Muntu (left) and Wadri interacting at the party’s headquarters. (Photo by Richard Sanya)

POLITICS|ELECTIONS

Like a family member returning home after being away for long, MP Kassiano Wadri was greeted with ululation and chants at the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party headquarters.

"You know I have been indisposed for a month. But the moment I was able to walk, I decided to come here (ANT) to tender in my credentials to the party secretary general so that the party can write to the Speaker, informing the House there is a new member from ANT," Wadri, who made his way into the party's conference room with a walking stick, said.

He becomes the latest MP to join ANT. Two MPs, Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality) and Paul Mwiru (Jinja East) joined ANT early this month. Karuhanga was elected to the House on an independent ticket. Mwiru went to Parliament on the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) ticket.

The party leader and presidential candidate in the 2021 general election, Maj. Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, welcomed Wadri to ANT. Wadri's decision puts to rest speculation about his choice for a political home ahead of the polls.

 In the 2016 elections, Wadri, then an FDC member, lost the Terego East constituency to Obiga Kania, the now state minister for internal affairs. Wadri contested in the Arua Municipality by election in 2018 as an independent candidate. FDC sponsored a different candidate, putting to test Wadri's loyalty to the party, and possibly hastening his decision to break ranks with it.

The Kyandondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, campaigned for Wadri in the by election under the People Power Movement. Kyagulanyi's driver was shot dead in the fracas that erupted on the last day of campaigns between Wadri's supporters and President Yoweri Museveni's security detail. Museveni had been campaigning for his party's flag-bearer, Nusura Tiperu. Wadri won the election.

Joel Ssenyonyi, the spokesperson of the National Unity Platform, a political party birthed by People Power Movement and is led by Kyagulanyi, said: "Wadri indicated earlier that he would be joining ANT. We do not regret having worked with him and we are still working together in the struggle," he added.