Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mathias Mpuuga, has asked journalists to “shut up” and desist from blackmailing the opposition to call off their boycott and resume attendance of plenary sittings in Parliament.
Giving an update on the ongoing boycott by the opposition, Mpuuga, who is also the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP and National Unity Platform (NUP) Vice President, announced that although plenary sittings resume tomorrow and even when government plans to respond to the issues raised, the Opposition will stay away from the proceedings until government has officially communicated to details on its commitment to address the issues at hand with clear timelines.
“After that meeting with Government, no progress has been made, save for the a transitory commitment with no timeframe to the effect that they are ready to respond to the issues we raised. We are out of plenary sittings until we have received response and there is no new development since then,” he said on November 13.
Mpuuga further scoffed at those vending allegations that the boycott has failed to yield results, prompting government to ignore the opposition. “They also purport to know me, yet they don’t know me. That is the danger and mistakes that people make, purporting to know people they do not know and they are forgivable for their ignorance,” he noted.
“I don’t do anything by cram work, those who have known me, know that I respond to issues depending on how they were raised. I have some level of imagination and that is how I handle them, so ask them to drop their cram work. I assess situations and supply answers depending on the conditions prevailing & if anybody tries to cram me, they will crash. I am not linear by the way I work.”
Mpuuga claimed that although they were quiet, those in government were not as comfortable as some thought and they were feeling the heat.
“If the Executive is adamant and obstinate, our duty as opposition is to insist and the insistence can be various. We are engaging the right gear and we are not about to change it. If necessity arises for us to change the gear, we will assess the feasibility of that engagement, but at the moment as their team leader, I am content with how we are moving. You probably might think the Executive is comfortable, probably the comfort is on their faces, but they are hurting,” he submitted.
He then turned to journalists and rebuked them for being paid to pile pressure on him and fellow opposition members to portray the boycott as a failure. He said it was high time journalists “shut up” and freely picked their pay checks instead of blackmailing the opposition.
“I also see some attempts at blackmailing me and my office, I follow it, I want to advise that whoever is financing whoever so please take your pay check but report what we say. Do not misrepresent me and my office, if you have any questions raise them, I have never failed to make a response even if it is really flat. Raise the questions, do not attempt at blackmail because I never buckle at blackmail. Otherwise you aren’t helping the cause of citizens, for you to divert us into small things. If you have any questions, raise them here or shut up.”
Mpuuga has previously been in sharp disagreements with his boss Bobi Wine over his method of work. The war of words between Mpuuga and Bobi Wine had so much escalated that he reportedly told off the NUP leader never to tell him what to do because he is an adult. Mpuuga and Bobi Wine’s NUP previously seemed to tell Ugandans that they were on their own and that they could not do much apart from issuing statements on key issues. But Mpuuga seems to have conceded to toe Bobi Wine’s line. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
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