Author: Asuman Bisiika. PHOTO/FILE
On Sunday December 29, 2019, a group of elite (mostly public servants — retired and active) hailing from Bukonzo East Constituency held what they called an end-of-year get-together party. This group has now evolved into Bukonzo East Community ( BEC), a group of opinion leaders whose influence on the political affairs cannot be missed in Bukonzo East Constituency and Kasese District at large. As a constituency-wide group, it is the kind of group any contestant for the Bukonzo East Parliamentary Seat would want to have on their side.
Like most groups of such a nature, it now acts as a cooperative unit complete with a savings and credit portfolio. The chairperson is Amis Masereka and the patron is said to Gen Wilson Mbadi, the minister of State in the Ministry of Trade.
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In Kasese, political mobilisation for the 2026 General Elections has started in earnest. Most of the aspiring candidates for almost all the parliamentary seats are known. Ditto for the district chairperson.
Kasese District has always voted contrary to the national electoral patterns. In 1962, Tooro South Constituency (all of present-day Kasese District and one sub-county from present-day Bunyangabu District) returned Mr Ezroni Bwambale (a little know DP candidate) instead of Timothy Bazarrabusa (a high-flying UPC candidate) and Prince Hosea Nyabongo of Tooro Kingdom. Nyabongo held the credit for opening up Kasese to the national development narrative.
In the 1980 Elections, Kasese returned the only Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) candidate. And in 2006, Kasese was the only district in western Uganda to return FDC MPs. Indeed, from 2006, Kasese has been strongly associated with FDC (and any kind of opposition to the NRM). In 2016 Elections, FDC candidates were returned for all the six parliamentary seats and the district chair.
But the most problematic constituency for the NRM has been the Bukonzo East Constituency, Some constituencies have returned NRM candidates once or twice; but the Woman Representative Seat and Bukonzo East have always been held by FDC since 2006 . Bukonzo East has been under FDC since the 2006 by-elections that returned Mr Yokas Bihande as the MP for Bukonzo East.
Will Gen Mbadi contest for the Bukonzo East parliamentary seat? There are three main NRM aspiring candidates for the Bukonzo East namely Mr Edwin Kugonza, Julius Bwambale Monday (popularly known as Rude) and Mr Patrick Bikansobera Amooti (a senior clinical officer with Kasese District Local Government). Mr Edwin Kugonza was the man at the centre of the return of Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere while Julius Monday was the NRM candidate in the 2021 elections coming second after the FDC candidate. And now, we have learnt that the NRM sub- county chairpersons and LC1 chairpersons from Bukonzo East are contemplating to request Gen Mbadi to contest for the Bukonzo East Parliamentary Seat. And to that effect, they (the NRM elected leaders) have formally invited Gen Mbadi to tell him so.
Those who know Gen Mbadi say he is too shy for an elective office. But others say Gen Mbadi is the best candidate who can wrest Bukonzo East from FDC grip.
In general, Gen Mbadi, the immediate former Chief of Defence Forces of the UPDF, enjoys a higher national profile than the three aspiring candidates. And indeed his candidature would offer the NRM the best bet on capturing the Bukonzo East parliamentary seat. Since the politics of Kasese are heavily influenced by the Rwenzururu Kingdom, how would he play his cards with the tout puissant Rwenzururu Kingdom and the king? But Will Gen Mbadi contest for Bukonzo East in 2026?
Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]
