President explains that he only went out to get the lost sheep, but NRM MPs are angry that the ‘rebels’ could get such easy access to the party chairman.
Secret consultations between President Museveni and a group of outspoken NRM MPs considered rebels within the party have been revealed. Insider sources told The Observer last week that the president quietly met five rebel NRM lawmakers including Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) at his country home in Kisozi in an effort to alter the face of their opposition to the ruling NRM.
The meeting came to the fore at last week’s NRM caucus meeting that plotted the passage of the controversial clause 9 of the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill 2012, which gives discretionary powers to the minister for energy to grant or revoke oil licences.
The other MPs who were personally called and invited by Mr Museveni to Kisozi include Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East), Cerinah Nebanda (Butaleja Woman) and Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central). These MPs have opposed Museveni and NRM on almost everything and championed many anti-establishment causes. They have called for the restoration of presidential term limits, led calls for the resignation of ministers Sam Kutesa and Hilary Onek and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, accused earlier on this year of receiving bribes from an oil exploration company and, more recently, opposed the passage of clause 9 of the Oil bill.
Their anti-corruption crusade has been quite bruising for the NRM, whose rank-and-file has been in the line of fire. The presidential embrace of this group didn’t impress the loyalists in NRM one single bit. The loyalists, The Observer has learned, argued that it was wrong for Museveni to continue treating rebel MPs with kid gloves–yet their damage to the party is obliterating.
One such angry MP is Simon Peter Aleper (Moroto municipality), who bluntly asked the president to explain his secret dealings with the rebel MPs.
“People have been suspecting that you have met the Ssekikubos privately. It is further alleged that you keep on dialoguing with them yet they attack you publicly and also front contrary views to what we agree upon in our meetings,” Aleper reportedly said during the November 6 NRM caucus meeting.