National Unity Platform president Bobi Wine (PHOTO/Courtesy).
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine, the leader of the National Unity Platform-NUP, has said his comments on the Anti-homosexuality Act were taken out of context by what he called NRM propagandists.
Speaking to the media at the NUP party headquarters at Makerere Kavule on Tuesday, Kyagulanyi said the NRM propagandists want to portray him as a supporter of homosexual rights to pit him against the population that is solidly anti-homosexual.
“The regime propagandists have been trying so much to twist my comments [about gay] during a BBC interview that I had in London recently. I’m here to clarify on those words…,” he said.
While speaking to the United Kingdom National Broadcaster the BBC, Kyagulanyi said the law was passed to target the opposition particularly him. When he was challenged that all members of his party voted for the law, Kyagulanyi instead said they worked with President Museveni.
However, speaking to the press, Kyagulanyi said as a leader, he no longer believes that homosexuals should be killed as he believed in 2013 leading to his ban from entering the UK. That ban has since been lifted.
Challenged on what exactly his position is on the law, Kyagulanyi said he doesn’t want to be drawn into the conversation, because the law was brought to trick him into opposing it so that he can have a fallout with the West who are supporters of gay rights. He said the law has ceased being a moral issue and has been turned into a political issue by President Museveni to solicit public support.
Meanwhile, Kyagulanyi said that he has information that Members of Parliament are to be given 100 million Shillings each as appreciation for passing the 3.5 trillion Shillings supplementary budget. Kyagulanyi said the 55.6 billion is contained in the classified budget of the State House.
He cautioned MPs from the NUP not to accept the money because according to him it is an evident bribe.
“The regime is bribing Members of Parliament like it has done in the past, each with Ugx 100 million of taxpayer’s money, to facilitate the passage of a supplementary budget of about Ugx 3.5 trillion,” he said.
Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, the MP for Butambala County who also doubles as the Shadow Minister for Finance said they got to know about the money after they had already passed the budget. He said the money that was cut from other items already passed was contained in a 78.6 billion Shillings schedule that was presented to the Speaker of Parliament by Finance Minister Matia Kasaija.
Muwanga said although the money is classified; he has information that it will be paid to MPs illegally.