MP Ssegirinya, the political Zacchaeus you can’t ignore

MP Muhammed Ssegirinya is a household name among a good number of Ugandans. But his path to the top was rugged and only propelled by self-belief, mix of quick wits and good fortune, political theatrics plus abundance of heart.
From passing as eddoboozi lye Kyebando, or voice of Kyebando, besides his melodramatics, Ssegirinya’s image has been etched in people’s hearts.
Like Zacchaeus in the Gospel of Luke, Ssegirinya is a small man, and often ran ahead of large crowds to strategically station himself to be seen besides or behind political movers and shakers as former FDC party supremo Col Kizza Besigye, or NUP charismatic leader Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobo Wine.

No less, Ssegirinya’s brave and dramatic showdowns with baton and gun-toting men during city demonstrations, some of which he staged alone, endeared the man to many, including some who had ignored and never imagined he would become MP.
What’s more, Ssegirinya’s live Facebook posts, which relays exciting news, gave him the popular moniker, Mr Update.

Recreated, Ssegirinya is today a mover and shaker of politics in his own right, positioning himself at the centre of discussion, barely months after becoming MP for one of Kampala City’s constituencies, Kawempe North.
Again, like the chief tax-collector at Jericho in the Bible, Ssegirinya has become known for his unparalleled generosity in giving virtually half of all his earnings to his poor constituents.
In this short period as MP, Ssegirinya has set up a health facility – the Kawempe North Medical Centre in Katale Zone Kyebando, on the outskirts of Kampala City. He has also bought two grade II ambulances, with one stationed at the health facility while another evacuates patients anywhere from the countryside.

But Ssegirinya is not blind to his political environment, challenges, and begrudging admiration.
“There is also ill-talk about me from my own Opposition colleagues. In fact, one leader invited me to warn me that I am now not only a target for the NRM [ruling party] but also fellow Opposition players because they have had the habit of selfishly using the money from Parliament, yet I am donating almost whatever I earn,” Ssegirinya says.
“When I was councillor at City Hall, I saved Shs1 million every month from the first to the last salary and this added to my first payment as MP, I managed to set up a hospital and purchase ambulances. I am a servant of the people,” Ssegirinya proudly says.

The health facility at Kyebando, licensed in July, and which Ssegirinya says will also undertake minor surgeries, will be headed by a doctor who will be helped by two nurses and 10 other support staff.
Ssegirinya says he will finance two more health centres so that women and children have their own wing separate from men.
He says the idea of setting up a health centre was inspired by the untold suffering of his electorate against Illnesses such as gonorrhoea, cholera, malaria, typhoid, dysentery and candida.

“My friends in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and in Canada have helped us to get the required equipment and some drugs. But I have bought some of the necessities,” Ssegirinya says, pointing to Joseph Kaboggoza, who assisted him secure aid from Canada.
The health facility has patient uniforms, five orthopaedic beds, three labour beds, a moving toilet for the ill, heart machines, sterilisers, five wheelchairs and a dental bed.

“My ambition is to provide a starter package, which will include food and at least Shs100,000 under his piggybank initiative – Segibox – for  every patient discharged. We have also strategically planned to provide free medicine,” he says.
The facility has three wards with a total of 15 beds and one high-class ward that he has called “presidential”, which is reserved for his leader Bobi Wine. 
“I will use my salary to pay the employees. It’s a big burden but we have to serve our people,” Ssegirinya says.

 
Ssegirinya calls way up
Ssegirinya talked his way up to fame as a regular caller to city radio programmes, especially political talk shows, calling himself Kawempe North MP-to-be. While many dismissed his daydream, it materialised in the 2021 general election.
In his call-ins to the radio stations, Ssegirinya also referred to himself as the Eddoboozi lye Kyebando, or the voice of Kyebando, his locality. But to secure the necessary airtime for call-ins, Ssegirinya offered to clean a restaurant, Mariz at City Complex Building on Luwum Street in the heart of the city.

For Ssegirinya, this art of political jockeying started way back in 2006 as a Senior Three student at Pimbas Secondary School in Kyebando in Kawempe Division. He packed his radio soundbites with fierce words and sentences critical of the NRM party leadership.
Overzealousness and theatricals were some of Mr Ssegirinya’s endearing acts and unique selling points. He gained notoriety by his comic appearances on television and in newspapers and online clips, often seen battling security agents or in narrow escapes as he sprints away from them. Such moments included his storming Parliament with a huge old-time TV set to protest the introduction of mandatory pay TV.

But his Facebook page, which he uses to great effect to give constant news updates or initiate fundraisers for needy causes even won him more admiration. To date, even as an MP, Ssegirinya is popularly referred to as Mr Update among colleagues at Parliament.
A keen listener to TV bulletins, Mr Ssegirinya took especial interest in news about those in need, mainly the sick.
As soon as he spots them, he takes to his Facebook page, announces fundraisers and takes the needy to hospital with food.

 Ssegirinya thus became a darling to many because he was always available in hours of need.
But when he set out on the path f real politics, Ssegirinya says many overlooked him.
In his first attempt to become a city councillor for Kawempe North, Ssegirinya says he was ridiculed by even his own party, the Forum For Democratic Change (FDC).
“They refused to offer me a party ticket. They all under-looked me, but it was time for me to become a leader and I decided to contest as an Independent candidate. I won the seat, becoming a councillor at City Hall,” Ssegirinya says.

Ssegirinya has also formerly been a member of the lesser Social Development Party (SDP) led by former Makindye East MP Michael Mabikke. But today, Mr Ssegirinya is a staunch member of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, which went against all odds to grant him an opportunity to contest on the party ticket as Kawempe North MP.
He had also changed both his religion and name from Richard to Muhammad.

But Ssegirinya was soon counting his blessings as he trounced all the big names, garnering 41,197 votes.
His closest rival, Sulaiman Kidandala collected only 7,512 votes; Tom Fisher Kasenge of the NRM party getting 6,946; Sebaggala Latif (Independent) 3,919; Muhamood Mutazindwa (FDC) 2,247; Salim Sserunkuuma 1,825; Mathias Mulumba (DP) 1,050; Rogers Ssendawula (Alliance for National Transformation) 582; Robina Nanyunja (Ecological Party of Uganda) 490; and Burows John Lumu (Independent) 170 votes.

Ssegirinya the man
Ssegirinya, who passes for a brief man, jokes about his height as having been suppressed by police brutality.
“A handsome lad like me, perhaps I would be taller, but the police brutality against me has made me shorter,” he quips.
Ssegirinya, a confessed Muslim, is a family man, married and with children, but quickly adds: “In our Kiganda culture, we don’t label walls. It’s not our culture to count the number of children we have.”

But there’s something about family that the new legislator would rather forget; an alleged love affair with a Sweden-based woman, Gulix. The woman, although Ssegirinya vehemently denies, claims they had a liaison and a child.
“What I know is that I met her in a conference in Sweden. Like I did with many other people, we took selfies and I didn’t know the selfie would become a stickily issue; and she would use it to claim we were in love,” Ssegirinya says.

Born to the late Peter Ssemaganda and Christine Nakajumba Christine, Ssegirinya says he accords great respect to women because of their role as mothers and it is in that respect that he places Gulix.
With roots in Butale Kaddugala in Masaka District, Ssegirinya says he aspires to be one of the greatest men in the country.

The rookie lawmaker says he often takes time off his schedule to read books of philosophers, great thinkers and former great leaders.
“[South African president] Nelson Mandela was a great man, [Ghana’s] Kwame Nkrumah, [DR Congo’s] Patrice Lumumba...the kind of great Napoleon Bonaparte. I often read their works. I am keen to copy how they made it in life,” Ssegirinya says.

But Ssegirinya is not all about books. In sports, he roots for Arsenal, unless it is a very busy day.
Better known for his theatrics, Ssegirinya says he’s a man of action who listens to the heartbeats of his electorate.
“It is not worthy of a leader to live a lavish life when the people who have made us are toiling. That’s why I use much of my salary from politics to help my electorate because they are needy,” he says. 

Philanthropist
Ssegirinya has earned love from the people of Kawempe and Ugandans for his philanthropy work. He has offered food aid to the needy and he has bought two ambulances to serve his people.
 
Demonstrations
When in 2015, the Uganda Communications Commission’s (UCC) introduced migration of television signals from analogue to digital, Ssegirinya led a demonstration, claiming the move would leave the poor without access to TV.
 “I carried a TV set which I had been using at home, and took it to Parliament. Why would you make people pay for TV?” he asked.
 
Elections
As a member of SDP in 2011, Ssegirinya moved to oust then Lion of Kawempe North for the parliamentary seat, but he lost. In 2016, as a Member of FDC, he asked for a ticket to contest as councillor for City Hall, but he was rebuffed, and decided to run as an Independent, winning the race.
During the election of KCCA Speaker, Ssegirinya made a great speech as a contestant but he only won one vote.

But with a by-election called in Kyadondo East, Ssegirinya parted ways with FDC’s Dr Besigye and opted to support Bobi Wine. Indeed, Ssegirinya had read the political signs correctly. Bobi Wine went on and trounced the FDC candidate to become an Opposition magnet. 
Henceforth Ssegirinya became a political companion, tagging along with Bobi Wine wherever he went, with Bobi’s political good luck rubbing off on Ssegirinya.
 
Education
Ssegirinya’s academic credentials remain controversial like the man himself. He says he completed his A-Level education at Pimbas S.S. from where he went to Datamine Technical Business School for a diploma in Journalism, but Pimbas denies he ever attended their school.
“Those who say I failed to go to school; how can a man who donates scholarships fail to pay fees for himself?” he asks.

When pressure mounted over accusations that he lacked the papers, Ssegirinya staged a demonstration at Mini-price calling for the release of NUP party members. 
He was arrested, charged and remanded to Kitalya prison. On being released, he fell ill and was rushed to Nairobi Hospital where he returned on the day of swearing-in as MP.