By Mulengera Reporters
As IGG, Beti Kamya bags Shs36m per month yet there are many other unofficial revenue streams and allowances flowing her way by virtue of being the incumbent occupant of this very lucrative office.
As such, Beti Kamya has repeatedly declined calls by her former supporters who have been reaching out imploring her to once again vie for the Rubaga North MP Seat come 2026.
She was area MP for one term between 2006 and 2011 when she left to vie for Presidency under the Federal Alliance party which she had founded after falling out with her mentor Dr. Kizza Besigye whose momentum had enabled her win.
For Presidency in 2011, Kamya performed very dismally and kept around under the TDA arrangement until 2016 when she once again contested for Rubaga North MP Seat only to be floored by Besigye-backed Moses Kasibante who had replaced her in 2011 under the IPC/Ssuubi arrangement.
Kamya, currently much older than at those previous elections, now realizes it would be bad strategy to abandon such a comfortable job and go into the Rubaga North uncertainty. In 2021, she stood on the NRM ticket but trailed with mere 14,003 votes behind eventual winner Abubaker Kawalya of NUP who polled 39,847.
Others were Independent Moses Kasibante (8,032 who was also the outgoing incumbent as of that time), FDC’s Arafat Suleiman Kasule (500), Independent Brian Tindyebwa Kusingura (346), DP’s Francis Kizito (189) and Independent Nicholas Semayobe (87 votes).
Instead, Kamya’s supporters have been urged to rally behind NRM CEC member Singh Katongole who in 2011 briefly held the Rubaga MP Seat before being forced out by Moses Kasibante through an election petition. Katongole is a businessman with several businesses in Kampala including the spacious Kati-Kati recreation center in Lugogo.
In a related development, after spending months testing the NUP fence in Rubaga North constituency, Moses Kasibante has finally identified where its weakest and has decided to stand up to and challenge Kyagulanyi blue-eyed boy Abubaker Kawalya, a Kampala businessman who is renowned for his deal-making pedigree.
Kasibante will most likely be running as an independent candidate affiliated to Mathias Mpuuga’s Democratic Alliance. He twice won the same seat on the independent platform namely in 2011 and 2016. Kasibante, who managed 8,000 votes in 2021 when the Kyagulanyi umbrella wave or momentum was at its highest, believes he stands higher and better chances this time round.
On his part Kawalya (who rarely talks in Parliament and hasn’t lived up to the high standards his predecessors Wasswa Lule, Beti Kamya & Moses Kasibante set) will struggle to get reelected now that he has been an incumbent for 10 years (5 as KCCA Speaker & 5 as MP). He faces formidable challengers like Lord Councilor James Mubiru even from inside his own 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).
