Ssenyonyi, Burora set to face off in Nakawa West

The attempt to gerrymander the election result was particularly high in Nakawa West, where the National Unity Platform (NUP) had fronted Joel Besekezi Ssenyonyi yet his rival for the NUP ticket and veteran of Nakawa politics Paul Kakande had also decided to defy the party’s position by standing as independent.

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The FDC had fronted an unknown quantity in Wilberforce Kyambadde yet another of its members—Robert Asiimwe—who was popular with its grassroots structure also defied the Najjanankumbi leadership and stood as independent. With such confusion in the Opposition ranks, the NRM sensed victory banking on the experience of Margaret Nantongo Zziwa.

She had represented Kampala Central women from the Constituent Assembly (CA) that mid-wifed the 1995 Ugan[1]dan Constitution through the Sixth Parliament to the Seventh Parliament. Her tenure in the House was ended in 2006 by Nabilah Naggayi Sempala, who banked on the wave of change prompted by FDC. Zziwa’s loss, according to political analysts, was because in 2006 the college system which was used both in 1996 and 2001 to vote for women representatives to Parliament was discarded for universal adult suffrage. This favoured Naggayi since Kampala—as an Opposition bastion—rebelled against the NRM since it took over power in 1986.

After trying to win back her Kampala woman representative seat in 2011 without success, Zziwa decided to sit out the 2016 elections. In 2021, she decided to take advantage of the government’s controversial decision to split the Nakawa constituency. With Ruhindi, her party counterpart, going for Nakawa East, the veteran politician was not short on confidence. Yet her hopes of turning Nakawa West in[1]to an NRM stronghold were crushed by NUP’s Ssenyonyi, who got 31, 653 votes compared to Zziwa’s 9, 450 votes.

Ssenyonyi’s first term

Ssenyonyi rose in the ranks to become part of the trusted inner circle of NUP principal Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine, which trust catapulted him to the position of the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP). Relatively new to politics, Ssenyonyi left his role as a news anchor at NTV Uganda to enter the political arena, hoping for a successful run. He had previously tried in 2011, leaving his position at the state broadcaster to contest for National Youth MP on an FDC ticket.

Although he lost then, his luck turned a decade later in 2021. As the LoP, Ssenyonyi has made it his life’s mission to hold state actors accountable. He, for instance, continues to call into question state bailouts to entities like Atiak Sugar and ROKO Construction Company. He was recently denied access to the latter.

“The refusal to grant access raises serious concerns about what ROKO has to hide,” Ssenyonyi said, adding that there is a need for transparency in light of substantial government investments in ROKO, particularly regarding ongoing projects such as the Parliament chambers and the Inspectorate of Government, both of which remain unfinished.

ROKO responded: “ When you look at the video of when the Leader of Opposition was at the gate, he came with hooligans. About 50 people were surrounding him; most of them weren’t MPs. So, the fear was letting them in the company premises, they would wreak havoc, others would end up either destroying or picking up items.”

The company added that it had allowed Ssenyonyi into its premises months back only for him to report different things. “Three months ago, Ssenyonyi was given access to ROKO offices, given all the information but when he left the premises he reported the opposite of what he saw and heard.” Ssenyonyi’s role as LoP has been bumpy, with Ssenyonyi accusing House Speaker Anita Among of excluding him from commission meetings.

“Parliament should function as an institution, not as someone’s personal kiosk or property,” Ssenyonyi said, adding, “This prevailing situation in our country, where billions of monies are being channelled into personal accounts while committees struggle to operate, is a challenge I am actively addressing. I refuse to remain silent, and I will not allow anyone to intimidate me because I am not here by invitation.”

So far, Sseyonyi’s fights with the Speaker have only endeared him to his Opposition base. Still, the NRM is preparing to see that Nakawa West gets back into its column. Though the demographics in the constituency have on the whole changed from the time it was dominated by non-Baganda, something that has played into the hands of the NRM, the ruling party regardless thinks it can win it back.

Historically, Nakawa was the ruling party’s stronghold, standing out in a rather Opposition dominated capital city. This was upended in 2016, when Kabaziguruka, for the second time, defeated Ruhindi who had represented this multicultural constituency for 10 years. Before Ruhindi took over, Nakawa had been represented by NRM historical Jaberi Bidandi Ssali from 1996 until 2001 when he retired from elective politics only to resurface in 2006 as a presidential candidate under the auspices of the People’s Progressive Party ( PPP).

Burora eyes seat

To get Nakawa West into the yellow column, several candidates have been fronted, including Herbert Anderson Burora, the former Rubaga Deputy Resident City Commissioner. Earlier this year, Burora, who recently reinvented himself as an anti-corruption tsar, cast himself into the limelight when he was suspended for 28 days from the office over his public utterances that Among wasn’t only extravagant but also corrupt. Burora would spend weeks in prison after he was arraigned in court over charges of hate speech and spreading malicious information contrary to the Computer Misuse Act.

The state claimed that between March and June 2024 in the areas of Kampala District or thereabouts while using a computer and his X handle, Burora shared malicious information about Speaker Among showing that she was a torturer, murderer, kidnapper, and corrupt. The state added that the information is likely to ridicule, degrade, or demean and promote hostility against Among.

 Activism isn’t new to Burora who before joining the state was a member of the Jobless Brotherhood – a youth ragtag organisation that gave security organisations a hard time by dropping piglets around Parliament, protesting corruption. His decision to join the state was deemed as a stab in the back by members of the organisation.

“I remember him coming home and asking the people he had come with to step aside so that he could take a photo of only me and him. Later, I discovered that he used this photo to convince his masters that he was too close to me and that he would feed them with all the info they needed about me,” Norman Tumuhimbise, a member of the Jobless Brotherhood, would later write about Burora. Burora now wants to use his anti-corruption stance to catapult him to the House.

“After a deep thoughtful conversation with myself, my family, and some close friends, this is to confirm that in 2026, I will be joining elective politics,” Burora said in September, without saying where exactly he was going to stand. But when interviewed for this story, he confirmed that he would seek the Nakawa West parliamentary seat on the NRM ticket.

“Yes, I will be standing in Nakawa West and NRM. And plans are already underway,” Burora said. Another person within NRM who has shown interest in taking on LoP Ssenyonyi is former entertainment TV host Miles Rwamiti.

Rwamiti was once an FDC member who in 2016 tried to challenge for lord mayorship but his party talked him out of that move since they had an understanding with Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago. In 2021, Rwamiti tried his luck at elective politics when he stood in his native constituency of Hoima East only to get a paltry 149 votes.