By Otim Nape
Since its founding in 2020, the National Unity Platform (NUP) top leadership has always been fearful and generally apprehensive towards political leaders who refuse to bow and worship Bobi Wine.
Even when he has never been openly belligerent towards NUP or even Kyagulanyi, the outgoing Kira Municipality MP has been one such a leader. As early as 2019, fear to lose their MP seats caused many of the then seasoned opposition politicians to bend a knee towards Kyagulanyi (who has now been overall opposition leader for 9 straight years counting from 2017 when his political momentum started with that eventful Kyadondo East victory).
That is how the likes of Mathias Mpuuga, Medard Segona, Muwanga Kivumbi, Betty Nambooze, Moses Kasibante, Lubega Mukaku, Abed Bwanika, Yusuf Nsibambi, Asuman Basalirwa (even when they privately had nothing but contempt for Mr. Wine) etc all ended up drowning into NUP party wave without having to first seek to understand its values, the constitution and generally what the party stood for. Their biggest motivation was riding on the Kyagulanyi wave to win their respective MP races as the country counted down to 2021.
Even though he remained complementary in his commentary towards NUP and its founder Mr. Wine, Semujju Nganda never joined that bandwagon. He stuck to his FDC while concentrating on undressing Musevenism. A few others like Erias Lukwago, Kyamuswa County MP Kabuusu Moses, Stella Nyanzi, Nakawa’s Mike Kabaziguruka, Mubarak Munyagwa, Ingrid Turinawe etc did the same. Semujju still secured reelection (without licking Kyagulanyi’s boots) partly because Jimmy Lukwago aka Kira Yanga who NUP fronted to oust him was conspicuously unelectable.
When things soured at Najjanankumbi and it was clear a certain faction had to depart, still Nganda and the like-minded sheltered at Katonga and went into the hard work of forming their new party (PFF) as opposed to flocking to Kavule to come under the direct authority and control of Bobi Wine, an infallible politician who isn’t supposed to be questioned (according to millions of his followers). In all this, Nganda never overtly became belligerent towards Kavule or even the Principal (he is actually one of the few opposition figures, if not the only one, who have never visited Kavule).
But to powerful people in the Kyagulanyi universe, all this restraint and respectful approach has never been reassuring enough. They have always treated Semujju, a man from Bijaba in Lwengo district, with envy, fear and suspicion. It’s obvious that many of them fear his natural charisma and eloquence. For the principal isn’t supposed to be outshone. He is the standard-bearer with a template according to which everyone in the broader opposition universe has to be measured and trimmed. No one should be better than the principal, goes the unwritten Kavule rule.
Many expected Nganda to blow up and go bare knuckles on Kyagulanyi after losing the Thursday 15th January vote to their George Musisi (16,654 votes vs. 24,848) but he didn’t. He instead conceded defeated and promised to concentrate on his nascent PFF party as a platform to continue struggling for a better-governed Uganda. By doing that, Nganda disarmed thousands in the Kyagulanyi universe who had prepared for war. In fact, the general public gave him kudos for the gracefulness with which he conceded defeat.
It has been clear that the Nganda-related nervousness in the Kyagulanyi universe didn’t abate even after uprooting Nganda from his Kira territory. The evidence for this lingering uneasiness played out on Tuesday, and more overtly, as the Joel Ssenyonyi-led NUP leadership convened a session in Kampala to unveil what is supposed to be the broader opposition’s alternative budget proposals.
Nganda is still the reigning shadow finance minister for the opposition alternative government in parliament, which Joel Ssenyonyi heads. This makes the alternative budget event one that squarely falls under his jurisdiction. Yet he was totally alienated and the organizers never even had the courtesy to bother to even mock him with an invitation.
Over the years, Nganda has distinguished himself to be an eloquent Museveni critic when it comes to budget allocation. Yet the organizers of the NUP event, fearing to have him shine and dominate the media coverage, curiously chose to avoid him. He was never invited even when this would have been the natural thing to do given the fact that he is the outgoing shadow finance minister, primarily responsible for the budgeting issues. This can only be explained by the growing paranoia people in the Kyagulanyi universe continue to have towards Semujju Nganda who is also the Secretary General of PFF. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
