By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: Presidential aspirant and the leader of People Power Movement Hon Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu aka Bobi Wine on 22nd, July 2020 has merged his pressure group with National Unity Platform (NUP).
According to the previous party president Moses Nkonge Kibalama, this party was fully registered in 2004. He also revealed that they decided to maker a merger between NUP and People Power at the party’s delegates conference on 14th July.
“The partnership between my party and People Power has been in the making since Bobi Wine won the parliamentary elections in Kyadondo East in 2017” Kibalama said.
“We followed him closely and wondered how his message echoed our inner feelings. We admired Mr Kyagulanyi for that matter because the issues he was concerned with were issues of Ugandans. We reached out to him and we have been talking since then” he added.
On his turn Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi said when they started the People Power Movement, they had lengthy discussions about whether or not to register it as a political party. How ever later they discovered that the regime would foil them to register the movement as a political party which forced them to take steps to to register it.
Kyagulanyi explains that surprisingly at the end of 2018, their legal team tried to reserve the name People Power only to find out that some regime mafias had swiftly reserved and flagged the Pressure Movement’s name so that Kyagulanyi doesn’t not register it.
“A few weeks back we announced the call for expression of interest, over 10,000 people responded so that they run under our platform so having realised that the People Power Movement itself would never be registered by the Museveni regime, it became very urgent and expedient to find a solution” Kyagulanyi said.
“In order to make the people power message even stronger, in July 2019, we went ahead and successfully changed the name of this political organisation from National Unity, Reconciliation and Development Party to the National Unity Platform. Therefore, today I stand here to announce to the nation that we are unveiling the National Unity Platform as the political wing of the People Power Movement. The National Unity Platform is a political organisation duly registered with the Electoral Commission” he added.
However Kyagulanyi said that they will maintain the People Power Movement as the glue that brings all people together, regardless of their political affiliations.
On addition hopeful President Kyagulanyi says that from 2018, their slogan has always been mission 2021 but since the Mov’t announced picking of forms for participation of 2021 elections, there has been one question from their supporters of what symbol would be used on the ballot paper hence launching a symbol of an umbrella.
The presidential hopeful also disclosed that in the coming days, they shall embark on a process of formalising the People Power Alliance to cater for their comrades and political leaders who belong to other registered political organisations.
“The People Power Alliance shall be comprised of different political formations which we have been working with and those that will be willing to join us. Formal engagements with many of these brothers and sisters have already been ongoing and they will continue.Finally, let me reiterate that what we are launching today is largely a symbol and a political platform that will usher us into the 2021 election.
