Embattled UPC members have spoken out against threats of expulsion from the party that have since been issued by the administration of UPC President, Jimmy Akena.
Through the party Acting Secretary General, Fred Ebil, four party members who claim to be UPC leaders and leading a parallel group have been summoned to appear before the party disciplinary committee in March.
Those that have been summoned include Joseph Bossa who is accused of holding out as UPC party president, Peter Walubiru who holds as Vice President, Fr. Jacinto Ogwal who holds out as the Secretary General and Isha Otto who holds out as the Party Secretary for Mobilization.
Ebil noted that should those summoned to appear before the committee to offer a satisfactory defence against the allegations, fail to appear, the party will be left with no option but to rule in their absence and have them expelled from the party.
Read More: Akena Threatens to Expel Parallel UPC President Joseph Bossa
SoftPower News has spoken to the embattled members who have vowed never to appear before what they term as an “illegal” administration that is controled by the ruling NRM party.
Joseph Bossa who assumed UPC Presidency from the former UN Under Secretary, Ambassador Olara Otunnu and is currently out of the country said that he can’t waste time appearing before an illegal body.
“First, i am out of the country. Second, the threat is totally meaningless, has no basis and effect,” Bossa said.
The Secretary for mobilization in the Bossa administration, Isha Otto noted that he hasn’t received any summons and in any case, he can’t appear before an NRM committee a party he has been fighting for years, for disciplinary action.
“How do you expect a reply to the Museveni’s agent from a UPC member like myself. That’s the problem of redundancy and lunacy,” Otto responded.
Peter Walubiri, the Vice President in the anti-Akena faction said that Akena is a conscript and President Museveni’s hostage with no authority over UPC affairs except through force.
“His empty threats will not stop us from freeing our party and in turn the country from three decades of brazen military dictatorship,” Walubiri said.
Walubiri added that Akena is an impostor and all the committees he purports to set up are an illegality.
“I follow the law and cannot give credence to an illegal process. How can I appear before an NRM committee when since 1986, I have worked and sacrificed to remove the NRM york from the people of Uganda?” he said.
Akena has since taken over the party headquarters despite Bossa winning a case against him in the courts of law and he thus filed a Civil Appeal No.20 of 2016 of UPC and Others Versus Joseph Bossa seeking Court intervention to determine the legitimate party president but the case has dragged on to date.