FDC’s Nsibambi has it all to do in Mawokota South

While it is true that NUP didn’t field a candidate in Bugiri Municipality, the situation couldn’t have been more different in Mawokota South. Joel Mirembe carried the NUP flag en route to placing fourth with just 2,048 votes under his belt.
Another theory was that NUP decided to front a weak candidate, who wouldn’t give Yusuf Nsibambi a headache. What can be verified is that Nsibambi, an FDC founder member, supported NUP principal Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu's presidential bid in 2021. This was at the expense of Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the FDC party candidate and president.

Nsibambi was so into Kyagulanyi’s campaigns that when Amuriat campaigned in Mpigi, as campaigns came to a close, Nsibambi didn’t show up at any of the rallies. Even when Amuriat was incarcerated in Mpigi and later produced at a magistrate’s court, Nsibambi, a seasoned lawyer, never got up as he never changed his stance. He clearly did not want to be at loggerheads with the NUP base, which had been urged to tick the party’s symbol, an umbrella.
When he emerged victorious, having demolished his rivals after getting 20,597 votes, Nsibambi explained his support for Kyagulanyi.

“I support Kyagulanyi, as an individual, but I’m still an FDC member,” he explained his relationship with the Opposition leader.
Once in the House, the distance between Nsibambi and Kyagulanyi would grow that much wider. Nsibambi was also embroiled in a fight that led to the splintering of the FDC into two factions—Najjanankumbi and Katanga.

When the People's Front for Freedom (PFF), the political party that was formed following the cleavage, accused the Najjanankumbi faction, including Amuriat and his secretary general, Nandala Mafabi, of obtaining ‘dirty’ money from the State House, Nsibambi, who was initially close to Dr Kiiza Besigye, chose to stick with the Najjanankumbi faction.
He was quickly rewarded when the Najjanankumbi faction appointed him FDC chief whip in Parliament, replacing Kira Municipality lawmaker Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda.

“It’s not an easy position as you realise, given the circumstances. But we have the duty and responsibility of galvanising our party. I’m a founder member and if those who are involved are given time, I think the parties can agree. We don’t like to die like other parties are dying,” Nsibambi said.

Position of vulnerability
As it is now, no reconciliation happened and also Nsibambi’s allies of NUP have ignored the Najjanakumbi leadership as they don’t invite them when they are calling other Opposition leaders.
"We’re the unwanted Opposition group in pursuit of freedom. No matter what, we will move on by ourselves. Erias Lukwago doesn’t represent us," Amuriat wrote when the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Joel Ssenyonyi didn’t invite him to the Opposition caucus.

The caucus was held at Parliament and it was focused on condemning rampant corruption in Uganda, as well as expressing solidarity with political prisoners like Dr Besigye.
It is from that position of vulnerability that Nsibambi will attempt to hold onto his parliamentary seat when Uganda heads to the polls early next year. What is clear is that NUP intends to be competitive in the race to select Mawokota South’s next lawmaker.
The constituency, nestled on Kampala-Masaka highway, with boundaries starting from Kyabadaaza and broadening to Mawokota North and Kalungu District as you head to Nyendo-Mukungwe, is not as unremarkable as it sounds.

Inside the NRM camp

For the NRM, it is not yet clear who they will turn to because Susan Nakawuki Nsambu, its candidate in 2021, hasn't kept a footprint in local politics ever since she lost.
When soldiers from the Special Forces Command allegedly kidnapped NUP supporters before and after the general election, Nakawuki denied kidnaps were happening.

“In Uganda, we have no kidnaps but there are people who have been arrested. I beg the government to take the people who were arrested to court,” Nakawuki said in what could yet have been a final nail in her political casket.
As such, NRM could revert to John Bosco Lubyaayi, who was dumped for Nakawuki during the chaotic 2020 NRM primaries. Lubyaayi, it seems, was paying for refusing to support Museveni’s push to edit the presidential age limits out of the Constitution.

“I cannot dig my grave and kill my political career by supporting a mere Article 102 (b). Councillors, farmers, the business community, opinion leaders and the children have told me not to dare touch it. Who am I to resist when they put trust in me to represent them,” he told gatherings during the heated debate.

Yet Lubyaayi’s serving of one term in the House is not an isolated incident because voters in Mawokota South, which has three sub-counties, including Nkozi, Buwama and Kituntu, has historically tossed out their legislators just after one term
It all started with the Constituent Assembly (CA), which midwifed the current Constitution. Mawokota South was represented by Anthony Ssekweyama Wagaba, who died in a motor accident in 2000. As a matter of fact, it’s only Henry Mutyaba, who ruled for back-to-back terms (2001- 2006 and 2006-2011), who managed to beat the odds.
Elsewhere, Joseph Kiyingyi Bbosa also served for one term.
This is the kind of record that should worry Nsibambi but it should be remembered that he is the type of person who had always been hesitant to join elective politics.

In 2016, he toyed with the idea of contesting for the Makindye West seat but disclosed that his wife wasn’t having any of it.
“My wife believes all politicians are liars. And I am beginning to agree with her. I have been so much involved with politicians I realise that most of them are job seekers. There has been a deliberate attempt to devalue leaders and leadership in this country. When you look at leaders, you seem to see selfish people, job seekers and conmen,” Nsibambi said.
Even after spending time in Parliament, he has insisted that nothing serious happens there.
“People just come here to make deals with the Speaker and the Clerk [to Parliament]. The last thing on their mind is representing the people,” Nsibambi said.

NUP threat

NUP, according to our sources, in- tends to front Martin Ssejjemba, the chairperson of the Mpigi District, as the challenger to Nsibambi. Ssejjemba hogged the limelight in 2021 when, aged just 28, he won Mpigi District chairmanship. With a boyish face fitting nicely on posters, Ssejjemba became a poster child of the so-called “umbrella” wave when he polled 29,177 votes.

The tally was formidable enough to defeat seasoned politicians like the ruling National Resistance Move- ment (NRM)’s Peter Claver Mutuluuza, who got 8,174 votes. Elsewhere, Democratic Party’s Fred Male came third with 4,176 votes. Ssejjemba, in an interview af- ter winning the elections, attrib- uted his decision to join elective politics to Kyagulanyi’s youth movement that started in 2017.

“He helped the nation so much to open up space for the youth. For everyone: to see things in different ways,” Ssejjemba said before promising to make a case for the youth, who had been arrested during the campaigns.

“Many of the young people have been intimidated.They are now sleeping in the bushes because they are being hunted for supporting the NUP. They have broken their legs. Some have lost their lives,” he said then.

Although he now wants to go to Par- liament, Ssejjemba’s tenure as the Mpigi District chairperson has been bumpy. He has clashed with sub-county chairpersons and councillors over what they termed unfair tax policies and a poor road network in the area. The sub-county chairpersons, among other things, accuse Ssejjemba of listening more to the technocrats at the expense of the taxpayers.

This, they add, has left many residents wallowing in abject poverty. “The executive has failed to establish proper communication with us the sub-county leaders, yet the swindled revenue is collected right from the grassroots level,” one of the sub-county chairpersons claimed.