Africa-Press – Uganda. Just days after a choreographed public appearance meant to foster reconciliation, opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine, and former National Unity Platform (NUP) deputy president for Buganda Region, Mathias Mpuuga, appear to have reached a political breaking point—with fresh accusations now threatening to turn the party’s internal fallout into an all-out war.
The latest rupture exploded after Bobi Wine, in a passionate media address, directly accused Mpuuga of being behind a string of state-orchestrated persecutions—including the arrests and prolonged detention of MPs Muhammad Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewanyana, and the alleged torture of his close aide Eddie Mutwe and other NUP supporters.
“It is not a secret anymore,” Bobi Wine said. “Hon. Mpuuga has been working with regime agents to betray our comrades. Ssegirinya, Ssewanyana, Eddie Mutwe—all are victims of his calculated betrayals.”
It was this extraordinary allegation—that Mpuuga was complicit in politically motivated arrests and even torture—that prompted the Nyendo–Mukungwe MP to call a hastily arranged press conference at Parliament, where he declared he would sue Kyagulanyi for defamation.
“We are fighting to end Museveni’s regime as a united opposition, and then comes a joker who stands before cameras and accuses me of being behind killings and arrests?” Mpuuga fumed.
“We shall meet in court. Let him name the people behind those killings if he knows them.”
Flanked by Masaka District Woman MP Juliet Kakande, Mpuuga expressed both fury and heartbreak, describing Bobi Wine’s claims as “deeply personal, dishonest, and dangerously reckless.”
What makes the fallout more dramatic is how quickly relations deteriorated after efforts to mend fences. Barely a fortnight ago, the two men were seated side-by-side at Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi’s Thanksgiving Mass in Rubaga—an intentional gesture by Buganda Kingdom meant to signal a soft reset.
Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga later admitted that their seating arrangement had been deliberate, designed to encourage healing within NUP.
But if that moment was meant to calm tensions, it has failed spectacularly.
Mpuuga, who was stripped of his position as NUP’s deputy president in 2024 following a bitter row over a Shs500 million “service award,” now accuses Kyagulanyi of attempting to destroy him politically—and doing so at the cost of opposition unity.
“I tried to help him when he was under house arrest, but even then it was difficult,” Mpuuga said, taking a personal dig.
“I now advise that he seeks medical attention. I watched him at the presser—he looked like a village drunkard. And I pity the foot soldiers who think he’ll spare them when the time comes.”
He also warned Allan Ssewanyana, who recently reunited with Kyagulanyi’s camp, not to be used by “political opportunists trying to extend their careers.”
“There’s life after Parliament. Humiliating yourself to please people who thrive on deception won’t save your future,” Mpuuga said.
The lawmaker went further, officially cutting political ties with the party that propelled him to national prominence in 2021.
“Let me make it clear—come 2026, I will not run on a NUP ticket,” Mpuuga declared. “And whoever sent Kyagulanyi to bring me down, you have failed.”
Political analysts say the row has reached a point of no return. Dr. Moses Khisa, a political commentator, believes the situation is not only damaging to NUP, but potentially fatal to any hopes of opposition cohesion heading into 2026.
“This is beyond repair. The accusation that Mpuuga was involved in state repression crosses a moral line—and the response, calling Kyagulanyi mentally unwell, closes the door to any future unity,” Khisa says.
Mpuuga’s threat of legal action could drag the feud further into the public eye—airing internal secrets, widening mistrust, and exhausting a support base already demoralized by repeated political setbacks.
With NUP now divided along loyalty lines, and key figures either sidelined, jailed, or walking away, the question is no longer if the rift can be patched—but whether it has destroyed Uganda’s most formidable opposition party from within.
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