By Mulengera Reporters
So far, Minister Haruna Kasolo and the incumbent Godfrey Kiwanda have been the most visible and recognizable giants inside Gen Museveni’s political orbit who are keenly having their eyes on the lucrative position or job of NRM Central Executive Committee representative and Chairman for Buganda region.
However, unknown to many, there is another even more lethal NRM mobilizer who could move mountains and leave everyone surprised at the forthcoming ruling NRM delegates conference. This is none other than Kayunga-based money bags and property mogul businessman Moses Karanga Kariisa.
WHO IS HE?
He is also the ruling party’s district chairman for Kayunga and this has been his position for an eternity. In 2020, Karangwa stood and created plenty of political discomfort for eventual winner Godfrey Kiwanda who even had to rely on opposition wordsmith Betty Nambooze of NUP to appear on NBS’ Barometer program where she openly marketed him while demonizing Karangwa on grounds that, even inside NRM, Buganda positions needed to be left for Bagandas and not Ugandan Banyarwandas like Karangwa.
To keen observers, this indicated the political pressure and sleepless nights Kiwanda was having as of that time. In the end, Kiwanda won but Karangwa, who many took to be an underdog, left him deeply scarred. And the bad news for Kiwanda is that Karangwa, being the relentless fighter he is, isn’t going away. He is coming back and has a lot going for him including the fact that he is now the defacto leader of all NRM district chairpersons not only in his native Buganda region but in the whole country.
Fellow district chairpersons (who have immense influence on delegates) are very fond of Karangwa for a number of reasons. He is wealthy and generously stands with each one of them whenever they have financial challenges. He is fearless and always tells the national party chairman their problems in those occasional meetings they get to have with the veteran leader from Rwakitura. He is also very close to Gen Salim Saleh who remains the 2nd most powerful/influential person in Uganda after his brother President Yoweri Museveni.
Being down to earth, organic and easily approachable Muntu wa wansi type of leader is another additional selling point for Karangwa whose grip on the NRM structures in his district remains firm and unchallenged.
In comparison, Kiwanda is standing on shaky ground even in his home turf of Mityana North, not even the entire district.
Back home, Kiwanda, who hails from Kalangalo Sub County’s Mutetema village, is facing area MP Mohammed Kibeddi Nsegumire who has performed so well to the extent that majority fellow NRM cadres feel he deserves to retain the NRM flag unopposed yet Kiwanda is also continuing to menacingly look at his seat and mobilizing support under his Kisoboka pressure group. He wants to become Mityana North MP once again.
Whereas Nsegumire has been able to do a lot for the people using his Shs20m monthly earnings as MP, Kiwanda would struggle to show who he has been eating his Shs25m monthly retainer from CEC with. Kiwanda, who bowed out of the flag bearer race in 2020 after Nsegumire had become Nsegumire, has earned a lot of networking opportunities and cash from being a CEC member but there is widespread resentment among Mityana North residents that he eats alone. He was MP for more than one term but still ate alone always, something which created resentment which Dr. Gordon Ssematiko now of NUP repeatedly exploited to keep upstaging him.
In comparison, Nsegumire has ensured that there is some visible impact in each of the 31 parishes making Mityana North. In his first four years as MP, the very streetwise Nsegumire, who even Gen Museveni finds to be a more authentic leader and a more likeable person than Kiwanda, has been able to lobby for Kikandwa Health Center III, buy an ambulance for the community and generally support installation of facilities to suppport pregnant and children-bearing mothers especially in Kikandwa Sub County.
He has also ensured that health centers in all Sub Counties have diagnostic facilities on top of giving out scholarships for hundreds of children from Mityana North. He has also supported and connected more than 500 youths to travel to Middle East countries for employment.
Yet that isn’t all. Nsegumire has also supported hundreds of youths to access vocational educational training opportunities besides establishing boreholes in 13 Sub Counties in order to mitigate safe water access challenges. He has also suppported and enabled rural electrification interventions for the benefit of residents in Sub Counties like Kikandwa, Luwunga, Nakwaya and others.
Nsegumire, who strikingly resembles ex-Makindye East MP Ibrahim Kasozi because they are biological brothers, has also been very active in Church and Buganda kingdom activities. With Kasozi headed for a major political come back in 2026 in Makindye East, the 12th Parliament might end up having two siblings from Mityana. Kasozi is a moderate politician and belongs to FDC.
Having to overcome such a formidable opponent like Nsegumire will physically, financially and emotionally overstretch Godfrey Kiwanda from whom NRM delegates will also be demanding for accountability for the years he has spent out there accessing and enjoying groceries that come with being a CEC member.
All Karangwa has to do is to keep eloquently highlighting and amplifying Kiwanda’s CEC level failures and unsuitability while promising to do much better for grassroot NRM cadres majority of whom feel that incumbents like Kiwanda haven’t done enough to articulate their suffering and financial deprivation to the national party chairman during such CEC sessions.
Many such cadres feel that incumbents like Kiwanda have merely used that CEC platform to engage in personal deal-making and self-enrichment as tens of thousands of NRM cadres languish in poverty while enduring rabid criticisms from millions of disgruntled jobless and unemployable young people.
KASOLO NOT MUCH BETTER:
In his case, Haruna Kasolo is a Minister and slightly better positioned than Kiwanda because he has no incumbency baggage to carry. He can galvanize his Greater Masaka home turf as his political capital to begin with unlike Kiwanda who can’t even count on the Greater Mubende/Kiboga block vote where his Mityana falls.
However, Kasolo’s biggest undoing will have to do with intrigue inside Gen MK’s PLU where he serves as Chairman for Buganda region. There are many fellow big men inside PLU who are excellent intriguers and have always been out to undermine Kasolo as they keep feeling threatened by his seniority, eloquency, popularity, connections, personal wealth and influence.
Critics also make reference to some of the stuff he uttered during the Cabinet retreat at Kyankwanzi last year, which is supposed to have gotten him to be blasted and blacklisted by first family members whose argument was that it was unacceptable to be a Minister and yet speak the way the ex-Kyotera County MP talked in that session. For propaganda purposes, this could arm and embolden those out to frustrate Kasolo’s CEC chances while diminishing his own base.
Because he doesn’t hold any significant NRM or even government office as yet, the two men’s incumbency buggage and fallibilties referenced above could amplify chances for Moses Karangwa Kariisa to move mountains and become the next NRM Vice Chairman and CEC member charged with having the last word in the politically very significant Buganda region as the country counts down to 2026.
There is also growing consensus, as was recently referenced by Secretary General Richard Todwong, that time has come for all NRM CEC level positions to be prioritized for cadres who aren’t busy and not burdened with other public service work elsewhere in government. This too favors Karangwa Kariisa as anti-incumbency sentiments grow and become more widespread or pronounced inside the the population and within the ruling NRM too. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
