Akena's UPC faction in 'financial crisis'

Jan 07, 2016

The group says lack of money is likely to affect all party activities and performance of their candidates, come February.

KAMPALA - The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) party group subscribing to Jimmy Akena's faction is facing a financial crisis.

The faction's secretary general, Edward Segganyi, has said they lack money to effectively run party activities like facilitating campaigns for their candidates.

Addressing journalists at the party's weekly press briefing, Segganyi said they have 2,000 candidates contesting for different posts all over the country.

"But most of our candidates have no fuel to take them to different places to look for votes. They have no money to hire public address systems to be used at campaigns and for drives."

He said since Akena took over leadership, the Milton Obote Foundation (MOF), a business arm of the party, has never released a single coin to them.

MOF runs Uganda House and a prime plot adjacent to it. It also manages another building in the Industrial Area, Kampala among other properties.

The group says this is likely to affect all party activities and performance of their candidates, come February.

"Our cabinet wrote to MOF with the budget but they have never given feedback. Instead they are using the money to facilitate independent candidates and Go-Forward members which contravenes the party's Constitution Article 3.6(2)," said the secretary general.

It is understood the faction needs sh10bn to facilitate their candidates and, according to Segganyi, they are currently surviving on little contributions from MPs and well-wishers.

"Akena is injecting all his money in the party activities and supporting some of the candidates but it is not enough," he told reporters.

If MOF and Otunnu's action continue along the path they have refused to abandon, he said, they will rally all party members to gather around Uganda House and confront them.

However when contacted, the MOF chief executive officer, Terence Oyepa, neither denied nor confirmed the allegations, saying he needed more time to check through his correspondences before making any response.

"I need to first go through some of the correspondences to see the various provisions before I respond."

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