Flamboyant Bugiri Municipality has boasted of how he pocketed billions of shillings just for being a lawyer to Speaker of Parliament Annet Anita Among and a number of legislators.
Basalirwa disclosed that he does not regret accepting their deals because of the verbal attacks that his old friend Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) declared on him recently.
When he was campaigning in Bugiri, Bobi Wine, the National Unity Platform(NUP) presidential candidate pleaded with the area voters not to make another mistake of re-electing Basalirwa as their legislator claiming that he has abandoned the struggle and is currently dining with the people he branded as their ‘tormentors’.
Bobi Wine pleaded with thousands of youthful voters in Bugiri to vote for Marcellino Mangeni Egessa his party candidate noting that he is the one who will take them to the promised land not Basalirwa who has already reached his promised land even though he was instrumental in helping him to become a Member of Parliament in 2017.
More Read
He explained to voters that on several occasions, Basalirwa had stood as MP and lost that is why he decided to go to Bugiri and campaign for him and he won.
Bobi narrated that after helping Basalirwa go to parliament, he was shocked seeing the man change colours quickly and side with the people’s alleged tormentors.
In response, Basalirwa accepted that he was briefed by one of Bobi Wine henchmen that the principal is not happy with him because of being a close ally to speaker Among and on several attempts, he has tried to reach out to him but established that he has blocked him on all platforms.
“Let me tell you, I cannot regret being a close ally to speaker Annet Anita Among, for your information, she even publicly confirmed that I’m her personal lawyer. I’m the one handling her personal financial transactions and I’m telling you, it is every lawyer’s dream here on earth to be a lawyer to a powerful person like a Speaker of parliament,” Basalirwa said.
He claimed that because of Bobi Wine’s intolerance, one of the NUP legislators reached out to him and pleaded with him to help him get some money from the speaker Among because he was organizing a political function in his constituency. The legislator wanted money not the speaker to come at his function thinking that when she comes, his boss in NUP will be annoyed and deny him a ticket in the coming parliamentary elections.
He boasted that he become rich upon entering parliament where he got rich clients who are paying him good money.
He boasted that he is not like other MPs who think that when one enters parliament, that’s their only job, for him, he is still practicing law side by side with legislating for his people.
A week has now passed and Basalirwa is struggling with defending the allegation Bobi Wine placed on him which is very likely to cost his victory in the coming parliamentary elections.
Ono Bwino interacted with a number of court clerks at the Court of Appeal which doubles as the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and they praised Bobi Wine for exposing what they termed as ‘Basalirwa’s hypocrisy’.
“Before joining parliament, Basalirwa was a good person and when Bobi Wine went to Bugiri to campaign for him, we all appreciated because we were very sure that his popularity was going to help our man enter parliament and help us to solve our issues that are not only financier. We also hoped that he will talk to our bosses here to handle our problems but we were shocked with the way he changed,” one of the Court Clerks said.
Another clerk said that Basalirwa started feeling himself by avoiding to pick their phone calls. When they changed and used a phone number he did not know, he always deceived them that he was attending a parliamentary committee session. Sometimes he would tell them that he was on a plane travelling abroad on official duties and promising to handle their issues immediately when he gets back into the country.
“One of us here was dragged to the judiciary’s disciplinary committee on false allegations and we were looking for someone who can help us to talk to the Chief Justice. Our first option was Basalirwa since he was our very good friend but he refused to pick our phone calls or respond to our messages. We resorted to a journalist who helped us when he raised our issue with one of the heads in the judiciary,” another clerk said
Even though Basalirwa boasted that he still has ground in Bugiri, sources in the area assured us that most locals allege that the man has changed and spends much of his time in Buyende the other home of Speaker Among.
They however contended that Basalirwa is one of the best performing legislators in the current parliament.
