Members of the opposition Uganda Peoples’ Congress are unsettled by the delayed signing of a Memorandum of Understand (MOU) between them and President Museveni.
UPC under the leadership of Lira Municipality legislator, Jimmy Akena entered into an informal cooperation with the ruling NRM government during the election period which they are seeking to formalize.
The work relations culminated in the appointment of the party members to some government positions including Betty Amongi to head the Ministry of Lands.
This raised a lot of contention as the move was criticized as a selloff of the party to president Museveni.
In June, President Akena told Chimpreports that the party cabinet sat and resolved to come up with an MOU that would streamline the cooperation. They were to use the avenue to restructure and prepare for the 2021 elections.
“I will appoint a negotiating committee that will come up with how UPC is going to interact with government at different levels; we are not only looking at Ministerial positions as you are all aware but we want to be more involved in several other areas,” he then told us.
Reliable sources have since told this website that in July, UPC drafted an MOU and presented it to Government for President Museveni’s to append his signature so that it becomes a binding document streamlining the cooperation.
The source added that initially the president preferred to hand pick a few individuals and give them position in government which members found “casual and unreliable” hence pushing for an MOU.
“The party handed over the draft MOU to government and the Prime Minister was on the team that received it. It highlights the different Ministries and positions in the country that we feel when put under our control could be made better,” a source noted.
“We were promised that within two months, government would get back to us so that we can best negotiate but it’s now four months and no response has come to that effect,” added the source.
Seeing no response, some party members have began pushing to recall the Minister of Lands, Betty Amongi citing high levels of mistrust on the part of government.
It’s still not clear when government will consider formalizing its working relationship with UPC.