Where Is It? Puzzle of UGX16Bn Museveni Mobilized 8 Yrs Ago For Missing NRM House As Baby NUP Unveils Brand New Home

Despite being a relatively younger political party, the National Unity Platform [NUP] boasts of a brand new home located at Kavule-Makerere on the outskirts of Uganda’s potholed Kampala Capital City.

This is in sharp contrast to the longest-ruling National Resistance Movement [NRM] which lacks a home to write home about and rents most of the offices for its party branches across the country whose leaders struggle to pay rent for. This is irrespective of the fact that most of the top NRM leaders themselves are billionaires owning expensive residences, commercial apartments, and a lot of wealth.

This brings me to the sixteen billion shillings President Yoweri Museveni collected on June 27, 2015, under the impression the funds were going to be used to construct the NRM House but for which not even a foundation has ever been laid to date. Two fundraising dinners were held at the State House for the purpose of raising those funds with the NRM chairman himself, President Yoweri Museveni presiding over the fundraising proceedings.

Generosity Unleashed

The First Lady herself, Janet Kataha Museveni held a collection basket for the donations in her hands and then powerful business moguls of Uganda proceeded to unzip their happy wallets, unleashing their contributions. She stood at the stairs of the State House as the wealthy people in attendance made their contributions. Who else? Kampala’s Mr. Deep Pockets, Sudhir Ruparelia made a whopping three billion contribution followed by moneybags, Charles Mbiire who paid three hundred million shillings.

Businessmen, Patrick Baguma Bitature, Hamis Kiggundu Ssentongo a.k.a Ham, and local female black magic practitioner, Maama Fiina real name Sophia Namutebi each forked out one hundred million shillings for the cause. Even if by that time Sudhir had not started on the job of construction of Kingdom Hall, located just opposite the empty plot behind Crested Towers the site of the proposed NRM House, the billionaire has since erected and completed the multi-billion building.

Ham himself had not started on construction of the new modern Nakivubo stadium. Still, which is now as good as accomplished, and the NRM chairman himself, President Yoweri Museveni is set to unveil the UGX740Bn sports facility on December 9 but without even a mere foundation to show for the sixteen billion shillings he himself collected to use to erect the NRM House. Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] an evidently younger party in relation to the ruling NRM has been holding power for the last thirty-five years and, owns a home located at Najjanankumbi along Kampala-Entebbe road.

Unraveling the NRM House Saga

Similarly, DP owns a home along Balintuma Road in Nakulabye courtesy of its business mogul leader, John Ssebaana Kizito and so is JEEMA headed by Bugiri MP,  Hajj Asuman Basalirwa. NRM’s Kampala branch treasurer, and money lender, Arvind Patel tried and was stopped in his tracks from seizing the NRM funds from Housing Finance Bank, seeking to use the money to pay himself what he had loaned to his party to organize one of the previous party’s delegates conferences at which Amama Mbabazi defeated Prof Gilbert Bukenya for the post of Secretary General.

Subsequently, had Arvind Patel succeeded in confiscating the funds, we wouldn’t be here raising questions as to the whereabouts of the funds realized at the dinner fundraiser called by the president to construct the NRM House which itself is as mysterious as the funds themselves. During the fundraiser, a very effort was made to scapegoat Amama Mbabazi as a lazy and neglect leader who had failed to secure the land title for the NRM House construction site let alone to build the NRM House for all the time he held the post of the Secretary General for the ruling party.

Mbabazi had just fallen out with President Museveni, leading to his dismissal from the post of the NRM Secretary General and the cabinet post of Prime Minister of Uganda all merely because he had stepped out to exercise his constitutional right of running for State power which is as good as the commission of high treason in the eyes of Gen Yoweri Museveni, his handlers and cheerleaders. Now Mbabazi was dismissed eight years ago.

The Enigma of NRM House Funds

During the fundraiser dinners, the NRM Secretary General, Christine Lumumba, and the party Treasurer, Rose Namayanja convinced everyone about how the Title for the NRM construction site had been secured by the party following Mbabazi’s dismissal, implying all was set for the beginning of the job.

Above all, a total of UGX16Bn was thankfully donated to the NRM House cause by the wealthy people in attendance at the fundraiser. Yet eight years later following the dismissal of the neglect, lazy, and saboteur Amama Mbabazi as the party’s Secretary General, the site for the construction of the NRM House remains as empty as the pledge to replace the site with the NRM House itself. Could it be that the funds mobilized for the NRM House were used to run a counter-offensive election campaign against Amama Mbabazi since he had declared his ambition to run for power with Gen Yoweri Museveni? Efforts to seek answers from the responsible people in NRM were futile and were instead met with outrage.

” The issue of NRM House is an internal matter of and for NRM. Strangers have no any business asking questions about that issue,” a top NRM leader and also a serving cabinet Minister angrily responded to questions from this reporter. Yet the NRM collected money from part of members of the public and so, one would rather think that asking for accountability for the funds collected from public members has never been a crime. After all, the funds fundraised were supposed to build a home for a political party which is the property of Ugandans and not for individuals except proved otherwise.

Lingering Questions, Accountability Dilemmas, and the Puzzling Absence of Party Headquarters

But as I write, neither is the NRM House in place nor are the whereabouts known for the funds collected eight years ago for that important cause and, before I can forget, during broad daylight. Yet here we are being told off for doing the terrible thing of asking for the whereabouts of the money in light of the absence of what it was mobilized and donated for.

Did I hear someone say that a party that cannot practice internal accountability cannot and never practice accountability while in power? Could the absence of the NRM House be the reason why the Powers-that-be were compelled to use unreasonable, stopping the NUP leaders from unveiling their own home at Kavule-Makerere? 

Well, thanks for reading keep the faith, and many blessed years ahead.