
National Unity Platform (NUP) party president Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine (wearing red beret) with some of the Kampala and Wakiso Division councillors at his home in Magere, Wakiso District on Friday, January 29, 2021. PHOTO | MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
When returning from his country home of Rwakitura, Nyabushozi County, after emerging victorious in the contested 2021 General Elections, President Museveni’s long motorcade snaked through rural Buganda to a rather cold welcome.
The coldness of this welcome became apparent when he approached Wakiso District, which encircles Kampala, the capital, in all directions.
Wakiso is the district you first meet when you are leaving Kampala. When you take Bombo Road you meet it at Maganjo, call it Nansana Municipality constituency, formerly Kyaddondo North.
When you take Masaka Road, you meet it around Kyengera, call it Busiro East constituency. When you take Entebbe Road, you meet it at Namasuba, call it Makindye-Ssabagabo constituency, formally Kyaddondo South.
When you exit through Hoima Road, you meet it at the Lubigi catchment area in the Nansana settlement, call it Nansana Municipality.
When you exit through Jinja Road, you meet it at Kireka, call it Kira Municipality, which was carved out of Kyaddondo East.
When you exit through Gayaza Road, you meet it at Kitetikka, call it Kyaddondo East constituency.
From the Ganda perspective, Wakiso is made up of parts of Kyaddondo County (Ssaza) and the entire Busiro County.
These two counties are the original nucleus of Buganda Kingdom, before it expanded after fighting generational wars mainly with its eternal rival—Bunyoro-Kitara.
Museveni’s idea of greeting people through the rooftop was intended to show how he is still connected to the grassroots.
In Wakiso, though, it was clear that the feeling wasn’t mutual as seemingly uninterested people looked on.
This was the clearest sign yet that the district had joined Kampala in turning into a bastion of the regime's malcontents.
From the Opposition perspective, historically, Kampala has led the way in voting against the NRM. In this central district, National Unity Platform (NUP) principal Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, continued the trend set by Dr Kizza Besigye in 2016.
He got the better of Museveni at the presidential level while also winning all the 10 constituencies that make up the district.
This also includes the women's district representative slot, which, for two decades, was held by NRM’s Rosemary Nansubuga Seninde.
Local government success
The NRM’s haemorrhage in Wakiso didn’t stop at the presidential level and parliamentary level but even at Local Government where NUP’s Matia Lwanga Bwanika trounced NRM’s Moses Mayanja, the former Masuliita Town Council chairperson. Bwanika prevailed with a difference of 142,498 votes.
With Wakiso swinging firmly into the Opposition’s grasp even at Local Government where services are delivered, the residents find themselves at the risk of being ignored by the centre.
This is especially so if Museveni’s warning of denying Opposition strongholds finances is to be taken seriously.
“All the money needed to develop Kampala is available, but the problem is that you people continue to vote for Lukwago and that means that straws have been blocked,” Museveni has kept on warning people of Kampala for voting Erias Lukwago as Kampala Lord Mayor.
With Bwanika announcing how he is interested in going to Parliament via Wakiso’ Busiro South, the district in the next term is bound to have new leadership.
The safe bet is that it is highly unlikely to be NRM leadership. In fact, NRM finds itself in a conundrum in Wakiso as to who will vie for the Wakiso District chairperson seat because many of its cadres have concluded there’s no need to waste resources in an area they know they won’t win.
NRM was counting on Mayanja, who was defeated in 2021, but he has made clear that he is interested in going to Parliament via Busiro North where he has to overcome NUP’s Paul Nsubuga.
Another person the NRM was counting on is Abdul Kiyimba, who is its chairperson in Wakiso, and was once the mayor of Nsangi-Kyengera Town Council.
The problem the NRM strategists found was that Kiyimba, just like Mayanja, has his eyes on getting into Parliament via Busiro East currently occupied by NUP’s Medard Lubega Sseggona.
“The NRM has been organising meetings to see that they get a candidate for Wakiso District chairperson but the problem is the would-be candidates have pulled out in droves because they don’t want to waste much on a position they know the likelihood of success is very minimal,” a source familiar with NRM strategies but preferred anonymity such that he could speak freely, said.
With Mayanja and Kiyimba ruling out running for the district chairperson seat, risking the NRM suffering embarrassment if a viable candidate is not presented, Ian Kyeyune, sources say, has indicated a willingness to throw his hat in the ring but only if he sails through the NRM primary unopposed.
Kyeyune eyes comeback
Kyeyune has a historical attachment to Wakiso since he was the pioneer chairperson of the district when it was carved out of Mpigi in 2000.
Kyeyune ruled until 2011 when his popularity waned and Bwanika, a former journalist who stood on the Democratic Party (DP) ticket, put his best foot forward.
But it is not that Kyeyune hadn’t seen his defeat coming because in 2009, he was humiliated by a crowd over the state of Busabala Road found in Makindye-Ssabagabo Constituency.
Kyeyune had driven from Wakiso District headquarters to Busabala to explain to the demonstrating residents the fate of the dilapidated road but as soon as the crowd saw him, they pounced on him and covered him with dust.
From 2011, Kyeyune, who had a stint as Wakiso Resident District Commissioner (RDC), has tried to stage a political comeback but without success. He tried in the NRM primaries of 2015, but was defeated by Yona Nsubuga.
Nsubuga would also lose to Bwanika in the ultimate elections.
In 2020, Kyeyune once again tried his luck in the NRM primaries that were characterised by chaos.
Mayanja, however, prevailed with a difference of 77,082 votes. With that kind of history, sources say, Kyeyune has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with primaries. For the NUP, Nasif Najja, the current speaker of the Wakiso District Council, has emerged as the front-runner in the battle to replace Bwanika.
One of the reasons Bwanika has given for his move to leave Wakiso is the disillusionment with the Local Government projects, which came with a promise of decentralising power but the opposite has instead happened.
“All the revenues are taken to the centre and then it decides what to give to us. We can’t deal with our issues, that's why I want to go to Parliament,” Bwanika told this writer recently.
With Wakiso seen firmly in the grasp of NUP, Najja, who is also a close associate of Kyagulanyi, is for now seen as chairperson-in-waiting.
“I know the issue of the centre controlling finances won’t change anytime soon, but I’m working on a way we shall put pressure on the ministries of Finance and that of Local Government to work on our issues. The problem with Bwanika is that he has been too diplomatic and as you know, for us in NUP, we are activists who know our rights,” Najja, who initially was interested in the Nansana Municipality parliamentary seat before settling for the Wakiso District slot, said.
Joined at the hip
The issue of denying finances is not peculiar to the Opposition. It is done in conjunction with Kampala as, between themselves, the pair contribute approximately 70 percent of Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Wakiso with its 3.3 million-strong population, Najja says, cannot be ignored “because most of the people who work in Kampala stay in Wakiso and that’s why you can’t say we put resources in Kampala while ignoring Wakiso.”
Najja’s point makes sense in light of the Kiteezi landfill disaster in which more than 34 people were killed and more than 1,000 internally displaced.
Whilst the landfill is in Wakiso, the solid waste that led to the disaster was mainly from Kampala households and businesses. From that time, different townships in Wakiso have rejected proposals from Kampala Capital City Authority honchos to turn their areas into dumping sites.
“The government might say Wakiso is the Opposition so let’s ignore it, but remember you can’t ignore us because we pay lots of taxes and we are critical to Kampala,” Najja said.
By the time Uganda goes to the ballot, Wakiso boundaries could have changed since the government has already made it clear that starting July this year, there will be what will be known as Wakiso City and Entebbe City.
The creation of cities was on paper meant to increase funding for those areas, but the Finance ministry last year made clear that there is no such money.
“These things of creating administrative units don’t bring us any money; they give us spending pressure on an already constrained resource envelope,” junior Finance minister Henry Musaasizi, said.
It is not clear if cities in Wakiso and Entebbe will be operationalised, but for Najja, he should be looking over his shoulders because former Makindye-Ssabagabo legislator Ssempala Kigozi, alias Ssajjalyabeene, a NUP member, is also interested in the Wakiso District chairperson seat.
If he is denied the NUP ticket, it is speculated that Kigozi will most likely join Mathias Mpuuga’s Democratic Alliance pressure group.