By Mulengera Reporters
Nyombi Thembo, the UCC Executive Director, has commended Gen Salim Saleh’s daughter Desire Muhooza for abandoning comfortable life that comes with being daughter to such a big person in government, to instead go and lead other NRM cadres to mobilise for the political recapture of Kiboga, the rural Buganda region district from Kyagulanyi’s NUP party come 2026.
Whereas the NRM candidates like Kiboga East MP Kefa Kiwanuka and Kiboga West’s Abdul Mutumba won their races and frustrated the opposition, in the same 2026 general elections Kyagulanyi’s NUP defeated NRM at the level of Woman MP and Presidency. For Presidency, Kyagulanyi defeated Gen Museveni as the hitherto very obscure Christine Kaaya Nakimwero did the same to Ruth Nankabirwa who had been Woman MP since 1994.
Kaaya won with 24,767 votes against Nankabirwa’s 22,878. It was that close. Aisha Nakimuli, the NRM-leaning indeprndent, got 1,759 votes! NUP won several other local council positions including Councilors and the Kiboga Mayor slot which went to their Henry Kagaali.
There had been fears the situation would even worsen in 2026 as NRM supporters remained dissilusioned and divided based on egos of the leading cadres.
Nyombi Thembo, who had also become resigned to the fact that Kiboga was forever gone from the firm grip of the NRM, now says that he is motivated that Desire has stepped forward to lead the NRM camp in pushing back against chauvinists from NUP and the results are beginning to manifest via good outcomes such as several NRMs who had defected to NUP walking back to once again embrace Musevenism.
Having been Minister for the rehabilitation of Luwero triangle of which Kiboga is part, Thembo has a fair understanding of Kiboga, which is also not very far from Kasanda district where he served as MP for 20 years. He was also a special campaigner for Museveni in all Buganda districts especially in 2001 when Gen Museveni faced off with his former NPC and personal Doctor, Kizza Besigye, for the Presidential vote.
Nyombi Thembo took on key Besigyeists in Buganda like Joyce Sebugwawo, Sewava Sserubiri, Robert Sebunya, Kamala Kanamwangi and others who had just resigned their positions in Kabaka’s Cabinet in order to market Besigye who was being portrayed to Baganda as the man to give them Federo.
During the execution of those political errands for Museveni, Nyombi Thembo networked and made connections with a lot of NRM mobilisers across Buganda and Kiboga is one area whose political terrain he has a profound understanding of.
Indeed during the Thursday meeting at Kiboga’s Saaze Grounds where hundreds converged to plead with him to reopen the Bizindaalos/Community radios, Nyombi Thrmbo (who came with a huge entourage of managers from UCC and NEMA) could personally recognise many cadres and community members who he kept calling out by name. There was a lot of personal chemistry between him and a lot of people in the audience, including cadres who had become disgruntled and taken shelter under Kyagulanyi’s NUP umbrella.
After explaining why the Bizindaalos can’t be allowed back again because they are prohibited under the law, Thembo shared his pain to see NRM beginning to weaken and taking back seat in Kiboga. He said this was wrong and unacceptable because of deep Kiboga’s history in the 1981-1986 NRA bush war which brought Gen Museveni to power as President in 1986.
He said the decision by Desire Muhooza and other children of NRA veterans to come up to lead the NRM cadres in the trenches to 100% wrestle the district back to the firm grip of the ruling party was very motivating to him as an ageing cadre of the Movement.
Thembo promised to report to both the President and Gen Saleh about the good work Desire Muhooza is doing and her high prospects of winning to become the new area Woman MP come 2026. He said he would ring Desire’s father Saleh that very Thursday evening and report to him the good prospects for victory he had detected in Kiboga for the ruling NRM party under Muhooza’s command.
“I’m going to ring my elder brother Gen Saleh and share with him my findings from this trip to Kiboga. I can see and project that, with cadres like Desire rallying all veterans’ children to get back into this political fight, the Movement is going to fully recapture Kiboga,” said Thembo while rallying all NRA bush war fighters and veterans’ children to emulate Desire and rise up to defend the revolution and the Uganda their parents envisaged.
He implied that their continued indifference will only see NUP and other opposition groups stepping forward to fill the resultant vacuum. Nyombi Thembo also promised to reciprocate Desire Muhooza’s initiative, and the patriotism the people of Kiboga have exhibited thus far by receiving her with enthusiasm, by taking official leave from his UCC ED job so that he can openly participate in campaigning for Desire while broadly working towards reorganizing the NRM in its Kiboga cradle.
Nyombi Thembo clarified that he will first remain neutral and keep away as he prepares to come to boost Desire’s campaign effort once the NRM primaries are conducted and she emerges the overall winner. Apparently, Nyombi Thembo was being careful not to offend fellow NRM cadres (several women) who are currently preparing to compete with Gen Salim Saleh’s daughter Desire for the position of NRM flag bearer for Kiboga. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
