UPC’s Dick Nyai joins Movement
Jul 23, 2005
A Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) heavyweight, Dick Nyai, has abandoned his political home of 46 years and crossed to the National Resistance Movement.
By Alfred Wasike and
Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
A Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) heavyweight, Dick Nyai, has abandoned his political home of 46 years and crossed to the National Resistance Movement.
Nyai, 63, a former Ayivu MP (Arua) who edited the UPC and Reform Agenda publications, The People and Reform Uganda, was received by President Yoweri Museveni amid thunderous cheers from thousands of Movement supporters who braved a scorching sun at Kololo, in Kampla, yesterday.
Three DP mobilisers, George Alele, Steven Oketcho and Paulina Najjemba, also defected.
A drizzle disrupted the referendum rally that the Police estimated at 10,000 people. The audience wore mainly yellow NRM insignia. They waved fresh tree branches to represent the Tree, the symbol for the call to return to party politics in the July 28 referendum.
“Thank you for seeing the light finally. You are welcome to the NRM,†Museveni said as he shook Nyai’s hand. Nyai, a strong anti-Museveni critic, represented Ayivu in the Constituent Assembly.
A smiling Nyai clad in a dark suit said, “I made a pledge to join the Movement. I feel relieved. I have fulfiled my pledge. I feel an honest man.†He said he flew to Kampala from Arua to defect to NRM.
Bakoko Bakoru, who beat Nyai to Parliament in the 2001, handed him a yellow NRM shirt and cap. She gave him a lift in her official car.
Museveni described the UPC as a bankrupt company that has collapsed twice in its bid to rule Uganda. He described the DP as a “stillbirth†that handed over power to UPC. “How do they come back now?†Museveni asked. He blamed Uganda’s problems on bad leadership.
“All these brothers and sisters disabled today were crippled during UPC governance. Such parties did not have the Movement policies that transformed our country,†Museveni said.
He said despite the Movement achievements, 24% of Ugandans had always opposed the Movement, citing DP chief Paul Ssemogerere and MPs whom he said were elected as Movement representatives but went to Parliament and frustrated development.
Museveni triggered off cheers when he said, “We should vote for the Tree so that we let them organise themselves. We will strengthen cohesion in the NRM and consolidate our country’s achievements. We are tired of them lying to the world that there is no freedom in Uganda yet I get abused almost daily on the radios that the NRM brought to Uganda.â€
He said his former adviser, Major Roland Kakooza Mutale, who had opposed the ‘Yes’ vote, had come back.
Ends
Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
A Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) heavyweight, Dick Nyai, has abandoned his political home of 46 years and crossed to the National Resistance Movement.
Nyai, 63, a former Ayivu MP (Arua) who edited the UPC and Reform Agenda publications, The People and Reform Uganda, was received by President Yoweri Museveni amid thunderous cheers from thousands of Movement supporters who braved a scorching sun at Kololo, in Kampla, yesterday.
Three DP mobilisers, George Alele, Steven Oketcho and Paulina Najjemba, also defected.
A drizzle disrupted the referendum rally that the Police estimated at 10,000 people. The audience wore mainly yellow NRM insignia. They waved fresh tree branches to represent the Tree, the symbol for the call to return to party politics in the July 28 referendum.
“Thank you for seeing the light finally. You are welcome to the NRM,†Museveni said as he shook Nyai’s hand. Nyai, a strong anti-Museveni critic, represented Ayivu in the Constituent Assembly.
A smiling Nyai clad in a dark suit said, “I made a pledge to join the Movement. I feel relieved. I have fulfiled my pledge. I feel an honest man.†He said he flew to Kampala from Arua to defect to NRM.
Bakoko Bakoru, who beat Nyai to Parliament in the 2001, handed him a yellow NRM shirt and cap. She gave him a lift in her official car.
Museveni described the UPC as a bankrupt company that has collapsed twice in its bid to rule Uganda. He described the DP as a “stillbirth†that handed over power to UPC. “How do they come back now?†Museveni asked. He blamed Uganda’s problems on bad leadership.
“All these brothers and sisters disabled today were crippled during UPC governance. Such parties did not have the Movement policies that transformed our country,†Museveni said.
He said despite the Movement achievements, 24% of Ugandans had always opposed the Movement, citing DP chief Paul Ssemogerere and MPs whom he said were elected as Movement representatives but went to Parliament and frustrated development.
Museveni triggered off cheers when he said, “We should vote for the Tree so that we let them organise themselves. We will strengthen cohesion in the NRM and consolidate our country’s achievements. We are tired of them lying to the world that there is no freedom in Uganda yet I get abused almost daily on the radios that the NRM brought to Uganda.â€
He said his former adviser, Major Roland Kakooza Mutale, who had opposed the ‘Yes’ vote, had come back.
Ends