The NUP secretariat released a statement on Thursday evening, calling for Mpuuga’s immediate resignation. The party accused him of being culpable of corruption and abuse of office when he accepted a ‘service award’ of Shs 500 million from the parliamentary commission.

The statement indicates that acting on public rage, NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu convened a meeting of senior party leaders, who unanimously indicted Mpuuga for corruption and abuse of office in violation of the party’s values of; discipline, reliability, inclusiveness, integrity, patriotism ad service.

However, NUP leaders in Masaka are now demanding a public apology and immediate withdrawal of the statement, which they describe as ridiculous and unreasonable. In a statement read by Charles Mary Mbanga, the chairperson of Masaka NUP Elders Council, the leaders accuse Kyagulanyi of acting on falsehoods perpetrated by a clique of individuals that deliberately misrepresent facts to malign Mpuuga over selfish interests.

According to Mbanga, the Shs 500 million ‘service award’ was allocated to Mpuuga as his honorary gratuity, which is formally determined by the parliamentary commission, wondering why the party misconstrued it as corruption.

Mbanga accuses Kyagulanyi of condoning indiscipline among some cliques in the party, which are now turning up to blackmail and scatter whoever attempts to call them to order. The leaders say that their president has recently encircled himself with a few selfish individuals, some members of his family, who have specialised in belittling and undermining leaders they perceive as capable of taking over from Kyagulagunyi.

Meanwhile, Mpuuga also described the accusations and demands for him to step down as malicious and speculative. He described the ongoing debate as a deliberate and well-orchestrated campaign to character-assassinate him.

“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 of 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 indicates.

However, while speaking at a meeting of NUP leaders from Wakiso district on Friday at the party headquarters in Makerere-Kavule, Kyagulanyi insisted that Mpuuga owes the party and the public an apology for the abuse of taxpayers’ money.