By Mulengera Reporters
Moses Mugisha Okwera is a diehard FDC Najjanankumbi supporter to the extent that when the quarrels with Katonga escalated, he is one Nandala/POA assistant who Semujju Nganda regularly name-called and demonized each time he got a microphone.
He accused him of being so hostile and top among those who worked hard to frustrate efforts by Katonga renegades to move on, including their efforts to form and incorporate their own party-PFF. He was also accused of coordinating the kifeesi group, which used to brutalize Katonga-leaning FDC officials like Wasswa Birigwa, Salaam Musumba and others. Nganda would contemptuously say: “Kino ekivubuka kya Nandala Mafabi ki Okwera tekirina Magezi.” It loosely means this fake boy Okwera of Nandala Mafabi is a fool.
He remained a thorn in the flesh of the leaders at Katonga to the extent that when PFF fronted Mike Kabaziguruka as their candidate for Nakawa East, which he had represented during the 10th Parliament, Okwera stood against him on the FDC ticket. He had been a KCCA Lord Councilor and an ally mentored by Kabaziguruka, years earlier.
Okwera was also at the forefront of promoting what Katonga branded fake internal party elections which were spearheaded by Mzee Toterebuka Bamwenda. Indeed, it was through those elections that he became the FDC Chairman for Nakawa Division and later on a NEC member. The same structures made him flag bearer for Nakawa East.
Nakawa falls under Buganda for which Yusuf Nsibambi was voted the new Deputy President after he unexpectedly shunned Dr. Kizza Besigye and his Katonga, and instead opted to stay with Nandala and POA at Najjanankumbi. Nsibambi gave media interviews in which he demeaned the colleagues at Katonga. To Nandala’s excitement, he targeted Erias Lukwago and Semujju Nganda claiming they were fortune-hunters out to merely mislead Dr. Besigye.
Nsibambi, who people always thought was a moderate politician, several times appeared on media debates where he clashed with and belittled Erias Lukwago and Semujju Nganda. He also clashed with their ally Betty Nambooze one time during the NBS TV’s Barometer. He demanded to be respected even more after a grateful POA and Nandala fired Semujju Nganda from the office of FDC whip in Parliament and gave it to him (Nsibambi).
He promised to use his deep pockets, connections, money and experience to make sure FDC once again becomes a very strong political party in Buganda and Uganda, while loyally serving under POA and Nandala. Today years later, the greatness that was promised is nowhere to be seen and Nsibambi would struggle to show what he has done using the office he was given during the 2024 FDC delegates conference at Lugogo.
OKWERA RANTS:
This disappointment is exactly what Okwera addressed during his Monday media interview with Mulengera News. The FDC militant re-iterated demands to have Nsibambi ousted from the office of FDC Deputy President for Buganda.
He thanked FDC National Chairman Jack Sabiiti for commencing proceedings to have Nsibambi summoned, disciplined/sanctioned and eventually expelled from FDC. He says that, besides the treacherous engagement he recently had with President Museveni, who he described as the chief tormentor of FDC, Nsibambi is a weak leader who promised a lot of transformation but delivered none.
“He promised he was going to use the office of deputy president to revive FDC in Buganda but he has failed miserably. He is naturally not a fighter and he is even ashamed of FDC, which is why he can appear on CBS and can’t defend the party when its brand is being destroyed by other panelists yet he is a whole Deputy President. He never calls meetings and you wonder the type of Deputy President he is.”
Okwera says he and other FDC chairmen in Buganda miss and are nostalgic about the days when that same Deputy President office was being occupied by Joyce Ssebugwawo and later on Erias Lukwago. He says, even when they left the party, the duo was more committed and availed their time and resources to strengthen FDC unlike Nsibambi who he accuses of lukewarm commitment.
That, much as they both left FDC and are no longer part of it anymore, they were honest and he, as Okwera, respects them more than Nsibambi. “I’m sure no one would have voted for that proposal but as a senior founding leader, he should have consulted. You don’t be deputy president and you go to see Museveni hoping that Ugandans will tell the difference between Nsibambi and FDC. He should have come to the party organs, all of which he sits on, and consulted instead of propagating personal interests while claiming to be doing this for the good of the struggle.”
Okwera also says Nsibambi failed miserably as the FDC whip, which makes him (Okwera) and other FDCs nostalgic about the gone old days when Semujju Nganda occupied that same office. “He was a real brand manager and loved FDC. He served it with his entire heart and worked hard to keep its flag high unlike Yusuf Nsibambi.”
“How do you sit with colleagues at Najjanankumbi and you assure them to count on you to deliver Buganda yet you are even ashamed of your party? Imagine he can’t even recruit support in his Mawokota South. He comes from Mpigi but he couldn’t even identify anyone to stand on FDC as district chairman, no woman MP and no other candidates. Not even councilors.”
Okwera says as Deputy President Buganda, Yusuf Nsibambi has never convened even meetings to plan the party’s campaign strategy going into 2026 campaigns and even how to identify candidates. “You are Deputy President and you don’t even call meetings. That man is such a traitor to the extent that when our Presidential Candidate Nandala Mafabi came to campaign in Buganda, he [Nsibambi] went into hiding and avoided him. Even in his constituency, he went into hiding and was nowhere to be with our party candidate on the day Rt. Hon Nandala Mafabi campaigned in Mpigi.”
Okwera says, much as he didn’t want to antagonize colleagues since they had a bigger war with Katonga, he personally was doubtful at the Lugogo delegates conference when Nsibambi was being made Deputy President Buganda. “I had figured him out long time ago because as early as 2021, he avoided POA as our Presidential Candidate and went into hiding. So, as of the Lugogo delegates conference, I already knew better than expecting much from Hon Yusuf Nsibambi.”
As a way forward, Okwera wants the process to oust and replace Yusuf Nsibambi to be done very quickly so that a new leader is quickly identified and deployed to lead the rebuilding of FDC in Buganda. He admits it’s not going to be easy “but FDC is our party and we have to rebuild it.”
He says a lot of things went wrong for Najjanankumbi during the 2026 campaigns, including Museveni’s refusal to give them money they were entitled to under the IPOD arrangement and including candidates like their lord mayoral flag bearer Ibrahim Kasozi unceremoniously withdrawing from serious campaigning-and all these contradictions require urgent harmonization.
“We have to go into soul-searching immediately and for that to happen, that vacuum of deputy president must be filled very quickly because we can’t count on Yusuf Nsibambi anymore. How do you sit with Museveni, the very man who refused to give us our IPOD money to enable us campaign as was entitled under the law? You go to him and you don’t raise such issues and instead you talk about some other things to get personal glory.”
He also said much as Nsibambi had been a big fish who did a lot for FDC since it’s founding, the party will have to move on and keep getting even stronger exactly as was the case when Dr. Kizza Besigye, their founding President, decamped and joined others to found PFF. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
