Gulu Municipality Mayor Mr George Labeja has refuted allegations circulating within the National Resistance Movement (NRM) camp in Gulu district that he is a supporter of Amama Mbabazi.
Mr Labeja who two weeks ago announced that he will be contesting as an independent in the coming general election due to intimidation from NRM top shots, said saboteurs are tarnishing his name to cripple his political move.
Speaking to Acholi Times over the weekend in an interview, Mr Labeja said he had never met or even contacted Mr Mbabazi ever since he assumed politics adding that he supports only President Museveni.
“People who want to destroy my Political career are now labeling me as a pro Mbabazi man and a mole. That is not true because the person (Mbabazi) they are saying I support has never met me or none of his agents convinced me into joining them,” says, Mr Labeja.
Mr Labeja who is also the Gulu Municipality NRM Chairperson, added that some of the NRM big shots are telling people that he was given money by Mr Mbabazi that he has used to acquire many properties.
“Things I own are out of my own work and struggles, no one in the names of Mbabazi gave me cash. I can’t be bought,” says Mr Labeja.
Ms Josephine Mayanja-Nkangi, Director, Media & Communications For Mbabazi, in an interview said branding someone as Pro Mbabazi is a childish game that doesn’t show the democratic right of someone belonging to a political group.
“I don’t know much about Mr Labeja’s affiliation to Mbabazi camp or his political career, but all I know is that its someone’s democratic right to belong to a political setting he /she wishes,” says Ms Nkangi.
Mr Kizza Aboga, the NRM Party Chairperson in Gulu district when contacted said the allegations that NRM big shots are calling Mr Labeja a mole and a pro Mbabazi supporter are just rumors.
“I still know him (Labeja) as a Strong NRM supporter; I don’t believe that he has switched camp to Mr Mbabazi because no one complained to me about his support to Mbabazi.”
In June this year, Mr Mbabazi announced his presidential ambitions to contest in the coming general election, against his NRM party chairman Mr Museveni whom he has fallen out with. He however later switched to contest on an independent ticket citing the NRM primary elections were illegal.
