By Mulengera Reporters
In his Easter homily, Masaka Diocese Catholic Bishop Serverus Jjumba veiledly castigated Masaka City Woman MP-elect Justine Nameere when he said it was bad manners for leaders who fail to ascend to office through the popular vote to instead resort to manipulatively going through the Court system to access office.
The much-cheered Bishop likened this to leaders imposing themselves on the people. He didn’t specifically disclose names but his statement was construed to be a veiled reference to Nameere in contrast of whom the Bishop praised DF’s Mathias Mpuuga and the outgoing City Woman MP Juliet Kakande for honorably conceding defeat and moving on as opposed to leveraging their incumbency advantages to seek clinging on while imposing themselves on the people.
Nameere is the only Masaka leader who ascended office through the controversial circumstances the cleric described in his controversial Easter homily video versions of which have since gone viral.
As they congratulated and celebrated the Bishop’s guts and public-spirited approach to social justice causes, many Ugandans on social media predicted/feared that Nameere was going to unleash her characteristic verbal artillery onto the Bishop.
They were wrong because even when she is renowned for taking no prisoners, Nameere knows where to stop. She isn’t as reckless as social media users depicted her.
In a viral video, Nameere (herself a practicing Catholic) humbled herself as she responded and politely pleaded with the Bishop to look at things differently.
She said that the Bishop should reflect on the fact that not only her victory is being disputed in Greater Masaka because there are many other MP seats’ winners who have been dragged to Court by those they defeated.
She pleaded that Bishop Jjumba should leverage his esteemed platform and dissuade such sour losers and petitioners to withdraw their petitions so as to expedite Ugandans’ ability to heal, forget about the 2026 elections hangover and move on.
She said that leaders like herself deserve solidarity from the area Catholic church leadership, the opinion leaders and the ordinary people in the areas they represent so that they concentrate on lobbying service delivery, development interventions and generally government programs through which Greater Masaka will be transformed and enabled to catch up with the pace of development in other parts of the country.
Nameere said she needs the support of all leaders of good will as she intensifies efforts to lobby the President to prioritize Masaka City’s development and economic transformation needs instead of being antagonized from every direction.
To her credit, Hon Vincent Ssempijja’s daughter avoided directing belligerence towards the Masaka prelate contrary to what her detractors expected.
Much worse had been expected because the naturally very belligerent Nameere is renowned for taking no prisoners and for vigorously pushing back against those who in any way stand in her way or antagonize her interests.
Not very long ago, Nameere, the experienced broadcaster and Makerere law school graduate, did exactly that on live TV debate when she effectively deflated the loud-mouthed Makindye East MP-elect Ali Kasirye Nganda Mulyanyama, who is also a renowned wordsmith from the NUP Party. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
