Merger not a threat, says Basoga

By Alfred Wasike INFORMATION minister Basoga Nsadhu has described the proposed merger by presidential aspirants Nasser Sebaggala, Francis Bwengye and Wasswa Lule under the Democratic Party (DP) umbrella as useless and inconsequential. He said, "Their alliance doesn't threaten our candidate (President Museveni) at all. "We are very solid. Whether they gang up or not, we shall thrash them thoroughly. "The Movement is very strong. Our achievements over the years speak for themselves. Their merger is useless and inconsequential. Of course they are ganging up because running different presidential campaigns is very expensive," he said. He said: "Our achievements in education, health, water, security and democratisation are landmarks which neither Sebaggala, Bwengye, Lule nor any other person can dispute." Basoga said the Museveni campaign officials had commissioned most of the district task forces and we were in the process of establishing sub-county, parish and village task forces. Basoga was reacting to a story published by The New Vision yesterday about reports of Sebaggala and Bwengye merger talks. Sebaggala told The New Vision on Sunday that he, Bwengye and Wasswa Lule were in talks for a single candidate to be the DP flag-bearer in the coming elections because having three candidates "would confuse the party supporters." Bwengye said a deal was near, adding that other discussions chaired by a university academic were going on for multipartyists to agree on a joint candidate. But Aggrey Awori has so far shunned the discussions. Awori yesterday said he had not been contacted over the talks. Sebaggala said the selection of a single candidate for DP would be determined by many factors. "One of the factors is the support a presidential aspirant enjoys. "We must ask, 'what do we lose or gain by fielding the candidate?"' he said. "Bwengye and Wasswa have more education than me but I enjoy more support at the grassroot. "We have to decide whether to field the person who is better educated or one who enjoys grassroot support," Sebaggala said. Ends.