Hon. Mathias Mpuuga has handed over the leader of opposition in parliament’s office to th e new appointed Joel Ssenyonyi the Nakawa East MP and the NUP party spokesperson who was the chairperson of COSASE Committee for the past two and half years of the 11th parliament.
In a statement posted on X on Wednesday January 10th, Former LoP Hon. Mathias Mpuuga said.” Earlier, I formally handed over the office of the LoP to our new team leader, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi. I appreciate everyone who has journeyed with us over the last 2½ years in and outside Parliament for the cooperation.
It’s been a learning and unlearning process between us. I’m very sure that we’ve learnt a lot from each other. I want to thank the team I have worked with in the cabinet. For us here, it has been work, work and work; intense work. We’ve been able to give the public what we thought was the best in the circumstances.
Today’s handover of office is something to celebrate. For the 13 years I have been here, I have not seen it happening.
If anyone expected drama, sorry, we are a group of people who are serious about what we do and we’ll continue doing it seriously, more seriously.
I am happy that with my team, we laid the foundation on which Hon Ssenyonyi is going to build upon. I asked him to take on the mantle with the zeal & capabilities that I’m sure he bears. It is doable, it is not impossible.
The time I have been here gave me opportunity to understand all the Members including those outside the Shadow Cabinet. I urged the new team leader to take use of the party whips because this is a 6-party platform.
Being in Opposition is a choice which many find difficult to bear. Some are likely to stagger. I advised the new LOP to focus on those who remain. There are 3 categories of Members here ie workers, talkers and observers. As a leader, you have to find the best out of the workers – they need to be motivated to continue working.
The tendency of the talkers is to appear to know what they don’t know but they can’t do it! The observers are timid to do anything for fear of making mistakes. If you don’t want to make mistakes, you’ll do nothing.
The mistakes we made here are because we tried to do something – not personal but for the good of the duty to which we were called.” Said Mpuuga.
Speaker Anita Among on Tuesday January 9th 2023 received the new LoP and announce the changes in opposition leadership in parliament made by NUP to the members during the plenary session.
