By Mulengera Reporters
Asserting that she personally is an effective Kawempe resident, ruling NRM party second national vice chairperson Anita Among used the Tuesday rally at Mbogo mosque grounds to vow to make history by delivering a political win for Gen Museveni in Kawempe Division.
It’s one Division which has been rejecting NRM for an eternity because as early as 1996, when Museveni was still comfortably winning elsewhere in Kampala, Kawempe was one Kampala Division which would give landslide victory to the opposition, which those days was mainly DP.
In 2001, they voted Nasser Takuba as Division Chairman, Sebuliba Mutumba as Kawempe South MP (defeated Museveni man Med Kaggwa) and Latif Sebaggala as Kawempe North MP (defeated Movementist Jamada Luzinda). In contrast, other Divisions like Rubaga and Makindye still had pockets of the Movement. For instance, whereas opposition’s Nsubuga Nsambu took Makindye West as MP and Sebaana Kizito-anointed Benedict Mutyaba took Makindye East, Cranimer Kalinda, a Movementist who later on became Kampala RDC, beat the opposition for Makindye Division Mayor.
In Kampala Central and Nakawa Divisions, NRM continued having upper hand both in the local councils and at MP level up to 2006 when Erias Lukwago kicked out long-serving Francis Babu in Kampala Central as Fred Ruhindi, a diehard Movementist, clung on to Nakawa up to 2016 when FDC’s Mike Kabaziguruka defeated him.
It’s remarkable, that Kawempe had become a bedrock for opposition politics much earlier on. In 2001, whereas Kizza Besigye trailed behind Museveni in Kampala Central and Nakawa Division, Kawempe gave him the highest number of votes out of Kampala’s five Divisions.
All this combines to make Kawempe the most complicated electoral area for Gen Museveni and one in which the opposition support has been most unassailable in almost the whole country. This justifies Anita Among’s pledge to make Museveni happy by delivering victory, an undertaking that was fortified in an earlier speech by Salim Uhuru and also corroborated by efforts State House has invested there through Moses Byaruhanga.
Whoever manages to deliver on this will naturally win the admiration and respect of Gen YK Museveni who in his speech promised to dedicate a full day and drive to Kawempe for a Division-wide baraza during which he will sit down and listen to all people’s grievances, after securing re-election on Thursday 15th January.
Anita Among, who had travelled and camped in the area interacting with ghetto residents many hours before Museveni’s rally started, explained why she believes a win for the President is something she can deliver. She said she is a resident of the Division and she has significant understanding of the area’s political terrain.
She demonstrated tangible results when she introduced a one Ismail Musiitwa, who she described as an OB she left in the FDC party to which she belonged before joining NRM barely 10 years ago.
Musiitwa, who has been the FDC candidate for Kawempe North MP Seat, was introduced to the President as a new defector who had accepted to quit the race, join NRM and back Faridah Nambi, the ruling party’s flag bearer.
The Speaker, who has been everywhere re-energizing the NRM re-election message, also enumerated some of the infrastructure projects Gen Museveni will be delivering soon for the Kawempe people including the upgrading of Mpererwe-Kitezi Road. She also assured the young people in the area to disregard other political groups because it’s only Museveni who has the money and means to solve problems and sustainably transform their lives.
She also bragged about a component in the NDP 4 which will lead to the delivery of a mobile laboratory for Kawempe residents, which will be attached to Kawempe Hospital. She also announced the impending elevation of Komamboga Health Centre 4 to General Hospital status.
From her prior interaction with area residents, Among also realized that Kawempe residents were aggrieved about Mulago Hospital management’s decision to fence off the public open space which originally belonged to the Division as a recreation ground to host big public gatherings such as the NRM candidate’s campaign rally.
She asserted that Mulago had been allowed to use this space temporarily at the height of the COVID crisis, but the hospital management had refused to forfeit it back. She asked the President to appease Kawempe voters by directing the hospital management to surrender it back.
Saying Kawempe is full of very hardworking youths, Anita Among also spoke about the problem of land for the situation of more public markets for Kawempe. She said apart from Wandegeya, all public markets in Kawempe are seated on private land that isn’t owned by KCCA. She implored Gen Museveni to find money and buy out such owners so that these become government-owned markets like is the case for Wandegeya. She was also full of praises for the KCCA ED Sharifah Buzeki.
She also assured Museveni that her fellow Kawempe residents had declined calls by the area opposition leaders urging them to riot and burn down things on the morning after 15th January. She said the youths had realized that such is none of their business because opposition leaders are mere users whose children comfortably live and safely study abroad.
At the end of her speech, Anita Among predicted 80% victory for Museveni countrywide. She also bragged about the fact that Museveni had exhibited unprecedented stamina by covering and traversing the whole country without incident, while delivering his socio-economic transformation with enthusiasm. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
