Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze has said Kawempe North MP elect Muhammad Ssegirinya should not be demonised or scorned over his current academic papers woes.
Last week, Ssegirinya was taken to court for allegedly forging academic documents which facilitated his nomination and subsequent election as a legislator.
Ssegirinya was sued by his political rival Sulaiman Kidandala.
In his election petition, Kindandala is seeking to nullify Ssegirinya’s election for lack of Ordinary and Advanced Level papers- the requisite minimum academic qualification for one to contest as an MP.
According to Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB), Ssegirinya submitted documents that belong to Sarah Nampiima at O-level while at A-level, he submitted documents that belong to Maureen Nabadda.
In a letter dated March 17, 2021, Peter Anywar, writing on behalf of the executive secretary UNEB Dan Odongo, noted: “We have checked in our records and our findings are as follows; Candidate U005/054(2017) is Nampiima Sarah who sat at Mengo secondary school, not Ssegirinya Richard sitting at Pimbas secondary school,” he noted.”
And according to Nambooze, Ssegirinya should be given all the assistance he needs to overcome his current predicament.
“Every person has both strong and weak points in life.In a political Party each member puts his/her strength on table for use by all and admit and appreciates his/her weakness so that he seeks help from any other member who might be stronger in that particular area….in fact that is the reason we do politics together…Politics especially in a multi party system is a team game. Our party being new and facing persecution deserve to live and survive as a family…we are not supposed to mock and or fight colleagues,” Nambooze posted on her social media page.
“Let establish a principle that in NUP when you attack one of us, you will have attacked us all and victory for one of us is victory for every NUP- member. When we do this and stick to it,our enemies will start fearing and respecting us. It’s true many people treat us as underdogs but we can turn this to our advantage when we stay United as we quietly empower our Principal and the entire executive structure by allowing them to lead us.”
Nambooze however, disclosed that she will be disappointed if it proved that Ssegirinya indeed forged his academic documents.
“The only thing that will disappoint me is if it’s proved that Hon.Ssegirinya forged academic certificates. Many Ugandans have adopted bad behaviours because we have been schooled into adopting a political ideology called Musevenism. Under this ideology the end justifies the means.There was no reason whatsoever for Uganda to adopt the issue of academic qualifications as part of the requirements a candidate must produce before getting nominated.
“We only need to make our population civically competent.A civically competent voter will appreciate an educated man to an illiterate and hence vote for the latter.You don’t need to put this under any of our statute books. I wish to politely remind us that English is a language and you only need to learn it now that you will be using it more often in both National and international engagements.”
She further advised Ssegirinya to tame the excitement that is written all over his face.
“Don’t portray yourself as a joker.Why allow the media to record you as you say that Bobi Wine’s car can fly for ten minutes?! The Ssegirinya of Kyebando MP to be did a great job but you are now the representative of the people of Kawempe North,let the Kyebando MP to be,take a sabbatical, rebrand and embarrass your opponents.”
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