By Mulengera Reporters
As Bobi Wine prepares to commence political meetings in the greater Masaka area this weekend, President Museveni has taken steps to counter whatever momentum the opposition groups are anticipating to reap from that grand visit by the ghetto boy from Magere. Firstly, Museveni has re-energized and unleashed teams of mobilizers operating under something called B30 whose emphasis will be revitalizing the NRM committees per village each comprising of 30 members. The anti-Kyagulanyi counter mobilization will be a major test for Youth and Children Minister Nakiwala Kiyingi whose Bukomansimbi district is what we are focusing on in this political story.
Already, despite harvesting Nakiwala who many see as big fish from DP, the ruling party faces growing threat in this district which is home to DP legendary Ben Kiwanuka. It’s one rural district which KB won in 2016 condemning Museveni to mere 41%. Yet beyond such unflattering statistics, there is much more for the Musevenists to worry about. A group of priests led by influential Father Kamulegeya (born at Serinya) are openly decampaigning the NRM while likening Museveni to King Herod who issued an order targeting Baby Jesus Christ fearing he would threaten his earthly kingdom and political dominion. The same priests have openly embraced People Power while likening Bobi Wine to baby Jesus.
The activities of such priests in this very strong catholic district have in effect indoctrinated and incited the public against the NRM leaders. Mind you this is still one district where NRM didn’t perform well beyond just the Museveni-Besigye contest. Out of the three MP positions, DP took two leaving NRM with just Ruth Katushabe’s Bukomansimbi South.
North went to Deo Kiyingi and woman MP seat to Veronica Nanyondo both of whom are DPs. As if that wasn’t assaulting enough, the opposition’s Muhammed Kateregga of JEEMA became the district LC5 Chairman upon trouncing an NRM opponent. The might with which Nakiwala (who some speculate could become VP after 2021) has emerged openly promoting NRM has forced the hitherto grumbling DPs into some form of solidarity perceiving NRM as preparing to wipe them out come 2021. And their plan now, besides just keeping the other two positions, is to use Idi Lubyayi Kisiki to split the Katushabe vote in Bukomansimbi South so that Muhammed Kateregga, who has abandoned the LC5 Seat, wins and becomes MP Bukomansimbi South.
Their calculation is that at least in case Nakiwala trounces Veronica, as is likely going to be the case, they hold on to the other two MP slots. Lubyayi in 2016 stood against Kiyingi in the North and took him to court after being defeated. On winning the court case, Kiyingi slapped a Shs300m bill onto Lubyayi who hasn’t yet paid it. He could have jailed him immediately for the debt but he didn’t on the understanding that the once very popular Lubyayi doesn’t run in South again. This is the reason Lubyayi is desperately targeting Katushabe’s seat well knowing this will boost the opposition but he has no option because declining to run against Katushabe could anger Kiyingi to go after him for breaching the gentleman’s agreement they reached sometime back.
Yet Lubyayi isn’t the only one for Katushabe, who was initially to run for district woman MP in 2016 but chickened out after fearing defeat by DP prompting her foster father Museveni to create South for her, to worry about. Even majority Nakiwala supporters aren’t very welcoming towards her. Some of the Nakiwala supporters are actually former DPs who have never forgiven Katushabe for the 2016 outcomes. Some see her as a threat to Nakiwala’s bid to rise even more in cabinet.
And to such selfish Nakiwala supporters, it’s better that NRM loses Bukomansimbi South so that Nakiwala doesn’t face much competition as the President makes his 2021 cabinet lineup. Consequently, the Katushabe supporters have resorted to accusing Nakiwala of sidelining original NRM mobilizers in the district in favor of fellow defectors from DP. Katushabe supporters also fault Nakiwala for not being a born of Bukomansimbi but someone who merely got married there. This has, indeed created some polarisis in the anti-Kyagulanyi mobilization, prompting the NRM leaders in Kampala to deploy a group of volunteers led by NRM National Youth coordinator Sewava Mukasa to operate under B30 to see how the sharp rifts can be cured to avoid DPs routing NRM again in 2021.
Sewava is already camped in the district where he hails from and his mission is to ferment confusion to ensure Kyagulanyi’s mobilization tour doesn’t succeed. And despite being a son of the soil, it has so far not been easy for Sewava whose grandfather Semakula Rubereto (father to tycoon Rubereto) famously supported the NRA war effort by mobilizing fellow bus owner Kamulu of Gaso to avail their buses to do errands for the Museveni rebel army. The party leadership in Kampala considered Sewava useful for this assignment because he isn’t eyeing any national positions in the Byabakama elections. He is only eyeing the post of NRM district chairman Bukomansimbi. The 30 member committees the B30 pressure group is mobilizing are drawn from all the six sub counties and Museveni will be meeting them, to build reconciliation, in the near future but they haven’t been active and require revitalization.
Sewava hails from Butenga Sub County in Kawoko village and his wealthy grandfather worked for the sub county at some point and famously brought electricity from Villa Maria to Kawoko trading center.
Mulengera News spoke to Sewava who confirmed being in charge of the B30 operations aimed at neutralizing the Bobi tours besides revitalizing the NRM committees ahead of the President’s visit to Bukomansimbi. He also explained there is need for reconciliation because some longer-serving NRM members remain hostile to Nakiwala Kiyingi who they claim has overshadowed them yet she is a new entrant to the party having previously flocked with DP.
He said as a long-serving youth coordinator in the party, he can’t just look on when the opposition DP spreads propaganda aimed at discrediting the NRM whose leader Museveni has done and is still doing a lot for Bukomansimbi. “The President has made our roads to what they have never been. Look at the example of Villa Maria Road connecting to Bukomansimbi all the way from Gomba to Sembabule. Its all tarmacked and now those going to Sembabule from Kampala don’t have to bother going through Masaka. It’s faster and it has made life better for everyone including those now bad mouthing the NRM in Bukomansimbi. We have benefited from piped water and many related project works are ongoing. Bukomansimbi has vastly benefited too from rural electrification programs and its these achievements that B30 is leveraging upon to respond to those saying we have done nothing for the district, ”said Sewava claiming NRM is after all not as unpopular as some claim in Bukomansimbi because “we have a significant number out of the original Sub Counties headed by NRM LC3 Chairpersons and we are even going to do better the moment the warring factions are harmonized.” (For comments on this story, call, text or whatsapp us on 0705579994 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).