By Mulengera Reporters
The 48-year-old newly appointed IGG Lady Justice Aisha Naluzze Batala is the younger sister Hajji Obed Lutale Kamulegeya who has been a close political associate of Dr. Kizza Besigye since 2001.
And yet like her dad Mzee Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya, Lady Justice Aisha Naluzze Batala is not exactly very sympathetic to her elder brother Lutale who has been in Luzira on remand since last November.
He is the man who was arrested along with Besigye in Nairobi from where they were apprehended and forced back to Uganda where they first stood trial in Court martial before their case was transferred to the civilian courts. They are accused of treason and of trying to assassinate the President. Naluzze has been serving as a High Court judge deployed at the land division of the High Court, having previously served as a senior prosecutor at ODPP.
She was also at some point a lawyer in private practice in Kampala under former Greenbank lawyer Faizal Mukasa’s law firm. Mukasa is a very rich lawyer in Kampala and also teaches law at Makerere. Naluzze is also a close associate of Dr. Hadijjah Namyalo who also teaches law at Makerere University.
Naluzze’s indifference and lack of sympathy towards elder brother Lutale manifested December last year at her father Mzee Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya’s home in Mukono where she addressed reporters and made it clear that their elderly dad was rightly disappointed that Lutale, whose mother is different from hers, could involve himself into such subversive activities along with Besigye.
Indeed, this news website a few months ago carried a story indicating that the Mzee Kamulegeya family members were divided on the Lutale issue. We indicated that a group of Lutale’s children had to defy their grandfather Sheikh Kamulegeya to go to Luzira and check on their dad. On his part, Sheikh Kamulegeya hasn’t gone to Luzira to check on his son up to this day, ostensibly cautious not to upset his blossoming relationship with Gen YK Museveni to whom he is now going to be more grateful, having made his daughter the new IGG.
His other son, Hamza Ssewankambo, a brother to Lutale, also sided with the jailed man’s children when he offered to stand surely for Besigye’s co-accused in court in order for him to get bail. Ssewankambo, a lawyer with offices at Charm Towers, remains committed to standing surety for his elder brother Lutale, notwithstanding their elderly dad’s views and reservations.
Ssewankambo grew up in UPC as a youth winger at Uganda House where he was mentored by Hajji Badru Wegulo who for long served as the UPC national chairman. Wegulo who hailed from Butaleja was a close associate of Sheikh Kamulegeya with whom they closely served Milton Obote. In fact, up to this day Ssewankambo serves as one of the Directors for Milton Obote Foundation (MOF) which manages Uganda House and other UPC properties. Mariam Lutale of the Katonga-based PFF and who is running for Kampala Woman MP slot, is also a daughter of the jailed Lutale and remains very supportive of him as he chills in Luzira.
Besigye recently suggested that the lawyers do what they can to get Lutale out of prison so that for him carries on as opposed to ever getting bowed to beg Museveni for his freedom. Lutale shocked many when he declined and said he was prepared to carry on for as long as his principal Besigye remains caged.
Ironically, Naluzze has been appointed by Museveni to replace Beti Kamya who was equally replaced by Obed Lutale (another child for Sheikh Kamulegeya) in the FDC of 2008 when she fell out with Besigye and ceased to serve as the party’s special envoy in Dr. KB’s office as FDC party President. Seventeen years, another Kamulegeya child or sibling gets to replace Beti Kamya, this time in government as IGG. What a coincidence!
The other important thing that must be stated out of necessity is the fact that in around December, the same time as Naluzze spoke at the Mukono residence, her dad Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya demonstrated his indifference still before media cameras at Museveni’s private office ONC (based at Kyambogo) where he praised the son of Kaguta. This shocked many because the old man spoke infront a big crowd as he was flanked by fellow religious leaders to praise Gen Museveni whose government weeks earlier had just locked up his son Lutale along with Besigye. 
He said Museveni was the best and called on Allah to strangle and kill whoever flocked with his opponents to bring his reign to end. He praised Museveni for restoring freedom of worship, rule of law and respect for human rights. He implored Ugandans to keep voting him back so that he rules for life. Mzee Kamulegeya, who now must be in his 90s though remains physically very strong, had been invited by Museveni’s ONC Manager Hadijah Namyalo to pray for the long life of Gen Museveni and his family members. Other clerics were present including Pastor Tom Mugerwa of Mutundwe.
Sheikh Kamulegeya’s U-turn from critic to lover of Museveni shocked many because he had all along been a Besigye diehard based at Kibuli where he flocked with the likes of Dr. Suleiman Kiggundu who was a Besigye ally and key advisor to both the Kabaka and Prince Kassim Nakibinge who heads Kibuli-based Muslims.
Earlier on, he had fallen out with Nakibinge who questioned him for secretly meeting Museveni from whom he begged and successfully got money to buy brand new vehicles for district khadis and other influential Muslim clerics. Kamulegeya even invited Museveni to invest in his house of Zakat charity program during a function at Hotel Africana.
In the end, Sheikh Kamulegeya severed ties with Kibuli, became enemies with Nakibinge and defected to Old Kampala-based UMSC whose head Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje he had previously been very critical of. This return to Old Kampala greatly hurt Nakibinge resulting into alienation of clerics at Kibuli who were perceived to be moles left behind by Sheikh Kamulegeya. One of these is former Supreme Mufti Siliman Ndirangwa who died earlier this year but his funeral ceremonies were controversially shunned by Nakibinge.
This allowed Kamulegeya to shine and loom large while proclaiming huge condolence messages from Museveni with whom Nakibinge doesn’t see eye to eye with anymore. Knowledgeable sources say that the ongoing cold war partly explains why Nakibinge is these days very pro-Bobi Wine whose two female supporters Shamim Malende and Zahara Luyirika he even helped to reconcile and avoid feuding over the Kampala Woman MP Slot.
BETRAYING BESIGYE: Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya, the father of both Lutale and Naluzze, is seen as controversially an unpredictable old man not only by Nakibinge but also a lot of people in the Besigye orbit. The retired colonel, in the hey days of their friendship, became so grateful for Mzee Kamulegeya’s Dhuwa prayers which enabled him overcome the personal crisis Beti Kamya’s exit from FDC had created. He gave the old man all the money he could afford and also added to him a donation of several acres of prime land at his farm residence at Kasangati.
Sam Njuba, who lived and was buried at nearby Nangabo, is the man who linked Besigye to the family that sold to him the large piece of land at Kasangati ku Luyinja village. This was many years ago when KB was still a serving army officer. The money wasn’t there and the retired colonel had to take a loan from Centenary Bank which he used to purchase that land. With passage of time, the land became a very valuable asset for the Besigye family with Winnie Byanyima and their son Anslem being very proud of the property.
KB, generous as always, cut off a few acres and donated it to Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya in around 2008-2009 in order to appreciate the Dhuwa prayers which enabled him overcome many political problems at that time. He didn’t consult nor notify Winnie who as of that time wasn’t living nor working in Uganda anymore. She learnt about it from the driver as she came from the airport and furiously protested but KB played it cool until when his family members agreed to let bye-gones be bye-gones. Sheikh Kamulegeya even got the title for the land and was never bothered with Winnie’s protestations.
Yet the same man years later, severed ties and turned against Dr. Besigye when he started to openly fraternizing with and praising Gen Museveni. Besigye must have felt more betrayed when it emerged that the old man was even pressurizing Lutale, his son, to turn against him too. Like he always does when he endures a betrayal, the man from Rwakabengo ignored and carried on with his politics. He never attacked Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya nor talk about him anywhere. It seems the old man took all this for weakness and (in guilt) instead grew more resentful of KB even when it was him who wronged him.
MUWANGA KIVUMBI’S RACE:
The NUP Deputy President for Buganda Muwanga Kivumbi is already vulnerable politically speaking in his Butambala County where the Kamulegeyas hail from. The old man (who used to be a staunch UPC ally for former President Milton Obote) is very influential among Muslim clerics in Butambala though he later on in life acquired land and expanded into Mukono Kyaggwe and Kayunga in Bugerere.
And Naluzze’s posting as IGG naturally increases pressure not just on the Kamulegeya family but on all the big people hailing from Butambala to deliver political dividend and victory for Gen Museveni and other ruling party candidates come 2026.
With his daughter Naluzze becoming the IGG, Mzee Kamulegeya (who is also very good at making deals and cajoling less prolific Muslim clerics) now feels more energized and obliged to pay back Museveni by intensifying prayers and mobilization among influential Sheikhs to ensure that Muwanga Kivumbi (MP since 2012) gets defeated there along with Woman MP Aisha Kabanda of NUP and their Presidential Candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
Muslims not just in Butambala but in much of Buganda have been grumbling of not eating enough on the Museveni eating table but Naluzze’s posting as IGG diminishes such claims. Besides her, Butambala now is home to Ramathan Goobi who occupies another even more powerful public office position of being the PS/Secretary to Treasury (PSST) in which capacity he is even mandated to sign on all the Ugandan currency notes. Goobi is a Muslim, just like Naluzze and hails from Butambala too.
Yet that isn’t all. Moses Kigongo, another Muslim and who serves as the powerful 1st national vice chairman for the ruling NRM, hails from Butambala too. And a combination of all these powerful people (on top of Kaddunabbi Lubega who is CEO for Insurance Regulatory Authority) diminishes political breathing space for the NUP camp especially Muwanga Kivumbi who is already standing on very shaky ground, partly because of voter fatigue and exhaustion that comes with being an incumbent of three terms (15 years without break).
Defeating Muwanga is something Gen Museveni would be prepared to invest in because of the political symbolism that comes with a whole NUP Deputy President being defeated in Buganda region which many consider to be permanently gone and lost by the Movement. The additional motivation for investing in such a venture is that Gen Museveni even has personal vendetta against Muwanga Kivumbi who he passionately hates.
Museveni blew Muwanga up during the Coffee-related legislation in Parliament (when they spoke and quarreled on Speaker Among’s phone) and more recently on twitter after the NUP big man appeared on UBC and blamed the President for not being adequately serious with the war against corruption. The latest IGG-level deployment increases on the volume of resources coming to Butambala and also the district’s proximity to political power. All this is bad news for Muwanga Kivumbi and Aisha Kabanda whose combined personal resources can simply not match what the state is capable of. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
