Minister says ex-premier only has the title, but is no longer NRM secretary general
The well-oiled campaign machine to oust Amama Mbabazi from the position of NRM secretary general has morphed into the final phase with a countrywide mobilisation exercise.
Even as Mbabazi, who was last month relieved of his other high profile job as prime minister, called NRM’s top organ, the Central Executive Committee, for meeting in Kampala yesterday, at least four ministers and other party officials were traversing the countryside drumming up support for his removal.
Two of these ministers told separate meetings in eastern Uganda and in Masaka, that Mbabazi was no longer secretary general. They urged local NRM leaders not to deal with Mbabazi on matters relating to that office.
Rosemary Namayanja Nsereko (Information and National Guidance) and Justine Kasule Lumumba (Chief Whip), however, gave conflicting information with regard to Mbabazi’s successor. Speaking in Masaka on Tuesday, Namayanja said President Museveni, the party chairman, had assumed Mbabazi’s roles, while in the Elgon sub-region Lumumba pointed to Richard Todwong, the minister in charge of Political Mobilisation as the de facto secretary general.
“The NRM constitution gives [the chairman] powers to take on all SG’s roles if the SG does not move in consonance with the agreed positions,” Namayanja told a meeting of Kalungu NRM leaders at Yesu Akwagala High School in Kyamuliibwa.
Namayanja had earlier been asked to explain the ongoing “circus” between President Museveni and his former confidant Mbabazi. FULL STORY