Prime
Nasser Ntege Ssebagala is back for presidency
Ssebagala "seya" picks nomination forms at the EC. Courtesy Photo
Former Kampala mayor Al Hadji Nasser Ntege Ssebagala becomes the latest person to show interest in the much coveted top job.
Mr Ssebagala on Friday morning picked presidential nomination forms at the Electoral Commission at Jinja Road Kampala.
This is not the first time the same man who promised support for President Museveni is showing interest in presidency, in 2006 Ssebagala picked nomination forms but he developed cold feet and ended up swapping intentions for Kampala mayoral race.
Mr Ssebagala, or Seya as he is mostly referred to- began his political career by running for the position of Mayor of Kampala. Ostensibly a member of the Democratic Party, Sebaggala won the first direct elections for mayor of Kampala in 1998, beating two government-sponsored candidates. However, he was arrested in the United States two months later in June of that year on eight counts of fraud and of lying to U.S. customs officials.
In February 1999, he received a 15-month sentence, but was paroled in December 1999. He returned to Kampala in February 2000 to a warm welcome and considered a bid in the 2001 presidential elections.
Mr Sssebagala is never out of contradictions; he has personally quit the Democratic Party twice after losing elections on all occasions and rejoined it later.
In 2005, he split with the DP bitterly after he was beaten in flag bearer elections by John Ssebaana Kizito, became independent, but a week later he pronounced his full weight support behind Ssebana and thus rejoined DP.
He also lost to Nobert Mao in 2010, quitting the party and forming his own, before completely converting to the ruling NRM.
He was generously rewarded for putting "his behind" on president Museveni in the 2011 presidential elections with a ministry job, but he did not live to sit in his office as his ambitions were quelled by the parliamentary vetting committee.
In January this year, the "deal man" called it quits with the government, citing poor governance and accountability and for that matter "resigned" his job.
