Nambooze: From NUP sceptic to its big promoter 

When it became untenable for politicians in Buganda region to ignore this movement that had gained traction with the youth, Ms Nambooze joined NUP, saying she was simply going with the dynamics of the day. 

Using metaphors, Nambooze didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to DP once NUP had served its purpose.  

“It was sad we were burying DP and joining a party that was starting. It would be very sad for me if I was jubilating. I’m sad for having left DP, that’s why I was saying I have unfinished business. I told NUP people that I will give my all while there, but it shouldn’t surprise them when one day I go back to DP,” Nambooze told The Observer in 2020.

But with rumours gaining momentum that Mr George Musisi, an NUP-aligned lawyer, is eyeing her Mukono Municipality seat, Nambooze has now reinvented herself as one of the leading proponents of NUP and party president Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine‘s, presidential push. 

Nambooze, who has been in Parliament since 2010, has been telling voters that veteran politicians like her are the bridge between the old and new brand of politicians led by Kyagulanyi.  

“We want to thank the president for coming in this race, which is like a relay race. He has come closer to get the button and run faster than anybody has ever done,” Nambooze said.

Nambooze’s loyalty to Kyagulanyi came under scrutiny following NUP’s fallout with Mr Mathias Mpuuga, the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP over the former’s decision to pocket Shs500 million as “a service award”.  

NUP and Kyagulanyi were clear from the time that Mpuuga’s “service award” was “illegal and immoral”.

The hard stance by Kyagulanyi put Mpuuga’s allies from the Suubi group/ DP bloc between a rock and a hard place. They had been with Mpuuga in Opposition since he quit his youth ministerial position in Buganda Kingdom. 

Some Suubi group members who now belong to NUP such as Medard Lubega Sseggona (Busiro East) have come out to openly defend Mpuuga, while others such as Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala County) have silently supported Kyagulanyi’s position. 

Nambooze has taken a rather radical position, putting herself as the mouthpiece of Kyagulanyi in this standoff with her former-ally-turned political opponent.   

“I don’t expect the priest to say that stealing is fine,” Nambooze said about Mpuuga’s recent thanksgiving function. “Another guest at the function will be Katikkiro [Buganda prime minister Charles Peter Mayiga]. I don’t expect him to tell the subjects of the Kabaka that fight.”  

Nambooze went on to invoke Jesus Christ, calling on Mpuuga to repent. 

“Jesus Christ didn’t come for the righteous. I can’t have any issue with a person who runs to God, but all I’m asking is that God should be with him and he should repent before God.” 

Nambooze also went ahead to sign the censure motion championed by Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo targeting Mpuuga and three ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) aligned commissioners. 

While Muwanga Kivumbi signed the motion quietly, Nambooze did it openly, saying she was representing the views of her people. 

“When I am acting as MP, my signature ceases to be my personal property and it becomes the property of the people in Mukono. The fact that I am among the last people to sign isn’t by accident. I gave myself time to consult my constituents, legal brains and legislative consultants,” Nambooze, who of recent has started sporting NUP’s trademark red overalls, said. 

“I gave myself time to review the documents in the parliamentary library that included The Hansards and reports made during the period in question. I wasn’t in the country. I was sick,” she said.

The response from Mpuuga’s camp has come from former Rubaga North MP Moses Kasibante, who is also a former Suubi member. 

Ever since he lost his seat to NUP’s Abubaker Kawalya in 2021, Kasibante has kept away from politics, but Nambooze’s attacks on Mpuuga have provoked a reaction from him.

As a way of responding, Kasibante has claimed that Nambooze has no clean hands either.

Appearing on various political talk shows, Kasibante has pointed at the mischief and theatre that came with the process that ultimately led to the lifting of the presidential age limit – which had been capped at 75 years – from the Constitution.

Opposition MPs raised a red flag that they had somehow each found Shs29 million wired to their accounts, only for Parliament to come up with an explanation that the money was to facilitate consultative meetings before the decision could be taken on the age limit Bill.

Sporting red attire, legislators led by Kira Municipality Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda gave cameras a chance to shoot one of the endearing pictures when they physically returned the money, saying this was a ploy by the ruling party to bribe legislators to pass the controversial Bill that had fuelled emotional debate across the country.  

Other legislators who physically returned the money included Kasibante, Ms Angelina Osege (then Soroti District Woman representative), Muwanga Kivumbi, Sseggona, William Nzoghu (then of Busongora North).

This political contestation would be resolved legally, first in the eastern town of  Mbale where Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, then Deputy Chief Justice, decided that the court would assemble away from the raucous Kampala.   

While other judges were concentrating on other aspects of the petition, for Justice Kenneth Kakuru (RIP) the issue of MPs receiving and taking back the money captured his attention.

All it took was for Nambooze, who had been called in to testify by petitioners who wanted the amendment nullified, to claim that she returned the money to the parliamentary coffers.

Nambooze wasn’t part of the group that had physically returned the money, but during the oath, she told Kakuru she had written a cheque worth Shs29m to Parliament.  Kakuru wasn’t convinced that money had left Nambooze’s account.  He asked Nambooze several questions, including why she didn’t use electronic funds transfer.  Kakuru put it to Nambooze that she chose to use a cheque because she knew that Parliament wouldn’t cash it, after all they had already issued the money.  

In a much-celebrated judgment, Kakuru dissented from the majority by annulling the amendment. Justice Kakuru, who had sensed deception, couldn’t let Nambooze go away with it.     

“A few Members of Parliament of their own volition returned the money. I must mention here that there were only 14 members, according to the evidence of Jane Kibirige, the Clerk to Parliament. This list did not include Mrs Betty Nambooze Bakireke. She was not truthful when she stated in her testimony in court that she did return the money. All she did was write a cheque which was never cashed. She knew very well at the time she came to court to testify that that money had never left her account. She did not appear at all as a truthful witness,” Justice Kakuru ruled.   

The implication of Kakuru’s judgement, according to Kasibante, is that Nambooze has no moral authority to talk about corruption. “When we were returning the money, she kept on saying she was in a traffic jam and that she would return the money. We only faced the reality when we went to court and Justice Kakuru started to ask questions,” Kasibante said.   

With Nambooze being critical of Mpuuga, Musisi’s efforts to unseat her have recently subsided, yet earlier this year the lawyer had launched the groundwork. 

“Nambooze panicked when Musisi started mobilising. We shall see if the lawyer goes ahead with the challenge or the NUP leadership get him another position as the 2026 elections get closer,” a source within NUP who preferred anonymity, said. 

Accusations
The implication of Justice Kakuru’s judgement, according to Kasibante, is that Nambooze has no moral authority to talk about corruption. “When we were returning the money, she kept on saying she was in a traffic jam and that she would return the money,” he said.