Nsubuga prepares to face divided NRM opponents in Bukoto South

Going into the challenge, the NRM in Bukoto South appears to be more divided than the DP even though both parties have big challenges to overcome. There are, so far, three strong contenders who have emerged within the ruling party from among whom the faithful will have to choose a flag bearer.

Mr Mohammad Muyanja Mbabaali, Ms Gertrude Nakabira Lubega (presently woman MP for Lwengo District) and Mr David Bbaale Mukasa have made their interest apparent. The DP has the incumbent MP, Mr Mathias Nsubuga, who is also the Secretary General of the party. He is an imposing opponent.

The questions being considered here are: What chances do the three NRM contenders have for election as their party’s flag bearer; and for victory in 2016? Does DP’s Nsubuga still really pose a threat?
Who will emerge as the NRM flag bearer is a puzzling question. Known for his considerable personal wealth, Mr Mbabaali is the NRM chairman in Lwengo and he has been quite active, especially in the two sub-counties of Kisekka and Kkingo which make up Bukoto South constituency.

He has been donating large sums of money towards construction of the new district’s headquarters, extending funds to village SACCOs and making handsome donations to churches and mosques as well as to all those he knows to be opinion leaders and potential supporters.

However, critics say in the event that he returned to Parliament, his stay would again be short-lived because, according to them, he does not yet have the requisite academic qualifications to be an MP.
He was once elected MP and even appointed a minister by President Museveni but Parliament refused to approve his appointment because his academic qualifications were discovered to be wanting.

Mr Nsubuga took advantage of that revelation to petition court to have him withdrawn from Parliament over the same claims, which saw Mr Mbabaali lose the seat in 2012. High Court Judge Owiny Dollo ruled that Mbabaali had no PhD as he claimed and that he did not even have the equivalent of the Advanced Level of Education which is the minimum academic qualification required of a candidate for the parliamentary seat in Uganda.

Mr Mbabaali nowadays claims he has acquired the equivalent of A-Level. In February, he declared at Manja Catholic Church, where he donated half a million shillings to the church’s refurbishing, that he will stand again.

“And let me clear any doubts that you might all have in your minds,” he said. “I am offering myself for election in 2016,” he told the congregation. Another NRM member, Ms Lubega, has also declared his intention to contest for Bukoto South. “This is the constituency where I was born and it is where I have my home,” she told Saturday Monitor. “I feel this is the place that I should serve especially as it is currently poorly represented in Parliament.”

A former district education officer for Sembabule, Ms Lubega has over the years, created a strong relationship with the NRM top organs. She enjoyed massive party support in her campaign for Lwengo Woman MP, beating Nsubuga’s sister, and DP contender, Sylvia Bugembe.

When recently she and her husband celebrated their silver jubilee in marriage, President Museveni, the NRM chairman, was guest of honour. He donated 10 Friesian cows to the couple and in his speech referred to her as his political daughter. Ms Lubega has donated coffee seedlings to farmers and financially supported women groups. Interestingly, she is related by marriage (in-laws) to Mr Nsubuga. They were born and raised in the same village, Manja in Kisekka Sub-county.

Her critics, however, say she is not entrenched amongst the locals. Many would want her to be a little friendlier as an individual and more persuasive in her language. Her decision to run for Bukoto South has, as would be expected, not been well received by Mbabaali.

Chaos over Kyankwanzi resolution
When she organised meetings to popularise the controversial Kyankwanzi/Museveni sole presidential candidature position, Mr Mbabaali as district party chair, ferried to the meetings his own chosen people, not those invited by Ms Lubega.

This strained her budgets and the two leaders often openly quarrelled over the issue.
In mid-June, some youth in Kisekka Sub-county sent out invitation messages by text and made phone calls to colleagues to a purported meeting with Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi whom they claimed wanted to meet them on June 26.

It has never been clear who initiated the invitations but rumours started circulating that it was the work of Ms Lubega. She resides in Kinoni Township in Kisekka Sub-county where she is married but she was born and raised in Ngereko Parish.

It was, therefore, quite easy for non-insiders to believe she could have chosen to popularise Mbabazi’s alleged presidential ambitions in her home first. But Ms Lubega vehemently denies any involvement in the affair though. “I want to assure you it was all the work of Mr Muyanja Mbabaali,” she told this newspaper. “I was not in the constituency when he organised the hoax. He wanted it to appear as if I don’t support President Museveni’s candidature. But who doubts my support for President Museveni in this constituency?”

Inside the NRM these days, supporters say, it matters on which side an aspiring politician is - the Mbabazi side or the Museveni side, even if Mbabazi has said he will not stand against Museveni in 2016.
Ms Lubega is not convinced that Mr Mbabaali has now acquired the necessary academic qualifications. She is perturbed that he continues to refer to himself as ‘Doctor’ and PhD holder according to the captions on portraits his cheering supporters carry everywhere in public gatherings.

The other NRM aspirant is a teacher and educationist, Mr David Mukasa Bbaale, director and proprietor of King David Secondary School, Lukaya. Now in his early 40s, Mr Bbaale has bid to be the party’s flag bearer a number of times without success.
“It is good that now the two (Muyanja and Lubega) are tearing themselves apart and exposing their dirty linen to the public,” he told this newspaper.

“It will give the voters a chance to remember that they have a peaceful and non-quarrelling aspirant who is ready and capable of steering the constituency forward. The good thing is that our voters are watching and it is now clear that I am the best qualified NRM person in the constituency to represent them in Parliament.” He was recently appointed Deputy RDC of Kamuli District which he says has greatly boosted his credentials and endeared him to the NRM hierarchy.

Across the road, DP’s Nsubuga is not taking developments lying down. He has in the past few weeks been up and down, meeting his network of grassroots campaigners even amid accusations from some that he has been away from them for a bit too long.

The incumbent refutes any suggestions that he abandoned his constituency. Others defend him, saying he had several weddings to organise for his children, some of whom live overseas. The most remembered union was when his daughter, Marion Nankya, got married to Buganda Kingdom’s Prince, David Wasajja.

Recently, as he went about repairing relations, Mr Nsubuga also organised a fundraising function for the construction of the Fathers’ residence at Kyanukuzi Catholic Church.

Buganda influence
At the last outing in 2011, Chrysostom Nsambu (NRM), considered politically weaker at the time because of certain disrespectful remarks which he was accused of making about the Kabaka, was never going to match Mr Nsubuga.

The Buganda royalists, of whom there are many here, rallied behind the Opposition politician. He won by 1,500 votes. His election is said to have been bedevilled by widespread electoral malpractices, which could explain the marginal win.

A former seminarian, Mr Nsubuga enjoys vast support among Catholics who make up the majority in Bukoto South. For some reason too, the diverse ethnic communities resident in the constituency seem to love him, which places the incumbent in pole position against a very divided NRM ahead of the 2016 poll.

MPs reject mbabali appointment

In June 2011, Mr Muyanja Mbabali was among the ministerial appointees that MPs on the Parliamentary Appointments Committee rejected. President Museveni had appointed Mr Mbabali as Minister for Investment but he was rejected on academic grounds.

His woes began after officials at the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr Xavier Lubanga, refused to validate his academic papers. Mr Mbabali’s O’ and A-Level documents reportedly had “serious inconsistencies”. The two institutions (NCHE and Ministry of Education) were in agreement that his papers were not tallying. “It’s like they belong to two different people. We have asked him to go back and bring authentic documents if he wants to be a minister,” the MPs said.

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