Kawempe North By-Election: A short memo on the upcoming polls

This is early… a bit to early, but it has to be addressed. As the ones remaining alive and the ones who are eager will fight for the open seat in Kawempe North. The late Hon. Muhammad Ssegirinya will be exchanged for someone else. That is the nature of things. We just have to reconcile with that.

Alas, as this is given. The General Election of 2026 is scheduled for the 12th January 2026. So, whenever the Electoral Commission schedules the By-Election it will be mere months before the General Election. Meaning this By-Election is close to pointless and insignificant at best. As the 12th Parliament seat would be more valuable and have a full term.

Mr. Update should have a proper successor and have someone who honours his legacy. Someone who is bound by ideals and a will to serve his community. That would be the dream. Have someone who would ensure the hospital and all the other service delivery. Which the MP fought for and showed compassion for the constituency. That is rare and unique of the character that was Ssegirinya MP. We shall never forget that and his name will be remembered.

Nevertheless, the seat is up for grabs. People will take their stake in it and try to forge their way into Parliament. There will be a competition of both activists and stalwarts who wants to get ahead.

If the National Unity Platform (NUP) was wise here. They would actually not field anyone at this current stage. Just boycott it and act like Mr. Update is the MP for the remaining time. Then later hold Party Primaries and ensure someone is ready, popular and has the message the Kawempe North deserves.

We know the National Resistance Movement (NRM) wants to signal their return and they cannot help to make by-elections look like war-zones. The NRM needs to make it seems like it has momentum and massive electorate on its side ahead of the General Elections. That’s why they will use this and try to humiliate the opposition. Even ensure a few NRM leaning Independents with a little heart and finesse participate too. Just to dilute the chance of an opposition candidate to win.

This here is unfortunate. The people of Kawempe North had a winner and a man of steel. The Kawempe North had a hero and a man of the people. That’s who they had and he shouldn’t be gone this early. Mr. Update should have lingered on and become a man of the hour. He should have had time to build and create. However, that wasn’t the wishes of the state and they destroyed him completely. Therefore, he was pronounced dead today….

I don’t want to see a Kawempe North By-Election. Parts of me wants to boycott it completely and not even write this. Nevertheless, the ice-cold facts are here. This should be a year of reflection and the NUP should revise a proper strategy ahead of the 2026. Not run on vibes in the quickest race before the General Election. They shouldn’t take the risk of heredity politics either. No, they should just wait for the current and try to make a solid foundation for 2026. That’s if they want someone proper and with heart to takeover. Not just some run-of-the-mill character that wears the red-beret and sings the psalms of the day.

Kawempe North deserves better. They lost their hero and it’s just a massive tragedy. He was special, unique and was who people wants to see as their leader. He had morals, social compass and an ability to engage that others wants to emulate, but you cannot just copy that. That is something he was born with and that’s why he was beloved.

This By-Election is sort of pointless. It won’t bring a change or be pivotal. For others than headlines that the government will use against the opposition. That’s why the opposition and the NUP especially should be wiser. Not fall into the traps and get dirty. It should be better. Especially, if they want to be beholden to the legacy of the late MP. Peace.

The tragic demise of Muhammed Ssegirinya MP

“I have never found inner peace ever since I was elected MP and sometimes I regret and say I wish I had remained in the position of councillor” – Muhammed Ssegirinya, Kawempe North MP (September 2023).

Today, the announced reports that Muhammed Ssegirinya MP died at Lubaga Hospital. A man who fought and was targeted by the state. He was charged with Masaka murders, which he was not involved in. They kept in prison for 17 months, tortured him and blocked him from getting proper medical treatment. This is the price of rebellion and being a dissident in a dictatorship.

Mr. Update has been a voice of the wretched and the poor for years. He worked and with heart since before he was elected as a Councillor. Ssegirinya became an MP after one term as a councillor. As a councillor he fought and was even taken away from Mulago hospital. That just showed his character and how he was willing to fight the people.

Today we are seeing the price of fighting for a just cause. Ssegirinya MP have been a person of interest. That’s why they pinned him with terrorism and kept him behind bars. They wanted to signal to the public and the people that their leaders could be captured. The state could have acted differently, but they desired to arrest, detain and torture him. To such an extent that he wasn’t allowed to be released on bail for medical treatment or such. Therefore, we can see what has happened ever since.

Ever since his release from the forged-up charges and trial against him. He has been sick and never been able to get back. The stint and months behind bars broke his body. The state took his health, and he died as a result. His an official victim of the state and their punishment of their dissidents.

Mr. Update had heart, soul and character. He could crack you up, but he was also interested in delivering for his community. As a leader and a politician, he was on the frontline and fought. He used his time and tried to make a difference. That’s more than others who are there just to eat and find ways of getting envelopes. This wasn’t the way of Ssegirinya MP.

A man who has been detained, blocked and stopped in his tracks. A man who did what he saw as righteous. He never got to see the promised land or the values he fought for. Ssegirinya MP deserved so much more. The MP and the man himself should have seen some results of his labour. However, he instead died in a hospital for being an opposition leader. A leader who was revered and respected. That’s why the state targeted him and tried to silence him.

They have taken his last breath. They destroyed his body, but his cause and his battles aren’t over yet. No, others should continue and persist with the fight. It is far from over, but there is a need for men like Ssegirinya MP. They are the ones who are heroes and the ones who dares to challenge the Gods. He did so and people entrusted this man. However, the authorities didn’t accept that, and they killed him. Peace.

National Resistance Movement (NRM): Office of the National Chairman – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni – Updated Communication (07.01.2025)

A look into Bobi Wine’s New Year’s Message

Throughout the history of our nation, we have been presented with different opportunities at different times and turns. We have been presented with opportunities to build a fair, just and prosperous nation. Unfortunately, we have missed most of those opportunities, which have put us in this vicious cycle of oppression” – Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine (06.01.2025).

There are plenty of New Year’s Messages being spread these days. Several of politicians world-wide is a part of it and they does it either on New Years Evening or days after. Today the Opposition Leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine released his speech, which he held at the National Unity Platform (NUP) headquarters today.

I will just take small fragments of it, as it is such a vast speech. I would recommend anyone to read it through and check Bobi Wine’s social media’s for it. As it is a powerful speech. Whereas, I can only look into a little of it and discuss it.

In the four decades of the Museveni rule, there have been several other opportunities presented to we, the people of Uganda – just like the case was with the regimes before him. Every election, every protest, every contestation under Museveni has presented us an opportunity for redemption, and yet we continue to live under the heavy load of oppression. Every election cycle has presented an opportunity to put an end to oppression and start afresh- right from 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and indeed 2021. Different times, different candidates, different actors – and yet, the dream of a new Uganda remains the same while simultaneously continuing to elude us” (Bobi Wine, 06.01.2025).

Here Bobi Wine is speaking facts. We have seen it and you can read several of my blogs, which has the same reflection. This is something we have all seen and it is part of the fabric of the society. That’s what Museveni has created and how he has operated over all these years. It is what he does and we can the see the results of it.

Bobi Wine continues…

Power is a double edged sword. Give it to evil people, and they will use it to steal, kill and plunder. Give it to good people, and they will use it to build and empower. That is why we must take back that power from a group that has caused so much suffering and humiliation to our people and use it, as the people of Uganda, to build a better nation. We must fight to take power from a man who is not ashamed to say that he is only workout for himself, his children and grand children and use it to build a country based on freedom, fairness and social justice” (Bobi Wine, 06.01.2025).

The sentiment here is powerful, as he has told about the wasted years of Museveni. Where he has misused power and used force to stay in office. Now he speaks of the other option and the opportunities to build a greater society. Where the public trusts its leadership and also serves the public. Which is far from what that is shown today in the Republic. They rather buy weapons, than buy needed materials or goods for the ones in need. If people are in need… the high ranking officials could find ways to loot it and only given token parts of stockpile to the ones in need. That’s how things are these days.

Bobi Wine further states…

To you comrade foot soldiers, this year is going to be a tough one. Museveni’s son has already promised to cause mayhem and inflict harm upon us. He even promised to cut off my nose. But God is with us. Whatever he desires for us will come upon him and his family unless they repent and change course. Let us remain united and focused” (Bobi Wine, 06.01.2025).

Here Bobi Wine is to kind. Museveni’s son has said to chop his head off and capture him. That’s what he has said recently or tweeted for that matter. It’s true into any election cycle things will only get rough. That is the proof of any by-election and how the opposition are treated. It will only get worse from here and the previous one proves just that. The year 2020 was hard ahead of the 2021. Nothing will be different now and the NUP will be tested yet again. This time not as a newcomer, but as an overachiever in the previous election.

Bobi Wine’s words are reflective of a thinking man and a man who knows how to deliberately tell a message. He wants to solidify the hope of a better future, but at the same time tell the tragic stories of the current predicament. That is the reality here and the Republic suffers because of it.

This shows what sort of character Bobi Wine is and why his a needed voice in the nation. However, they will haunt him, attack and try to destroy him. Expect no mercy against him and his kind ahead of the 2026 election. Yet again, the blood will be on the streets, people abducted and merciless actions in the name of God as the punisher on the Throne is haunting his prey. That what is coming and the ones in power ravishes in the devious methods used to linger indefinitely. Peace.

Opinion: The Guards will guard his coffee…

Similarly, handling the village thieves legally firmly, is good for the villages and also good for those thieves. I recently, got a report from anattendant of the advanced military course at the National Defence College, Njeru, following their field research. In the research, they noticed some People drying green coffee harvested prematurely. When they inquired, they were told by the Wanainchi that nibatangatangana (to compete with some other People as to who would do something first) with the marijuana-smoking youth that idle in the Trading Centres doing nothing and, then, steal People’s coffee at night. What are the RDCs doing? Why do they not engage these youth to direct their efforts towards honest work? How about the Police? If the concerned People do not act, I will involve the UPDF to empower all the wealth creators–farmers, etc–to guard their property by activating the vast militia of our LDUs. It will not be good for those thieves. This harvesting of immature coffee, will affect the quality of our coffee. It is not acceptable” – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (31.12.2024).

I know, I know the Police Bonds are the biggest revelation of the Year End Address of Musveni. Nevertheless, the Uganda Law Society (ULS) has addressed that properly and don’t need to repeat the man. Therefore, I am going in on the one that was solidified in silence before the New Years.

As am I writing this in 2025. The UCDA was rationalized and signed the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill of 2024 was signed by the President on the 24th December 2024. When the villagers was back in the villages and the people affected was busy with Christmas schedules. People was busy buying food and drinks for the celebratory day. That’s when he did it and for a reason.

The nation got owners and tenants. The owners are the ones in power and the ones in the inner-circle. That’s why the villagers and farmers just have to accept this fate. This is done to takeover more control of the coffee and he wants to take it further.

Just a mere week after signing the law. His now making the National Army and other Security Organizations to guard the Coffee. That is preparing the total control of the cash-crop. It is showing how he will enforce his will and take it for himself.

The President is spilling the beans here. We have seen how the President decrees and orders the army around. They are involved in civilian matters for years. That’s why civilians are tried in Military Courts. Therefore, this isn’t anything new in the years of power of the President and his party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

Museveni has ordered the army to stop illegal fishing and delivering out nets against mosquitoes. The army has even been used to fix potholes and build stadiums. Therefore, there isn’t anything they cannot be micro-managed to do.

However, the army should secure the borders and the national integrity, therefore… is the coffe that important. The coffee is so vital for the economy and for the longevity of his reign. That he needs to guard it with soldiers and people has to follow orders of the high command. This is the gist here…

President Museveni is misusing his office and showing his junta affairs when he decides this is the way to resolve things. Instead of having the police to enforce the laws and securing the farmers. There isn’t incentive or means to an end. That’s why he takes the usage of the military to ensure his ends. It is really tragic that after all these years in power. A man who has been in office since the 1980s and he cannot find better measures to ensure development of the coffee crop. He only knows the guns and think the striking fear is the way of moving forward. This is going backwards into the future and will only make things worse.

Hungry soldiers and LDUs on the fields of coffee won’t make it more safer. Instead it will create more fear and intimidation. The soldiers will misuse this and most likely will extort the farmers. That is the end-game here and it will only hurt the production of the cash crop. This is how these sort of stupid ends. Therefore, the President cannot see this, because he thinks his clever.

Alas, that is the problem… and we can see it coming. Peace.

Rise Up Acholi: Christmas and New Years Message to Rise Up Acholi (RUA) Members (20.12.2024)

Nkunyingi Muwanda MP: Statement on Non-Diplomatic Rhetoric by the Chief of Defense Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba on Democratic Republic of Congo & Sudan that has Attracted Diplomatic Concerns (20.12.2024)

Opinion: The Katikkiro had started the perfect storm against Gravity and Lil Pazo…

“You have deviated from developing talent now you are spreading obscenity? What is your intention? Popularity? People may cheer you on but that’s how far you can go. Imagine if Fred Sebbata did that the 40 years he was active in the industry, I don’t think anyone would want to associate with him now. If you want to spread obscenity, do it in your bedroom” – Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga (09.12.2024).

“The Katikkiro has today banned all songs by Gereson Wabuyi “Gravity Omutujju” and Yasini Mukasa “Lil Pazo” from being played on the Kingdom media stations BBS Terefayina and CBS radio. Katikkiro says the Kingdom cannot lead a run to moral decay in the society” (Buganda Media Centre, 09.12.2024).

“The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has directed all broadcasters and online platforms in Uganda to suspend airing specific songs by Gravity Omutujju and Lil Pazo, citing vulgar and culturally offensive content. The affected songs include Enkudi, Dooze, Okwepicha, Enyama, and Omunio” (Patro Uganda, 13.12.2024).

This week, the The Buganda Prime Minister or Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga announced the banning of the explicit content or the songs of Gereson Wabuyi aka Gravity and also songs related to Lil Pazo. These are two artists who are now in hot water because of the music they produce. Therefore, the Radio Stations owned by the Baganda Kingdom has stopped playing it.

That happened earlier in the week on the 9th December 2024 and days later on the 12th December 2024 the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) are investigating the songs and artists in question. They are also blocking and stopping radio stations from playing it. That’s when you know someone has the pulse and understand his surroundings.

The Katikkiro has openly and started an discussion, by using the influence of the Kingdom and their ownership of media houses. These entities which started to stop certain songs. They are now giving the UCC reasons to do this nationwide. Meaning this will influence other entities and media houses to block Gravity and Lil Pazo from being played there.

Yes, Gravity and Lil Pazo are in their rights to speak freely and create whatever they deem fit. Nevertheless, the radios and the media houses can within their range of editorial freedom and liberties too. They can block and not use their airtime or even broadcast their songs on their platforms. Which some has decided to do.

Alas, the matter is even bigger than all of them. As Gravity and Lil Pazo is now censored. They are practically suspended from the airwaves and aren’t allowed to be played. The ones downloading and listening to it in their own homes are fine. However, the ones who has to listen to radio won’t be able to listen to these songs right now. This because the UCC stepped in and the Katikkiro only started the show.

The ones outcrying censorship, I understand them. The artists should create whatever art they want, but they shouldn’t expect that its everyone’s cup of tea. The Katikkiro and the Kingdom’s media is allowed to address it the way they deem fit. Alas, the UCC as a nationwide entity have much more power and that’s when it’s a carpet ban, which is vastly different. As they are blocking these artists expression everywhere. Even if it is deemed inappropriate or as to sexually explicit. Nevertheless, that was their decision to play into that in this instance.

The UCC has been a tool to stifle the opposition and the voices of the oppressed. So, to see them block artists like these isn’t new and only fits a popular paradigm. Showing use of force and accessibility, as well as a pulse to what is happening in the Republic. Meanwhile, the artists are hurting, but they decided to make this content and to make this music. Now their music is facing the public scrutiny. That’s the cost of dropping it and broadcasting it to the public.

For me the most interesting thing here was how the Katikkiro was ahead of the UCC and the other state agencies. As he has understood something they didn’t and that’s why they are reacting. Instead of actually doing it themselves. Peace.

Opinion: Minister Tumwebaze over-the-top tractor scheme… Part II

“Speaker, you made a pronouncement regarding tractors that were given to Northern Uganda by the President. And the pronouncement was simple, that the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Finance make sure that the tractors that they gave to the peasant farmers in Northern Uganda, specifically Acholi sub-region and Pader district do have ploughs with them. Up to this day, tractors are parked, they are rusting in the district, peasant farmers move by, they only have a glance and the tractors aren’t being used. I request that you direct that the tractors be availed with ploughs so that our farmers can receive them“– Christopher Komakech MP (27.11.2024)

Back in August 2022 … Minister Frank Tumwebaze launched the Over-the-top Tractor Scheme, which was planned to procure and deliver 6,000 tractors. Now over two years later. That Scheme is falling apart, and it hasn’t really been operative that long.

Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry & Fisheries have failed the peasant farmers, which it promised to help here. We can just wonder how the tenders and what was the plan of the Ministry here. As the Tractor aren’t even in use, the ones they have bought as they are missing vital equipment to use them. That’s like having a factory, but not building it for the resources surrounding.

Just read the quotes here:

“It isn’t only in Acholi region, but in many parts of the country, these tractors were given and the Minister promised that they were going to procure the ploughs and this hasn’t been done. I undertake to inform the Minister of the urgency of this matter so that he comes to Parliament and gives us the latest position” (Mario Obiga MP – Minister of State for Urban Development, 27.11.2024).

It is just amazing how I could see this one coming from a mile away. I wrote this back in August 2022: “We can wonder, if Tumwebaze ever looked into that or even cared to see how it worked. It is sort of ushering in the mechanical agricultural revolution by the parish model. In such a manner, that can be seen as similar to the ones of the Soviet. There are so many questions to this… not only the funding and the supposed operation of it. After that… how is the oversight? What are the goals? Are it to buy over 6,000 tractors and that’s it? What happens after that? If there is no plan or sort of objective after that. What does it really do? Except making the MAAIF busy and have something to say in Parliament” (Minbane – ‘Opinion: Minister Tumwebaze over-the-top tractor scheme…’ 22.08.2022).

Two years later I was right in my assessment, because this is how they do. They are preoccupied and making schemes, but never ever think how to make them work. Instead of just launching it and making headlines. The government isn’t assessing, making logistical plans or even have framework for how to make things operational. That’s why Tractors like these lingers and unused in the Northern part of the Republic. The state procured Tractors, but had no plans or sought to check out what equipment the peasant farmers needed. Therefore, they are just rusting and not being used.

This is public wastage of funds. MAAIF and the Minister should know better, but we know his one of the untouchables in this regime. So, nothing will happen to him. Even if he does epic failures like this. Peace.

President Museveni pardons 19 NUP political prisoners after punitive actions for over 3 years

It took the authorities, the state and the Executive over 3 years and 8 months before releasing the 19 National Unity Platform (NUP) activists who was arrested in 2020 in Kalangala district ahead of the 2021 elections. There was others who was picked up in the Greater Kampala region like Mukono and Wakiso district.

They said these individuals had ammunition and explosives. The NUP activists surrounding the campaign and the election was dangerous, which was planning to destabilize the Republic. These individuals because of their charges has been arraigned in Court Martial as civilians. They have been targeted and used as pawns by the state.

In 2024 and after suffering for over three years. The likes of a minister by the name of Balaam visits these people. Civilians who has suffered, been punished and been said to be guilty of serious crimes. He told them that if they did accept the charges and ate the burden of just that. The minister would speak to the high above and get them released.

Now later that has happened. The 19 activists are free, but at a cost. They said the charges was truthful and they will forever be felons. That’s the initial price of their liberty and freedom. These people has lost their time and ability for years. These people shouldn’t have been behind bars to begin with. They took the time and weren’t allowed to be ordinary civilians.

That shows how the militarized states act. They are using Military Court and making up phony charges to pin on political active people. These people who are aligned with the wrong party and at the wrong time. They have been prisoners on conscience.

All of them deserves better and they have been served injustice. The pardon is only the aftermath. The state should have paid damages, but that won’t happen when they pleaded guilty to avoid more time in prison. They have accepted a crime that they never did. These people ate a charge to able to be released. That’s how sick and sinister this is.

The ones celebrating their freedom and liberty now. That can easily be taken away. If the President changes his mind or if the State can further the cases. We know how these things can go. Especially, if the individuals are daring to go into the ring and going into the public for the opposition, which was the reason why they got arrested and detained in the first place.

These sorts of cases will continue. People are on remand and in the middle of the system. Because the President and the authorities are there to violate them. They are daring to question the power and the ones who has instruments of the state. The Executive pardoned them today, but his government and his security agencies shouldn’t have kept them behind bars anyway. Peace.