Mathias Mpuuga, the former Leader of Opposition, has dismissed calls to resign after his party, the National Unity Platform (NUP) asked him to sptep down following revelations that he irregularly pocketed Shs 500 million from Parliament.
In a slap in the face, Mpuuga said there was a well orchestrated funded plan to destroy him politically and it involves people within NUP whom he did not name. He said some of them had even hired bloggers and other people to taint him.
“The campaign to character assassinate me is deliberate, and I am perfectly aware. It’s well orchestrated and well-funded. I am ready for the worst, if it takes this sacrifice to return sanity and common sense to our politics. I am available as ever to help this young party rid any form of corruption from its rank and file and especially that ingrained at the base of the party. I accordingly decline the cowardly call on me to resign as a parliamentary Commissioner, based on spite, envy and deliberate misrepresentation,” he said in a statement issued today.
He said the Shs 500 million he received from Parliament could not be categorized as a form of corruption because it had been approved by the parliamentary commission legally.
“Every decision of the Commission to confer or reward anyone under its charge, is subjected to the relevant committees of Parliament for legality, feasibility, sustainability and relevancy. To call any such payments corruption is the highest level of spite, double standards and deliberate misrepresentation to the public and membership of the Party on a purely selfish mission.
Either way, the picture does not look pretty for Mpuuga.
By insisting on staying on, Mpuuga has set himself on a collision with his party. Some of the people against him will do anything including dragging him to the sewers to make his point.
Given that many of the decisions in NUP are taken by a small cabal of people, Mpuuga could be suspended or even sacked without due regard to a fair process. In the end, he will most likely emerge loser even if in the eyes of many in public he might appear to be fighting for a just cause.
