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By Aggrey Baba
Member of Parliament (MP) for Kimaanya–Kabonera, Dr. Abed Bwanika has made a sudden shift in his political stance, openly telling his voters to go ahead and vote for NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi after witnessing the massive crowds the opposition leader pulled in Masaka, last week, a U-turn, sharp and unmistakable, like a man who has spent years kicking a door, only to realise the same door is the only exit left in a burning house.
Bwanika, who together with Nyendo-mukungwe MP and Democrat Front (DF) leader, Mathias Mpuuga has been one of Kyagulanyi’s loudest critics, not only in Buganda but national wide, had repeatedly insisted that NUP had no real support in the Masaka, even warning that Kyagulanyi should not “dare” step in the city of grasshoppers, predicting humiliation and empty rallies.
But when Kyagulanyi arrived last Friday, the crowds that followed him from Lukaya into Masaka told a different story, thousands of people pouring into the streets like a river reclaiming it’s territory, scenes which appear to have directly forced Bwanika to change course.
In a video now circulating online, including on CBS Radio’s Facebook page, Bwanika is heard telling his voters on a rally, that if they want to vote for Kyagulanyi, they should go ahead. He explains that he has no reason to attack Kyagulanyi since the NUP leader did not attack him or Mpuuga during his rallies.
“I didn’t hear him attack us. I can’t attack someone who has done nothing to me,” Bwanika said, adding that he is “for change,” and since Kyagulanyi also stands for change, he sees no reason to oppose him.
The directness of the message contrasts sharply with Bwanika’s earlier combative stance, as just a few days before Kyagulanyi’s visit, Bwanika and Mpuuga were confidently predicting that the rallies would fail. At a local meeting, Bwanika even lost his temper when a young voter pressed him to state which presidential candidate him, and Mpuuga supported, reminding him that in 2021, when he was still in bed with Kyagulanyi, the Kimanya-kabonera MP demanded the same clarity from Dr. Kizza Besigye. His angry reaction showed a man already feeling cornered by the political pressure at home.
Once Kyagulanyi’s rallies filled Masaka like a market day, Bwanika’s long-held narrative collapsed. The same crowds he once said did not exist now became the very force driving his reversal, a moment that left him with two choices of either to continue fighting a wave he could not stop, or step out of its path.
His shift is already being interpreted as a survival tactic, with both Bwanika and Mpuuga being under growing pressure in their constituencies, as many voters seem to be frustrated by their prolonged fight with NUP.
The UGX 500 million “service award” scandal, which NUP interpreted as a state bribe, has left Mpuuga politically stained, and Bwanika has also carried the weight of that backlash, and standing against Kyagulanyi in Masaka has become politically dangerous.
Bwanika’s endorsement was brief, calculated and carefully delivered, not promising unity or reconciliation, but simply removing him from Kyagulanyi’s line of fire, the kind of political move a man makes when he realises the crowd has already chosen its direction, and he risks being swept away if he refuses to adjust.
The crowds forced the question, and Bwanika’s answer shows that the reality on the ground has shifted too visibly to ignore.
The same man who once mocked Kyagulanyi’s Masaka ambitions is now telling voters to support him freely, a clear sign that Masaka’s political tide has changed, and those who once resisted it are now being pushed to move with it, whether they like it or not. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
