Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and his Arua Central Division counterpart Jackson Atima during a press conference at Parliament on July 25, 2024. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA.
When President Museveni’s brother Shadrack Nzeire Kaguta was making a case for retired Brig Emmanuel Rwashande to replace Lwemiyaga County legislator Theodore Ssekikubo, who is seeking a fifth straight term, he deployed the notion of “us” versus “them.” Mr Nzeire described Rwashande as a National Resistance Movement (NRM) insider who is going to bring about unity, unlike Mr Ssekikubo, who was cast as a divisive figure.
Further describing Rwashande as a tested NRM party cadre, Mr Nzeire said thus: “[Rwashande] went to the bush, fought. He came back and served [in the army]. Now retired, he is ready to serve in civilian life. He has connections. He has a network.” Mr Nzeire isn’t the only member of the First Family who has rooted for Rwashande because Mr Michael Nuwagira, another of Mr Museveni’s brothers, has been canvassing votes for the former soldier.
Mr Nuwagira, who is widely known as Toyota, attributed the underdevelopment in Lwemiyaga to Mr Ssekikubo’s prolonged tenure in Parliament.
“Lwemiyaga has no new primary school, yet we have leaders like Ssekikubo. I want you to understand from today that people who vote for Ssekikubo are against development. Other areas that have worked with President Museveni have been developing,” Mr Nuwagira said.
Despite being an NRM member, Mr Ssekikubo has over the years earned the moniker rebel MP together with Mr Barnabas Tinkasimire (Buyaga West), Mr Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central), Mr Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East).
Between 2012 and 2015, the lawmakers had a prolonged legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court after the NRM not only suspended them on the grounds of going against party positions but also wanted to kick them out of Parliament.
Instigator in chief
The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the lawmakers, saying the Constitution doesn’t envisage that being booted from the party automatically translates into that person losing a seat in Parliament. This, the court noted, was because, in the Ugandan context, lawmakers represent constituencies and not political parties.
Mr Ssekikubo would irk his party further when he dashed to the Constitutional Court, challenging the constitutionality of NRM declaring Mr Museveni its sole candidate in all upcoming presidential elections.
Though Mr Ssekikubo insisted that the sole candidature project was unconstitutional because it went against internal party democratic principles envisaged under Ugandan laws, the judges said he had filed the petition in haste.
“The process of determining the NRM Party’s presidential candidate for the 2021 general elections from the facts before me is still ongoing and appears to be far from being concluded,” Justice Kenneth Kakuru ruled.
“I’m not satisfied that the petitioners have proved that the said process had been concluded at the time this petition was heard, for me to determine the cons of the acts complained of.”
More than meets the eye?
Though members of the NRM frame their colleague Mr Ssekikubo as an Opposition politician, and that’s why Mr Museveni denied the constituency resources, Opposition lawmakers don’t share a similar view. Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the Kira Municipality lawmaker, in fact reckons Mr Ssekikubo has always been key in Mr Museveni’s political strategy of weakening Sembabule kingmaker Mr Sam Kutesa.
“Museveni could let Ssekikubo do whatever he wanted because he was key in clipping Kutesa’s wings. So Ssekikubo has never been Opposition like some in the NRM have said,” Mr Ssemujju said. The Kira Municipality lawmaker’s position is supported by the fact that Mr Ssekikubo supported Mr Museveni’s move to lift term limits from the Constitution; yet in 2017, Mr Ssekikubo proved to be a maverick when he voted against the President’s move to remove presidential age limits from the Constitution.
Mr Ssekikubo’s emergence to the national stage can be traced back to the 1996 elections when Dr Festo Higiro Semajege, who had represented Lwemiyaga County in the National Resistance Council (NRC), mysteriously lost his election bid to Mr Sam Rwakoojo, who would later go on to become the all-powerful secretary of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Semajege influence
Those in the know of Sembabule politics say Mr Kutesa feared Dr Semajege’s political influence. He, therefore, allegedly proceeded to concoct Dr Semajege’s ouster in favour of Mr Rwakoojo, his nephew.
Dr Semajege’s response was swift: he clandestinely came up with tactics that ultimately catapulted Mr Ssekikubo to Parliament, ousting Mr Rwakoojo in the 2001 General Elections.
The emergence of Mr Ssekikubo as an alternative centre of power deepened the rifts within Sembabule politics since Mr Kutesa, powered with his unending resources, wasn’t about to let another bull in what he considered his kraal.
Mr Kutesa’s camp had Ms Anifa Kawooya, now Mawogola West lawmaker, having been Sembabule District Woman Representative for a decade, Mr Patrick Nkalubo, Mr Elly Muhumuza, among others.
Mr Ssekikubo also marshalled his group, which had Mr Herman Ssentongo, who served as Sembabule District chairperson between 2006 and 2011, and Ms Joy Kabatsi, who served as the junior Works and Transport minister during the last term and consequently decamped to Mr Kutesa’s camp. After Mr Kutesa egged her on to contest in Lwemiyaga, she lost at the hands of Mr Ssekikubo.
Been there, done that…
For the 24 years Mr Ssekikubo has been in Parliament, he has become a key ingredient in the violent politics of Sembabule. He became an irritant to Mr Kutesa’s group, which he accused of being backed by security operatives.
In the 2010 NRM primaries, Mr Ssekikubo, who was armed with a pistol, showed up at a polling station and threw away voting material, claiming that the elections had been rigged in favour of his opponent, who belonged to Mr Kutesa’s camp.
In 2020, the State would bring back that incident when they charged Mr Ssekikubo with being in what they called illegal possession of a firearm and four counts of inciting violence.
The case didn’t go anywhere. In 2016, the political future of Mr Ssekikubo hung in the balance after the Constitutional Court referred his case, in which his election was being contested, back to the Magistrate's Court.
It all started in late February, Mr Patrick Nkalubo, who lost to Mr Ssekikubo, filed an initial application in the Masaka Chief Magistrate’s Court, seeking a voter recount. Mr Nkalubo suggested that Mr Ssekikubo was declared winner of the February 18 polls by error, after he ‘fraudulently’ attained the highest number of votes. But when the case came up for hearing, Mr Caleb Alaka, Mr Ssekikubo’s lead counsel, argued that the magistrate court lacked the jurisdiction to continue hearing the application after the mandatory four days had expired.
Referring to Section 55(2) of the Parliamentary Elections Act (Amendment) 2015, Mr Alaka said: “The Chief Magistrate shall appoint the time to recount the votes, which shall be within four days after receipt of the application.”
Seeking clarity
Mr Alaka also asked the court to decline to hear the application because the timeframe had elapsed. With that, on March 7, 2016, the Masaka Chief Magistrate, Samuel Munoba, referred the case to the Constitutional Court for interpretation.
The magistrate wanted the court to interpret whether the provisions for four days to conclude the election recount applications as well as the entire process of recount in the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005 is in contravention to Articles 28(1) & 44(c), particularly on fair trial.
Munoba also wanted the Constitutional Court to interpret whether section 55(2) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005, ousted the Chief Magistrate’s jurisdiction in vote recounting applications when handled outside the four-day rule.
Thirdly, the magistrate wanted the court to make clear the implications of the non-filing of an affidavit in reply to the application by Nkalubo. But Justices Steven Kavuma, Richard Buteera, Elizabeth Musoke, Cheborion Barishaki, and Paul Mugamba, in their four-page ruling, said upon looking at the record from the lower court, they found that Munoba had made a ruling on the matter referred to them for interpretation.
According to the five justices, Munoba had ruled that he had jurisdiction to handle the vote recount application despite the expiration of the statutory four days.
“Given the above resolution, we wonder what question is being put before this court. The court [Masaka Chief Magistrate Court], making the referral, decided to go ahead and hear the applications. It should have gone on with the recount,” they ruled. After the ruling, both Mr Ssekikubo and Mr Nkalubo’s fans celebrated in court.
Mr Ssekikubo’s fans lifted him shoulder high while sounding war drums to Mr Kutesa, whom they accused of being behind their leader’s woes. “Tulina obululu, balina sente [We have votes, they money],” they chanted while lifting Ssekikubo shoulder-high.
Mr Nkalubo’s supporters wondered why Mr Ssekikubo’s supporters were in jubilation. “That’s the reason why people must go to school. They think they have won, but we are going to go back for a recount,” Mr Nkalubo’s supporters said. The vote recount didn’t happen as Mr Nkalubo and his supporters had wanted, and eventually Mr Ssekikubo’s victory was gazetted after winning with a difference of 1,198 votes.
The here and now
Since Lwemiyaga is still firmly an NRM stronghold, the winner of next year’s elections will be determined in the NRM primary, thus making it a do-or-die affair.
Mr Ssekikubo will not only face off with Mr Rwashande, who is backed by the First Family members, but also Ms Kabatsi, who has accused Mr Ssekikubo of being propped up by the National Unity Platform (NUP).
The NRM grassroots elections have so far indicated that Sembabule and Lwemiyaga elections will be riddled with violence and confusion as various political camps within the ruling party try to score political points.
