to do with Ali Baba and the forty thieves, nothing to do with the governance of Uganda. These people are not fighting to go to Parliament to earn a salary. They are fighting for the opportunities that come with it. Most MPs go for their own businesses when they go for benchmarking abroad,” she said.
Over 100 incumbent MPs, including MPs lost in the primaries and according to Nambooze, this shows that the voice of the people still remains strong.
Several MPs were kicked out of Parliament on grounds of supporting the Bill on the removal of the presidential age limit from the Constitution.
“When you assist a dictator through fire, you will be the first to be extinguished. How many of the MPs that supported the age limit will go back to Parliament? Even when the NRM Primaries elections were false, the voice of Ugandans managed to come out. Most NRM MPs who strongly supported age limit removal did not go through,” Nambooze says.
“The opposition doesn’t have money, and we are not planning to counter the NRM money politics. They did not earn money from their efforts. They picked the money from funds that are supposed to fund projects in this country. Some of them got it from Museveni,” she adds.
