Otunnu rivals plotting to oust him from UPC seat

By Moses Mulondo

THE Uganda Peoples’ Congress president Dr. Olara Otunnu is under immense pressure to convene the national council and a delegates’ conference before the end of March without which he will be thrown out of office.

This is what the various groups opposed to his leadership are planning, according to party stalwarts Jimmy Akena and David Pulkol.

Akena told New Vision on Wednesday that UPC is destined for a constitutional and political crisis as Otunnu’s term ends on March 15, 2015.

While addressing a press conference, UPC Vice President Joseph Bbosa said, “We cannot have grassroots elections because they were halted by a court case filed by some UPC members. This has also affected the Delegates Conference because it cannot take place before grassroots elections.”

Bbosa appealed to those who filed the case to realize that political differences cannot be settled in courts of law.

“Court cases can take very long to be completed. Even when one group wins, another group has a right to appeal. The doors are open for us to talk and end the differences outside court,” Bbosa said.

Akena, who was Otunnu’s major rival in the race for UPC presidency in 2010, said, “We want the organs to meet and carry out their functions. The National Council which is supposed to approve the programs for grassroots elections and the Delegates Conference has not met since April 2011.”

Akena, who is also the Lira municipality MP and son of UPC founding President Dr. Milton Obote, said the demand from court is that party leaders should call the part organs should that we resolve our differences within the party organs.

Akena said the court case, which was first filed in April last year, has delayed because Otunnu’s team did not take out of court discussions seriously.

“The principal judge offered to mediate the talks but Otunnu snubbed him. Our differences can only be resolved within the party organs. It is just one month to the end of Otunnu’s term but there is no program for the Delegates Conference. We need to catch up with other parties,” Akena lamented.

When contacted, Akena said he was locked in a meeting with Pulkol and other UPC leaders discussing measures for redeeming their party.

A tough speaking Pulkol expressed disappointment that Otunnu advocates for things in national politics which he does not practice within UPC.

“He keeps preaching national reconciliation but he has failed to unite the various factions within UPC. He talks of electoral reforms and need for a clean voters register but he has been attempting to hold sham elections within until we stopped him through court. Otunnu is a great calamity that befell the great UPC party. The public should not take him seriously,” Akena said.

Pulkol advised Otunnu to hold discussions with rival groups so that a consent judgment can be agreed upon within a period of two weeks.

“It is important for Otunnu’s team to sit with Akena’s team, Rurangaranga’s team and Milton Obote Foundation team to come up with a roadmap. Otunnu should stop violating the party constitution. He should stop circumventing party organs,” Pulkol argued.

Akena and Pulkol said they have embarked on preparations for UPC’s 55thanniversary on March 9th.

“If that anniversary reaches when Otunnu has not yet called the national council and the delegates conference, we shall turn it into a Delegates’ Conference and throw him out by force and install a new leadership after all it will be only four days to the end of his term,” Pulkol warned.

The party leaders had announced last year in December that grassroots elections would be completed in January and a delegates conference be convened in march this year but internal conflicts are delaying these programs.