By Gyagenda Semakula Zikusooka Ssajjabbi
There are candidates you evaluate on paper, and there are those you understand through proximity. Comrade Dr Ronex Kisembo Tendo is firmly in the latter category. I write this not only as a journalist who has closely followed East Africa’s integration story but also as someone who has walked alongside him in both personal and professional spaces.
Uganda’s forthcoming by-election for EALA offers Parliament a rare chance to choose substance over mere party arithmetic. In a race where two seats fall under the ruling party’s allocation, one name stands out not because he carries an NRM card, but because he has carried East Africa on his back for nearly two decades.
This matters when one considers the criteria set out under Article 50(2)(e) of the Treaty that established the EAC, which calls for individuals with proven experience or interest in fostering regional cooperation. Too often, we interpret such provisions narrowly, rewarding proximity to power rather than proximity to purpose. Kisembo embodies the spirit of that clause in practice, not theory.
His continental footprint is not cosmetic. It is lived. He understands the delicate interplay between national interest and regional ambition. He has built relationships within the East African Legislative Assembly leadership and secretariat, not as a newcomer seeking entry, but as a familiar actor within the ecosystem of integration.
Beyond boardrooms, he has waved the East African flag in international sports arenas, cheering on Africa’s world‑class marathoners and reminding the world that East Africa’s identity is bigger than its borders.
Equally compelling is his linguistic dexterity. In a region where language often determines access and influence, Tendo moves fluidly across English, Kiswahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, and Luganda, with a working grasp of Lingala. This is not a trivial asset. It is a strategic advantage in a legislative environment that increasingly demands cultural as well as political fluency.
The current contest for Uganda’s representation to EALA, particularly within the National Resistance Movement allocation, presents a familiar tension. Should selection be guided strictly by party orthodoxy, or by the broader national and regional interest the Assembly is meant to serve?
Kisembo advances the very ideals that underpin regional integration, the same ideals the NRM has historically championed within the East African project. His work has complemented, not contradicted, the movement’s regional vision. To reduce his candidacy to partisan lines would be to miss the larger purpose of EALA itself.
Members of Parliament, and particularly those within the NRM, have an opportunity to make a statement that transcends routine selection. This is a moment to affirm that competence, experience, and demonstrable commitment to East African unity are not secondary to party affiliation, but central to it. Uganda needs voices in Arusha who understand the region not from briefings but from lived experience.
He is the Group CEO of the Uganda Chapter of Afrika Mashariki Fest. The platform is intentionally apolitical, yet deeply political in its outcomes: convening young Africans across borders to interrogate identity, integration, and the unfinished business of unity. Over the years, I have watched him engage heads of states, legislators, clerics, captains of industries, and civil society actors across the continent, not as a careerist, but as a bridge-builder.
If I may add; In September 2018, my wife and I stood beside him as best man and matron of honor at his wedding on Robben Island. That choice of venue was not aesthetic indulgence. It was deliberate symbolism. Robben Island, the prison that once held Nelson Mandela and many of Africa’s liberation icons, stands as a monument to resilience, sacrifice, and the unbreakable pursuit of freedom. To choose that ground for a union is to make a statement about the kind of life one intends to lead: anchored in history, conscious of struggle, and committed to unity. That is the Ronex I know.
From the solemn corridors of personal interactions across the region to the policy chambers of Arusha, Ronex Kisembo Tendo represents a continuity of purpose that is rare in public life. He is not merely seeking a seat as a favour. He is extending a journey he has long been on. Sending him to EALA would be an investment in the East Africa we all claim to desire.
Uganda would do well to send such a man to the regional assembly. The writer is a journalist, lawyer, and church minister. He is Secretary General of the Uganda Chapter of Afrika Mashariki Fest. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
