The relationship between the Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine and his Bugiri Municipality counterpart Asuman Basalirwa is currently at it’s sickbed; this website has learnt.
The bitter split, according to sources emanates from among other things, Basalirwa’s botched plot to use Bobi Wine’s People Power to build and strengthen his Justice Forum party while “pretending” to be a formidable ally at the same time.
It is reported that the self styled ghetto gladiator was greatly angered when his Bugiri Municipality friend approached him at the beginning of this year with a proposal to use JEEMA as the party for the People Power Movement before it morphed into National Unity Platform.
This was interpreted by Mr Kyagulanyi as Asuman playing the card to try induce him into accepting to be used for the benefit of JEEMA and possibly get discarded at a later stage. To Bobi Wine, this was seen as betrayal from the man he had sacrificed a lot for.
By conduct, Asuman reportedly annoyed Bobi Wine after he exhibited a very high degree of arrogance where he expected the NUP leader to only listen and do as he said suggesting superiority complex and difference in political seniority between the two party leaders.
” The Principal is very annoyed with that man but he doesn’t know it. He feels so arrogant and proud forgetting all the sacrifices that brought him to power. ” A very powerful lady at the NUP party Headquarters is quoted to have said shortly before the abrupt launch of NUP mid this year.
There were also a vengeance move to find a strong candidate to stand on the People Power endorsement before it became NUP in Bugiri Municipality only to be failed after Basalirwa’s rival Eunice Namatende shunned the approach from the Mercy Walukamba Elections Management Committee in favor of remaining loyal to her FDC party.
We have reliably learnt that the very powerful Walukamba is reported to have sent the Iganga FDC strong woman Mariam Nantale to convince Namatende who seemed to be still grieving over the 2018 loss in Bugiri which was only made possible by Bobi Wine’s involvement on the side of the eventual winner Basalirwa.
At the time, Basalirwa had been accused of planting his JEEMA candidates in almost all Constituencies especially in Busoga with the weighing scale emblem and people power colors.
Outside Busoga where Basalirwa hails, a plot was hatched where People Power interested candidates were contacted to embrace JEEMA with a promise that the people Power endorsement would certainly be theirs to take since they expected no resistance from Bobi Wine in that regard.
At the peak of his disappointment, Bobi Wine who had by now realized that he no longer had an ally in Basalirwa to bank on ahead of his presidential bid, opted to form his own political party even when he clearly knew it would cost him many moderate allies from other political parties who had embraced him for his highly enticing anti political party ideology.
In Bugiri, Basalirwa faces a do or die contest for the seat he only ascended to two years ago after trying and failing on four prior occasions.
NRM’s John Francis Okecho who has since been named party poll bearer will be relishing the opportunity to attack Basalirwa at a time when he is not in the best books of Bobi Wine after narrowly losing to him in 2018.
