LUWERO: NUP councillors in Luwero district have turned down an invitation to go to leadership training and meet President Yoweri Museveni, which is part of their job.
Abdul Mazinga, the speaker of the Luwero District Council, recently met with a group of State House officials. They told him that they wanted to train district councillors and LC 3 chairpersons on how to be better leaders.
The proposed training, scheduled for 14 days, is expected to take place at Garuga Resort Beach in Entebbe. President Yoweri Museveni is expected to close the leadership training.
Mazinga told the councillors about the training and asked them to let the organisers know if they wanted to go so they could set the dates.
Luwero is made up of 11 councillors from Uganda’s newest political party, the National Unity Platform, 12 from the ruling National Resistance Movement, 13 Independents, and three from the opposition Forum for Democratic Change-FDC party, which wants to change the country.
The District Chairperson, Erastus Kibirango, and the Speaker also subscribe to NUP. The councillors of the NUP have agreed to turn down the request to go to the training, saying that it is meant to hurt them.
Edward Zziwa, the Luwero sub-county LC V councillor, says that if the training was intended to improve service delivery, it would have been organised by the Ministry of Local Government but not by statehouse officials.
Zziwa says that the purpose of the training is to promote the NRM ideology, which has no benefit to them. Herbert Ssekubulwa, the Luwero town council LC V councillor, says that there is nothing to learn from President Museveni’s lectures because he doesn’t practise what he preaches.
Florence Nagita, the Makulubita sub-county representative, says that she has consulted her electorates, who advised her not to attend the training because it’s not beneficial to them. On the other hand, Isa Nsubuga, the Ndejje town LC V councillor, says that it would be a betrayal for him to attend a meeting with Museveni when their supporters are incarcerated.
Others said that they don’t want to meet Museveni because he has failed to address issues that affect the district and they have lost trust in him.
But Ahmed Kasibante, a Busiika town council LC V councillor who belongs to FDC, says that he is ready to attend the training to learn how to deliver and lobby services for his voters. A group of independent councillors and their NRM counterparts have already said they want to go to the training, saying it’s a chance to meet President Yoweri Museveni.
Derick Lukanga Kibirango, the Kikyusa sub-county LC V councillor, says that they need the training and interaction with Museveni to tell him issues that affect the district. As a man’s representative, Jjuuko Jamil wants to make sure that NUP councillors go through the training so that they can talk to the President and get answers from him.
Abdul Mazinga, the Luwero District Speaker, said that attending the training is up to each councillor because there is no council resolution that says they must go to the training.
The Luwero District Woman Member of Parliament, Brenda Nabukenya, says that the training is intended to compromise the councillors and find ways of winning back the district since Museveni didn’t perform well in the 2021 general elections. She warns councillors of dire consequences from their voters should they attend Museveni’s lectures.
According to the 2021 presidential results, Museveni obtained only 41,166 votes (27.94 percent) out of 151,964 votes cast in the Luwero district. His main challenger, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, scored 103,782 votes (70.45 per cent).
An analysis of tally sheets from the Luwero district shows that Museveni scored less than 20 percent in 113 out of 471 polling stations, a clear indication that he lost support in the district. Recently, 56 out of the 85 National Unity Platform (NUP) councillors in Wakiso District defied the party position to attend a two-week leadership training called by President Museveni.
