By Kassim Ssematimba
On Wednesday, ex-Makindye East MP Ibrahim Kasozi spoke at the launch of journalist & Lord Councilor Ddamba Ismail’s book in Kabowa. Titled ‘Nsale Ssale: Vva Mu Birooto,’ the book documents treacherous moves opposition and NRM politicians engage in even if it means betraying their own voters while duping them into thinking that they are fighting for them whereas not.
Ddamba has been a journalist for a while and more importantly he has also been an insider at the heart of opposition politics in Kampala having actively subscribed to both FDC and ANT under Dr. Kizza Besigye and Gen Muntu respectively.
So, in his book he unmasks fellow opposition politicians who have been treacherous at the different levels and how they have always connived with elements in Museveni’s regime to connive against the very poor ordinary people they claim to be fighting and struggling for.
He makes reference to one opposition politician who always depended on Kizza Besigye’s wave to get elected to office as an opposition crusader for 20 years yet he personally always voted for Museveni!
Ddamba also predicts chaos and bloodshed resulting from the amendments Gen Museveni wants to have on the UPDF Act so that the court martial continues trying civilians. Ddamba says many opposition MPs are deal makers who have already been paid off to betray the people on that issue yet they will appear on media talk shows and political rallies while vowing to die fighting for the very people.
He predicts the amendments will spark chaos whereby he anticipates angry ordinary Ugandans going on rampage inside those army court rooms and engaging in fist fights with soldiers and those sitting as judges.
All in all, Ddamba Ismail predicts that the Ugandan governance situation will worsen first before getting better.
He says at the end of it all, blame must go to no one else but opposition MPs who have specialized on duping their electors, plus their enablers inside the ruling establishment.
All these contents and much more are contained in Ddamba’s controversial book whose launching ceremony Hon Ibrahim Kasozi and Revolutionary Front (RF) pressure group head Mohammed Nsereko travelled to Kabowa to preside over. The launching ceremony took place in Kabowa located in Ddamba Ismail’s constituency as KCCA Lord Councilor.
You had other guests like ex-Minister Sarah Kanyike, Rubaga Division Speaker Musa Mbaziira and others. The local residents and mechanics from the surrounding villages and cells came in big numbers.
Mohammed Nsereko splashed money at them and promised to produce the audio version of the book so that even those who are illiterate or are too busy to read can access the content and message therein using just their ears and smart phones.
Kasozi, who bought the book at Shs1m, told the gathering about his Lord Mayoral ambitions. He said he wants to demonstrate to the people of Kampala that it’s possible to be an opposition Lord Mayor and transform Kampala without having to wait for money from the Central Government.
Saying he wants to bring inclusive development and mobilize individual stakeholders and tycoons to raise funds to build Kampala’s public infrastructure, Kasozi made reference to ex-Kampala mayors Sebaana Kizito and Nasser Ntege Sebaggala Seya who he asserted were from opposition but lobbied cash from non-state actors and managed to deliver things for a Kampala that was by far less funded that is the case today.
He claimed that Sebaana constructed the Nakivubo channel using funds he lobbied from non-state actors and used the same approach to raise money with which Mbogo and Ring roads were graded.
He added that Seya too did many things without relying on central government funding. He said the MATIP markets like the one of Busega were delivered using money Seya lobbied from non-government sources.
He wondered why Erias Lukwago doesn’t do the same instead of complaining all the time that his mandate was hijacked. He said Seya also lobbied for the Uganda-China friendship hospital in Naguru which wasn’t built using government money.
Kasozi also credited Joyce Ssebugwawo the former Rubaga Mayor who he said lobbied and got firefighting equipment for Rubaga Division without waiting for government money for everything.
Kasozi later on spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the event and elaborated on his Mayorship bid. The man, who made Bobi Wine and was there for him at the time nobody believed he had a chance at all, said he was in this to win adding that even Erias Lukwago knows he will be Kampala’s next Lord Mayor.
“He has done his part in the last 15 years. There are some great things he has done but has also registered many failures. It’s for someone else to come in and add on that work and that person is none other than Ibrahim Kasozi Biribawa,” said the former Makindye East MP who also promised to share his plans in greater detail in the coming months.
He promised the people of Kabowa that he will be coming back to share with them details of his manifesto which will be about making Kampala a more livable and inclusive City.
In his speech, Mohammed Nsereko, who has been the Kampala Central MP since 2011 and is now vying for presidency, spoke about the need for the Central government to increase the funding for Kampala whose poor state of roads Ibrahim Kasozi controversially blamed on Erias Lukwago instead.
They both referred to one of the bad roads leading to the small Kabowa community play ground where Ddamba Ismail’s book launch ceremony was held.
Ddamba indicated that the people of Kabowa should vote him back to City Hall because under Lord Mayor Ibrahim Kasozi, he is more than certain that he will be made the Deputy Lord Mayor which will make him an effective conduit through whom development will be coming to Rubaga Division. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
