Five seek to kick Mpuuga out of Nyendo-Mukungwe

The contenders under NRM include Sarah Kiyimba, the Rakai Resident District Commissioner,and Daniel Ntale Kisekka.
Ms Nannungi was the first person to express interest in Mr Mpuuga’s seat about two years ago. She uses city council projects as her campaigning tool.

For instance, the new roads being opened up in the peril-urban areas that were annexed to the city and the infrastructures being improved under the World Bank-funded Uganda Support to
Municipal Infrastructure Development Program (USMID) in the city centre, are among the things she is riding on to endear voters to her camp.

Nannungi’s confidence in winning this seat is based on the fact that she is the only aspirant in active political office in the city representing a wide section of the constituency she seeks to represent in Parliament.
Her focus is on speaking for the less privileged people working in the informal sector.

“I’m well connected with those poor women in markets, the youth and other less privileged people. I will be an MP who will speak about their issues because I know what they go through,” she notes.
However, during her service in her current position, Nnanungi has battled accountability queries that resulted in her impeachment from the chairmanship of the City Building Committee by Masaka City Council over mismanagement of revenue. The case is still in court.

Muyizzi, who has christened himself as “the lawyer of the struggle” to liberate Uganda, says this is the perfect time for him to join politics, although most of his peers like Muwanga Kivumba (Butambala County MP) have been in it [national politics] for more than a decade now.
“It's now evident that the incumbent, who was our vice president for Buganda Region, is no longer following the party agenda and it is the reason I have joined the race to further NUP interests in the constituency,” he says.

Mr Muyizzi reveals that he is not discrediting the work of Mr Mpuuga and his predecessor John Kawanga, but “I want the voice of my people to remain firm on the floor of Parliament and to lobby for them to have effective service delivery,” he says.

He adds: “Voters in this constituency have been choosing people with deep roots in the area, who are also capable of articulating issues with legal background because they're aware of the core responsibilities of the legislator.”
On what makes him a perfect candidate to represent Nyendo-Mukungwe, Muyizzi highlights his leadership experience since his early days at Makerere University as a minister in different regimes, member of the Guild Representative Council, Nkobazambogo, among others.

"None of the prospective contenders has such experience, even after school I have been at the centre of this struggle as a secretary general of the Uganda Young Democrats, vice president for Africa at the International Union of Social Democratic Youth Organisation in Geneva, national legal advisor for the Democratic Party (DP) and currently a member of NUP's legal team," he explains.

Mr Ssebina has been crisscrossing the constituency since 2021 convincing voters to choose him as their next legislator.
Through his organisation, Lubowa Ssebina Foundation, he runs various programmes to endear himself to the voters, including sports tournaments, skilling and education, and health camps targeting mainly the youth, women, and the elderly.
Mr Ssebina says he will give meaningful representation to the electorate that doesn’t stop at presenting issues on the floor of Parliament, but also lobbying to ensure Masaka City as a whole gets a significant share of the national cake.

He condemned the infighting among current city leaders, which he says has stifled service delivery and pledged to ensure an amicable working relationship with local leadership.

It is not yet clear whether Mr Mpuuga will seek reelection for a fourth term but if he does, a serious contest is expected to be between him, Muyiizi, and Ssebina.

Mpuuga, a former NUP deputy president for Buganda Region, broke ranks with his party –NUP last year and joined the Democratic Alliance (DA), where he is the national coordinator.
The bad blood stemmed from the controversial Shs500m “service award” that the latter received while still serving as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP).

Mr Mpuuga’s unresolved disagreements with NUP top leadership, which forced him to exit the party, has not left him the same even back in Masaka.
Apart from Nyendo-Mukungwe Municipality mayor Michael Nakumusaana, Mpuuga,a parliamentary commissioner, is not seeing eye-to-eye with most NUP leaders in Masaka, including the mayor Florence Namayanja.

“It is clear that Mr Mpuuga will defend his seat and if there are any changes, we will definitely communicate that at an appropriate time,” a close confidant of Mpuuga,who preferred anonymity, said.
If Mpuuga’s chooses to vie for president as being speculated, insiders in his camp say Nakumusaana will be fronted to replace him.

Mr Kisekka, who subscribes to the NRM party, vows to win the seat although in 2021, he ran as an Independent candidate after failing to get the party ticket.
“The electorate was misled and they have benefited nothing during this term, the Opposition they voted for has spent the entire term quarrelling,” Mr Ntale, who is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Oregon in the USA, says.
He urges voters to avoid electing leaders based on political parties, but choose those with a clear vision to cause meaningful change in the community.

“I’m returning soon to launch my campaign programme with the primary focus on talent development because that’s my niche. The elderly and women are going to be our priority,”  he says Currently, the NRM camp is not doing any serious mobilisation in pursuit of the seat. However, party leaders and supporters are confident that their 2021 ticket holder [Sarah Kiyimba] will again contest for the seat.

Mr Geoffrey Ntale, the chairperson of NRM in Nyendo-Mukungwe Constituency, told this publication that they are still confident that Ms Kiyimba, who emerged second during the 2021 polls, will be able to carry their flag again and win the seat.

“We are doing groundwork and we believe our party will again entrust Sarah with the ticket,” he says.
The DP, which once dominated the politics of the area, has not yet expressed interest in the seat. 

Lawyer and former member of the East African Legislative Assembly, Mr Denis Mukasa Mbidde, who contested for the same seat on the DP ticket in 2021,is still silent on the matter Mr Denis Majwala, the DP spokesperson in Masaka City, says they are planning several engagements very soon for leaders and party members where they will decide on individuals to vie for various positions on the party ticket.

"Our focus is going to be on strategic positions in local governments and at the parliamentary level," he says.
More contenders are still expected to join the race as the political atmosphere heats up.

Background

Nyendo-Mukungwe Municipality is one of the two constituencies in Masaka City (the other being Kimaanya-Kabonera) which were created ahead of the 2021 elections. It has more than 70,000 registered voters.

In 2021, the constituency witnessed a hot race between NUP, NRM, DP, and Mpuuga, who had the NUP ticket then, carried the day after garnering 26,810 votes while his closest competitor, Ms Kiyimba, garnered 11,238 votes. Mr Fred Mukasa Mbidde of DP got 3,513 votes, Peter Ssempa (Ind) 1,127 votes, and Abdul Abasi Ssenyonga of Justice Forum (720 votes). Other contenders were Daniel Ntale Kisekka (639 votes), Michael Ssekabira (623 votes) and Daniel Kagiri of Alliance for National Transformation (125 votes).

In the 2016 elections, Mpuuga garnered 17,319 votes against is main rival Herman Ssentongo (NRM), who got 14,586 votes.
The Opposition, particularly DP, has for over three decades been in control of Masaka politics until they recently started losing key constituencies such as Masaka Municipality in 1996, Bukoto East Constituency in 2016, and the District Woman MP seat that went to NRM in 2006 and 2011 respectively, due to internal party
wrangles. 

Although the District Woman MP seat was reclaimed by DP in 2016, the internal party divisions denied them a win in 2021. Currently, NUP which is barely five years old, considers Masaka its stronghold and the majority of leaders at various levels, including local councils and Parliament, subscribe to NUP.