By Mulengera Reporters
With exception of district Woman MP Christine Kaaya Nakimwero who unexpectedly flipped the Woman MP Seat and defeated the long-serving Ruth Nankabirwa, Kiboga is one of the few Buganda region districts where Kyagulanyi’s NUP wave didn’t cause much havoc on the ruling NRM in 2021.
The two directly elected MPs who won were NRM namely-Dr. Kefa Kiwanuka and Abdul Mutumba Ssetuba of Kiboga East and West respectively.
The LC5 district Chairman is also NRM. NUP won the Kiboga Town Council Mayor and a few councillor level positions. The NUP momentum resulted largely from the infighting inside the NRM camp mainly between the Ruth Nankabirwa camp and that of ex-LC5 Chairman Siraje Kizito Nkugwa, who went as far as defecting to NUP whose Nakimwero’s victory over Nankabirwa he greatly aided.
Nkugwa, who had cajoled many cadres to decamp from NRM, has since been rehabilitated with a well-paying job of serving as RDC Kapchorwa, and he is fully back home in NRM, having realized there was nothing material he was going to ever get from Kavule.
He is currently doing a lot of mobilization for Museveni in Kiboga where a big joint NRM candidates’ rally is being organized on Monday 5th January. It will be hosted at Pastor Joash Haguma Gashana’s Church premises.
Today, barely two weeks to the voting day, there is certainty among the political intelligence community that NRM won’t only retain the upper hand in Kiboga but will also reclaim the Woman MP Seat come 15th January. Their Desire Muhooza, down to earth daughter to Gen Salim Saleh, is doing well and has clear chances at victory against Nakimwero.
Voters are angry that Nakimwero hasn’t brought for them groceries, and has equally been a dormant MP rarely speaking in Parliament even when she has had the additional platform of being a shadow minister under both LoP Joel Senyonyi and his predecessor Mathias Mpuuga.
In contrast, Desire Muhooza (who doesn’t hold any position yet) has brought goodies already even before becoming Woman MP for Kiboga. She has leveraged offices like Hadijah Namyalo’s ONC to bring tangible things for the youth and women groups.
She one time brought ED Nyombi Thembo and the entire UCC top management for a community Baraza to plead for the re-opening of the Bizindaalo business in Kiboga where conventional radio signal reception remains a challenge because of the difficult geographical terrain.
She has also previously brought the President and continues to work well with fellow NRM leaders, including the district party chairperson Dr. Canon Ruth Nankabirwa, to amplify the messaging around the suitability of the Movement to continue serving as the ruling party of Uganda.
Many voters are already seeing Muhooza as the defacto Woman MP Kiboga simply because she is able to do for the people things which Nakimwero hasn’t been able to do.
Several primaries’ losers like Nakitende and Rhoda Kintu have already bowed out of the race and are backing Muhooza as the flag bearer of the NRM party. One of them has already been given the job of RDC and she is happy. Only Niyoshaba, who deputizes the district Chairman, has remained in the race as an independent but hasn’t been able to dent Muhooza’s support in any significant way.
The Kyankwanzi Town Council Town Clerk Segawa is also doing a lot of mobilisation and has caused lots of hitherto disgruntled youths and women to denounce NUP and return to NRM. Segawa, an influential opinion leader in Kiboga, is doing a lot to support the Muhooza victory while undermining Nakimwero.
NUP DISARRAY:
The NUP camp hasn’t been able to effectively push back because of the profound divisions they have. They are in disarray whereby Nakimwero, for instance, isn’t working well with Grace Kakooza who is the Kavule candidate for Kiboga West MP Seat which ordinarily should be the easiest for the opposition to win because its more urban, being home to Kiboga Town Council.
Grace Kakooza is personally not very popular because of her belligerent nature. A recent incident at her home that saw her assault the maids and other relatives in her household became talk of Kiboga town and greatly demonized the NUP camp, which has endured a lot of bad publicity among Kiboga residents and voters because of Grace Kakooza’s quarrelsome character.
The impending departure of area NUP/People Power founder/pioneer Mahamood Kibuuka, just like the one of Nkugwa before, has also created lots of contradictions and anxiety inside the NUP camp.
Kibuuka wanted to be the NUP flag bearer for Kiboga West but Kavule disregarded him in favour of Grace Kakooza. He refused to bow out of the race and he is in as a NUP-independent.
He has endured a lot of propaganda from the Grace Kakooza camp, which has turned him into an outlier of some sort. Recently he unveiled his new posh house on Kanala hill outside Kiboga town and rumours, originated by people in Grace Kakooza’s camp, spread that this was evidence of money from NRM. The same was alleged when Kibuuka unleashed his newly-acquired Toyota Harrier.
In his late 30s, Kibuuka, now a disgruntled NUPian, had been a pillar in demobilising NRM support in Kiboga. He had started out as a supporter of Rose Zimulinda, a State House employee, who had been standing against Nankabirwa many years ago.
He hails from the family of Sheikh Mboga who famously used to conduct defiant Dhuwa prayers for Museveni and the other NRA rebels during the bush war that was epic entered in hilly Kiboga among other Luwero triangle areas.
He (Mahamood Kibuuka) remains very influential in the politics of Kiboga yet he is hostile to both Grace Kayondo and Woman MP Christine Kaaya Nakimwero whose 2021 victory against Ruth Nankabirwa he greatly aided.
The intrigue between Grace Kakooza and Kibuuka (both of whom profess NUP) has naturally increased NRM flag bearer Eric Lule’s chances to win the Kiboga West MP race come 15th January, even when Abdul Mutumba Ssetuba, the incumbent MP and fellow Movementist, is still in an independent.
The defecting back to NRM by Mzee Buyisi Bwomu of Rwamata Town Council also dealt a big blow to the NUP camp which in 2021 effectively used the Bizindaalos system to deploy spin doctors (like him) to effectively discredit Gen Museveni’s ruling NRM establishment.
The Bizindaalos, whose operations greatly boosted and amplified Kyagulanyi during the 2021 campaigns, remain banned by UCC not only in Kiboga but in other parts of Buganda.
The Commission was instigated by a paranoid State House to ban and confiscate them everywhere because they were operating outside the regulatory reach of government, which made it hard to legally crack the whip on audience-seeking owners who used them to promote the Kyagulanyi narrative in 2021.
Their absence too has weakened the NUP influence in Kiboga where radio stations like Simba and CBS are always on and off because of the difficult hilly terrain.
And, in the Bizindaalos absence, the rejuvenated support of Gen YK Museveni in Kiboga was visible recently when the veteran leader from Rwakitura held a mammoth rally at Kiboga’s Saza grounds.
Area residents spent the two days preceding the rally having Busikis (stag parties) as if they were preparing for the visit of the Cardinal, the Kabaka or even the Pope.
Pro-Museveni musicians descended on Kiboga like never before and a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed up to days after Museveni had even left the district.
Kyagulanyi won’t be able to campaign there again (before 15th January) because he was in Kiboga much earlier on and the post-Museveni rally momentum is what the Nankabirwas are riding on to exorcist NUPism from Kiboga. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
