By Cedric Mwesigwa.
Opposition Bugweri County Member of Parliament (MP) Abdu Katuntu has finally crossed to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, bringing to confirmation the longtime speculation that he has been hobnobbing with the yellow party.
Katuntu’s defection was confirmed during a political rally in his Bugweri constituency on Saturday, where he was seen adorned in wears of yellow color signifying the NRM party, flanked by other senior party leaders including speaker the Annet Anita Among.
At the political gathering, Katuntu declared allegiance to the ruling party, assuring his constituents that he would campaign for the party chairperson Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in 2026 elections before rallying them to equally massively vote for him.
His head was quickly crowned with a branded yellow NRM cap by Anita Among who dashed in a rush to where he was standing while addressing a gathering.
Blazer News Times has learnt that Katuntu who was once a staunch opposition FDC cadre was first presented to the NRM Parliamentary Caucus by the party chairperson Museveni at the State House Entebbe on Friday.
Katuntu (FDC) gained prominence in 2007 when he defeated the former minister Ali Kirunda Kivejinja Muwabe (NRM) during a by election following the Court ruling that nullified Kivejinja’s 2006 election victory.
While in parliament, he served in various capacities including the party’s shadow attorney general. He also chaired among other committees including the Commissions Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) and Rules, Privileges and Discipline, growing his respect.
At the time he chaired COSASE he was deputized by Anita Among who was also an FDC cadre before joining NRM. Their current deep-rooted political relationship spans from COSASE according to the observers.
The two as COSASE bosses held a probe into the controversial closure of defunct commercial banks by the central bank in 2018 including the crane bank of property mogul Sudhir Rupaleria, whose report left some legislators un conviced.
By the time Katuntu officially joined to the NRM he had run as an independent in the current parliament. Some opposition politicians had started linking him to the ruling party which they said had courted him considering his change of the language, but denied.
He was also earlier this year seen in an NRM Parliamentary Caucus in Kyankwanzi where he was first presented to them as an opposition figure who was willing to cooperate with NRM in areas of development. Now his defection is a no more speculation as becomes part of the fold.
Katuntu, one of the best legal brains in town had one time made a pronouncement while on Capital Gang weekly talk show on Capital FM Radio that he would not run again beyond the 2021 general elections but later changed his mind and returned on the ballot, which some political observers termed as political dishonesty.
When the NUP president Bobi Wine was campaigning in Busoga sub region earlier this month, he rallied his constituents to vote him out of the parliament, saying he had working for president Museveni whom he claims is the reason for their prevailing abject poverty in the region.
