Charles Peter Mayiga warns NUP on Mpuuga standoff

Mayiga questioned the leading opposition party if they were ready to take on government leadership if they could not resolve simple misunderstandings amongst themselves.

“You have to be patient with one another,” Mayiga said.

"Hon (Joel) Ssenyonyi you have two children. But when they start to grow, you will notice that they are different from one another even though they are still your children. Will you then throw one of them outside?”

Mayiga was speaking in light of the ongoing stand off between the NUP leadership and the party Vice President Mathias Mpuuga.

Read: Mpuuga vows not to leave NUP; to push for radical internal party reforms

Mpuuga was recently replaced by Ssenyonyi as the Leader of Opposition (LOP), and is being pushed by the party to resign from the Parliamentary Commission over corruption allegation.

NUP leaders led by Hon Joel Ssenyonyi and David Rubongoya and Secretary General paid a courtesy call to the Buganda Premier at his office in Bulange Mengo, to support the upcoming Kabaka Birthday Run.

Others on the team included Kampala District Woman MP Shamim Malende; NUP Chief Mobilizer Fred Nyanzi as well as the Mityana legislator Francis Zaake.

In his remarks, Mayiga stressed the need for the party to build conflict resolution mechanisms and avoid washing their dirty linen in public.

“You have to learn to be patient and respect one another,” he said.

“You have to learn all these things while you are still in opposition because if you don’t, what will happen when you take power? Will you be approachable?”

He added, “Not all who make mistakes deserve to be killed. I am your elder as the Katikkiro of Buganda and I have to teach you this.”

Mayiga on the other hand congratulated the NUP party for having such a team of young leaders at its helm.

He also commended the new Leader of the Opposition, Ssenyonyi for hitting the ground running.

Ssenyonyi’s three-month leadership at parliament has been characterized by a fierce push to uncover corruption tendencies inside the government and the parliamentary institution itself.