By Our Reporters
On 9th May, euphoria swept through the People Power camp after online media reports indicated that Godfrey Seguya (falsely presented as Deputy RDC Gomba district) had abandoned President Museveni to back Bobi Wine for the 2021 presidency.
The very eye-catching headline (whose authenticity Seguya has since disputed) read as “Gomba Deputy RDC Joins People Power, abandons Museveni.” He was quoted as telling the newsman that Gomba was lucky that one of its very illustrious sons Bobi Wine was destined to replace YK Museveni who too has equally had a lot of relationship with Gomba being home to his Kisozi ranch. He was also implied to have said backing Mr. Wine was a natural thing to do having happily lived and related with his late father George W Sentamu.
In a phone interview with Mulengera news, Maj Martha Asiimwe who Heads RDCs Secretariat in President Museveni’s office furiously said: “We don’t have such office of Deputy RDC in Gomba. So how can Mr. Seguya defect from an office that doesn’t exist? Our structure is very clear. Gomba is one of the districts where the portfolio of Deputy RDC doesn’t exist. And in any case we have never had someone called Godfrey Seguya serving as RDC at any one time.” Maj Asiimwe vowed to publish a huge public notice in the major newspapers exposing the fraud involving Seguya and the authors of the story.
Mulengera news separately learnt that a son to a one Mukatoliki (a renowned NRM cadre in Bobi’s native Kanoni Town Council) had been involved in spreading the anti-Museveni propaganda creating misrepresentation that Godfrey Seguya had defected to People Power. Despite Mukatoliki being a close personal friend to the President, his son is a leading promoter of Bobi Wine in Kanoni Town Council, a thing that has caused the family to be often misunderstood each time pro-Bobi news emerges out of Gomba.
SEGUYA SPEAKS OUT
In a Monday morning interview with Mulengera news, Godfrey Seguya vehemently denied ever being a People Power supporter. “It’s true Bobi Wine hails from here but it’s politically very suicidal for a cadre of my standing to risk fraternizing with him in any way. I’m NRM by conviction and the population here is 99% NRM. That has always been the case and it will remain so for many more years to come. People love Mzee here and I’m one of the leading cadres ever mobilizing and sensitizing people about government programs.”
So how did the story of the alleged defection come about? Seguya believes he knows what exactly happened and the motive behind what he calls false media reports. “I have for a very long time been closely working with the RDC’s office giving them information about criminal activities especially those related to land grabbing. We have had RDCs sometimes who aren’t fluent in Luganda yet a huge fraction of people here are Luganda-speaking. So the office of RDC has always made use of my networks and oratory in the Luganda language to explain things and sensitize people about the Land Act,” he explains emphasizing the torment the false media reports have occasioned to him and family.
“My closeness to the RDC office and the favor I have always had with them has been causing me a lot of envy and some of the people exposed through my collaboration with that office have now ganged up. They are the ones who concocted that story in order to antagonize me with the RDC’s office. They know that portraying me to be for People Power in Gomba is enough to make me unpopular with voters for whom Mzee remains a darling. Once I’m sidelined they achieve two things. One is for their land grabbing-related criminality to carry on unabated and two I become politically weakened and can’t win elections. The truth is one of the people thinks I’m coming for his position and the best way to overcome me in NRM primaries is by inciting people that I’m against NRM and the President in Gomba.”
Seguya maintained he has never spoken to any newsmen denouncing NRM and declaring solidarity with People Power. “One of the first persons to call me was my RDC [Ruth Sabiiti Kashaka] asking Mr. Seguya is this true? I had retired from social media and I had to read from a friend’s phone. I remain as shocked as everybody else but this is work of the mafia gangs operating in Gomba. They are powerful and uncomfortable with me operating with RDC to expose their fraud on land.”
NRM HISTORY
Seguya, who is doing 2nd term as LC3 Chairman for Kyegomba Sub County on the NRM ticket, run through his history in the ruling party saying it goes so deep he can’t easily jump onto groups like People Power. He says he consciously joined NRM as a youth leader in the youth councils and has never looked back. “I have always won elections because of NRM. How can I run away from my party? I have twice won this current seat unopposed and I previously was councilor and Speaker for Kyegomba Sub County.” As General Secretary NRM for Gomba district, Seguya said he is the one who opened the bank account for NRM Gomba branch with Finance Trust Bank and that the hazy sham-looking photo that was used on the impugned story was extracted from the account-opening details he supplied. He said he has been NRM since 1996 and can’t imagine himself leaving NRM and remaining politically competitive or relevant in Gomba. “I get contacted even by big people from State House when they are coming for political mobilization in Gomba and I always move with them including Hajji Mayanja. That’s the relationship these Mafia actors want to destroy,” Seguya painfully explained. As a businessman involved in fish exportation business to DRC, Seguya said he is also the pioneer Chairman NRM entrepreneurship League for Gomba district which became operational in 2010. “These are Baferes pursuing me and they are angry because I have lately showed the RDC their fake land titles and many of their fraudulent deals have been blocked. Some of them ironically are elected leaders in the LC system working with fraudsters who claim to love Gomba more than anyone else. How can they be so naïve? The whole me crossing to People Power which doesn’t exist even in Wasinda-Kanoni village where Bobi Wine is born? It’s just madness aimed at using political blackmail to protect their fraudulent business activities aimed at dispossessing people of their land,” concluded Seguya adding he wasn’t comfortable disclosing names lest he jeopardizes ongoing criminal investigations. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
