James Rwanyarare: ‘I Am Not an Impostor !’

Aug 28, 2005 (Kampala) — James Rwanyarare, the former presidential policy chairman of the UPC, has been referred to as an impostor by his party. Charles Etukuri asked him what he made of the accusations

You were quoted as saying you were representing your party at John Garang’s funeral in Juba, but the party said you were an impostor there. How does this make you feel?

I went to Juba to bury Garang on the invitation of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army. They had invited five UPC leaders. Over the years we have had dealings with them. The people they have been dealing with are people who had been in the UPC leadership and so they invited me, Cecilia Ogwal, Aggrey Awori, Abdu Katuntu and Wagonda Muguli.

I can’t be called an impostor because I am an elected leader of UPC. I was elected in 1981 as a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC). Anybody who says I am an impostor doesn’t know UPC or may be an impostor himself.

The party top brass seems to have turned against you. What is the cause of all this?

None of them were elected and they are impostors. They have been painfully imposed on us by the party president, who appointed them outside of the UPC constitution. We don’t call them top brass. The top brass are the members of the CEC, who all support me

How does it feel, as a die-hard UPC member, to all of a sudden be undermined by newcomers?

UPC’s struggles have always been protracted, right from its inception and in the early days of the party. Having witnessed some of the struggles that nearly caused our party to split, I can’t allow them to be repeated.

Like, bringing in upstarts whose intentions we are not sure of. In fact what punctuated all these problems is not Peter Walubiri, who is being used as a mouthpiece, but Adoko Nekyon who was in DP but all of a sudden came back to UPC.

I never met him as a leader of UPC but he suddenly took off and went to Zambia, saw his cousin Obote and is now behind most of the manoeuvres. His history has been a disaster and that is why I have said no (to him).

I look at UPC as my baby and I have as much claim to UPC leadership as Obote. I went in to Uganda National Congress earlier than Obote in 1955 and rose through the ranks. I am a founder of UPC though Obote has been in a higher position of leadership than me. Some people are using his absence and his health, which is not so good, to manipulate the party.

Would you consider returning to the mainstream party and working with your fellow party members under these conditions?

I am the one who is the mainstream party. You go to Uganda House, it is virtually dead. The other day, we went to bury Luwuliza Kirunda. All the people moved and were sitting with me while those from Uganda House were like orphans. Cecilia Ogwal and I had a large gathering.

I am the one who hired Walubiri to fight cases for us in court. He was not even a card holding member so don’t tell me about mainstream. I am the one in the mainstream.

What do you think is wrong in the party now?

UPC has been in jail for over 20 years. We are just starting to be free and then this happens. The party president is faraway and he takes actions on the word of whoever has access to him. That is one of the reasons we fought for his return. If I had continued to manage things at Uganda House, Milton Obote would have been here by May 27.

How do you intend to claim the party presidency?

I have gone through the whole country building support. What I want to see are transparent elections. Once this is done, I will win.

What qualities do you possess that the other leaders don’t?

I can’t really praise myself, but I think I have been committed to his party long enough and I have helped build cadres who know me.

Remember Walubiri started dismissing the youths. At the moment he is the most miserable person and there is no youth who greets him. They have petitioned the Party President over this. All youths have been sacked because they were put in place under my reign. These youths have backing from the population and you think that if you sack them you will be liked?

I have a vision, not only for UPC, but the whole country. I don’t present myself as an individual but a package of people. Politics is dynamic and I am structuring my campaigns along the future of the country.