BY JEROME BITSWANDE
Kasese district National Resistance Movement Amb James Mbahimba has dismissed as baseless allegations that his office misappropriated funds aimed at facilitating the mobilization of NRM party structures ahead of the women council and village chairperson elections.
Yesterday, Busongora County North Member of Parliament Mr Sowedi Kitanywa and his Bukonzo County East counterpart petitioned the office of the NRM Secretary General seeking that his office investigates the alleged mismanagement of party funds.
They alleged that the beneficiaries of the said funds largely the sub county NRM chairpersons, and the ruling party’s flagbearers for the positions of local council one chairperson and women council chairpersons had received amounts which had been subjected to questionable deductions.
Mr Kitanywa and Dr Rude cited the NRM sub-county chairpersons who they said received only UGX 80,000 instead of UGX 100,000 as guided by the national secretariat.
However, in his reply addressed to the Secretary General of the NRM, a copy of which Messiah Radio has seen, Amb Mbahimba described as the allegations by the two legislators as frivolous and only aimed at sowing seeds of discord within the party ahead of the village polls.
Amb Mbahimba questioned the motive behind the legislators’ rush to the NRM secretariat in Kampala before raising the concern to the district executive where they are also members.
Mbahimba, who steered the NRM to overwhelming victory in the 2026 general elections in January and February within the district, said the same people have previously raised similar allegations with an objective to taint the NRM district leadership and undermine efforts towards party mobilisation.
The NRM boss wondered how Members of Parliament who are neither in the distribution chain nor on the receiving end of the said funds were quick to determine the misappropriation yet the district was still disbursing the funds to the intended beneficiaries.
He challenged Kitanywa and Dr Rude to present specific lists of beneficiaries, villages and names of individuals who were entitled to a particular amount of money but did not receive it.
In another pointed challenge, the former legislator and former ambassador of Uganda to the DRC urged the duo come to the realization that they are national leaders who ought to rise above pettiness where their actions informed by rumours and hearsay but rather to always remember to whatever course of action they undertake is anchored on verifiable facts.
He then re-affirmed his commitment to serving the NRM party with discipline and urged all supporters of the ruling party to treat Kitanywa and Dr Rude’s petition with the contempt it deserves. ENDS.