Kawempe North and the making of Kampala Central MP hopeful Rubongoya

The odd man out here was Mr David Lewis Rubongoya who of this powerful quartet is non-Muganda, of western extract, who took up the all-powerful position of secretary general. How this new leadership took a firm grip on NUP, which was previously known as the National Unity Reconciliation and Development Party (NURD), was described in court by one of its former leaders, Mr Moses Kibalama.

"I brought new people in the party and we thought that we would be assigned leadership positions but unfortunately I was sidelined," Kibalama said during the court case he filed against the new NUP leadership that was ultimately thrown out.

Unlike Kyagulanyi, Nyanzi, and Ssenyonyi who went into elective politics, Rubongoya, a former law lecturer at Cavendish University and International University of East Africa, didn't take a contest for any political position.
He largely restricted himself to the role of secretary general, managing day-to-day affairs of the political party and he has been key in NUP's efforts to get NUP foot soldiers out of jail.

If Rubongoya's role at first was understood as that of the technocrat who pulls strings behind the curtains, this has over the years changed as his ambitions have morphed from being NUP's top civil servant to becoming an elected leader.

For the past few years, sources familiar with NUP, say Rubongoya has been teasing out his chances in elective politics. This involved weighing whether to stand in his native Mbarara or in Kampala Central where last time NUP's Nyanzi lost out to Independent Muhammad Nsereko.

He has thus concluded that he stands a better chance in Kampala Central and he used the Kawempe North by-elections, which were marred by violence meted out on NUP members by security personnel, but still won by NUP's Elias Luyimbazi Nalukoola, to market himself to the electorate in Kampala.
From nomination day, Rubongoya took charge of Nalukoola's campaigns as he accompanied him to the Electoral Commission (EC) for his papers, including academic documents, to be verified. It is here that Rubongoya experienced the violence that has come to define the Kawempe North by-election when security operatives dragged Nalukoola into a Toyota Hiace, commonly known as a drone, before they dumped him at Kawempe Police Station.
"We are facing a lot of harassment from the regime but are not going to be deterred. People's power will triumph over people in power, Rubongoya said.

If accompanying Nalukoola wasn't enough to rehearse for his campaigns, Rubongoya hit the Nalukoola campaign podium in various places like Komamboga and EwaMboga to stimulate NUP sup- porters. "People power!" he was heard hyping NUP supporters as they responded "Our power."

He didn't stop at jumping onto campaign podiums as he was personally involved in thwarting security operatives' efforts to 'rig' as he joined Ssenyonyi and Nalukoola in storming what they claimed was a house in Mpererwe township that was being used by security operatives to pre-tick ballot papers in favour of Ms Faridah Nambi, the daughter of NRM's forever number two.

During the ensuing scuffle in which journalists were beaten, Ru bongoya was also beaten, coming off with a swollen eye.
He did not take kindly to criticism from some people who said they should have reported to the police about the house were rigging was allegedly being conducted.

"Those who are saying we should have first reported to police and asked them to escort us to that house where rigging was taking place, are either visitors to Uganda or simply regime apologists who do not care about thinking through things. In a situation where all these institutions are part of the conspiracy against the citizens? For their information, even after going there and being attacked, we returned and attempted to report the case at the police division headquarters at Kawempe. For over an hour, we were there, and nothing was going on, except one officer sending you to the next, "Rubongoya said.
The race for Kampala Central parliamentary seat, where he is likely to face off with NRM's Minsa Kabanda, has a history of vote rigging claims.

The last Opposition candidate to take the constituency was Mr Erias Luwkago, then of the Democratic Party who stunned NRM's Edward Francis Babu with just a difference of 103 votes. Lukwago's last efforts as an MP of Kampala Central was to use legal means to see that the contentious three polling stations found in Summit View were taken out of the military barracks.

At the behest of Lukwago, Justice Yorokamu Bamwine, then the Principal Judge, ordered the EC to get the polling stations out of the barracks because inside there was a heavy military presence that would make it difficult for voters to exercise their democratic rights. Despite the court order, the polling stations still exist inside the military barracks and Nyanzi said in court documents that they fraudulently helped to tip the result in favour of Nsereko in 2021. 

In his case that was dismissed by High Court, Nyanzi said some of the presiding officers denied his agent access to 53 voting are- as such as Summit View, Nakasero 1 and 2, and Hoima Flat, inter-alia. Nyanzi added that he had done an audit and found out that 2,577 votes couldn't be accounted for since they were not given to any candidate and that the declaration forms were never signed by his agents since they were blocked by the military.

It seems Rubongoya has learnt his lessons because in Kawempe North NUP quickly collected declaration forms from its agents and they were in a position to challenge figures given by the EC.

"Unbelievable that at this polling station, Mpererwe Primary School, the Returning Officer just read that NRM got 700 votes and that NUP got 47! They didn't know that we have been able to collect over 90 per cent of our forms in record time. That is why these thugs were hunting down people with our DR forms. That is why in the last election, crime intelligence moved around abducting people with our DR forms," Rubongoya said.

Another lesson from Kawempe North that he might apply in Kampala Central is the huge number of Muslims in both constituencies. In deed in recent months Rubongoya, a non-Muslim, has been visiting Bukesa-Old Kampala area.

"...we joined hundreds of Muslim brothers and sisters for Jummah prayers in Bukesa, Kampala. We appreciated these good people for their prayers for us and our cause. We requested them to continue praying and working hard for a better country. I reminded them of our commitment as NUP to ensure that no Ugandan is discriminated against or persecuted for their political or religious beliefs, " Rubongoya said.