By Namuguzi Ntale Jude
When the Opposition unveiled its Shadow Cabinet, the following day Hon. Francis Zaake Butebi the NUP Mityana municipality legislator did something louder than a press conference. He posted 15 words on WhatsApp status:
Traitors, Unappreciative, Manipulators, Users, Ungrateful, Opportunistic, Difficult to Satisfy, Quick to Forget Favors, Deceptive, Disloyal, Betrayers, Pretenders, Hypocrites, Backstabbers, Liars, False Friends & Turncoats!
No names. No tags. But in politics, timing is a name. The address was clear.
This is not Zaake’s first heartbreak with NUP’s top table.
Rewind to 2022. Zaake lost the Parliamentary Commissioner slot over indiscipline. Painful, but he believed in redemption.
Fast forward to 2023. Mid-term reshuffle. Joel Ssenyonyi replaces Mathias Mpuuga as Leader of Opposition. Zaake waited for the Commissioner slot to return home. Instead, it went back to Mpuuga. Many read it as a political tool to calm Roman Catholic Buganda, especially Masaka. Zaake was “compensated” with Deputy Chief Whip of Opposition. A title that doesn’t exist in Parliament’s hierarchy. Foot soldiers called it what it was: mockery.
Now 2026 Shadow Cabinet is announced. Sources close to Zaake say he expected one of the top 3: Leader of Opposition, Commissioner, or Chief Whip. The door stayed shut.
The plot thickens: Fire now has funding.
Word coming in has it that Zaake, together with his father City Tycoon Emmanuel Butebi, is the architect behind the renegade foot soldiers driving the “ Walk to Kavule ” crusade.
If true, this is bigger than a WhatsApp status. This means Zaake is not just the face of defiance. He now controls two things NUP top fears most: street mobilization and independent financing.
Butebi’s money plus Zaake’s defiance is an alternative power center inside NUP. One that doesn’t need party structures to move foot soldiers.
So who is Zaake in NUP, really?
He is not just the MP for Mityana Municipality. He is the face of defiance. The man of action. The symbol for thousands of foot soldiers tired of hearing “wait for bureaucracy”. They want confrontation now. Process later.
In simple terms: Zaake’s big time haters at NUP Rubongoya and Katana play chess. Structure, balance, long game. Zaake plays fire, and now fire has fuel.
The 15 words were not just anger. They were politics.
Every word in that status hits one nerve: betrayal. Traitors. Users. Backstabbers. Turncoats. Zaake was not attacking NRM. He was warning NUP.
When Zaake a man who took bullets, torture, and prison for a party feels “used and discarded” – and has the means to build his own lane – the base notices.
The choice before NUP now is no longer binary. It’s urgent:
One negotiate with Zaake and bring him and his base to the center to absorb the fire before it becomes a separate blaze.
The other is confront Zaake and risk a public split perceived as a party fighting its most defiant MP.
Movements die not from enemy attacks. They die when internal power centers stop taking orders from the same headquarters.
Zaake’s status is a warning light. The “Walk to Kavule” reports are the siren.
The question is no longer if Zaake is right or wrong.
The question is: Can NUP afford to lose its fire, its street, and now its money while playing chess?
Uganda is watching. Kavule is watching.
