Sections of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Mukono district are up in arms for what they consider neglect by organizers of President Museveni’s visit to the district to commission the revamped Mukono-Kampala passenger train service, to include a slot for him to meet party leaders and also hold a rally for the locals.
The party leaders have expressed dissatisfaction that although they have not had dialogue with their chairman for the last over ten years, he was not given space to talk to them like he is currently doing in his rounds in other districts.
The President last week on Saturday December 21, 2024 commissioned the passenger train at a function held at Kyetume Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) station in Kyetume parish, Nakisunga sub-county in the outskirts of Mukono town. Sources indicated that the visit was a joint arrangement by the Ministry of Works and Transport and the URC, and was overseen by the Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala.
However, a bitter row characterized by finger pointing, accusations and counter-accusations has erupted among high echelons of the NRM, with many suggesting that a fresh schedule be drawn for Museveni to meet first the leaders, and then locals at a rally.
The NRM diehards are variously complaining that it is unfortunate that he continually traverses their district on his way to the Eastern region districts but has not found time to as much as make a stopover in Mukono, a stone throw away, for over ten years now.
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The former leader of the district NRM women’s league and historical party member Hajat Fatuma Nabikofu expressed anger that she was not invited to attend the function, and suspected that this could have been a sinister plan to leave her aside.
She expressed worry that this could be a sign of division and disunity among party leaders in the district which, in her opinion, calls for an urgent need to be addressed.
Nabikofu, who walks with the help of crutches, suspected that this could be a deliberate move to sideline her owing to her frail health condition, but cautioned that the development could be creating space for the opposition to put their house in order ahead of the 2026 elections.
“People like Gen. Proscovia Nalweyiso must be making regular reports to the President over what is transpiring amongst us party leaders, and this could be the reason he is avoiding meeting us; we need to shape up and get organized and united again,” Nabikofu suggested.
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Speaking on phone, the NRM district chairman Haji Twahir Ssebaggala blamed the organizers of the President’s visit for overlooking the district party leaders.
“The Ministry of Transport and the URC organized the visit and that is why even I had not been invited, and the RDC was not given a slot to speak before the President,” Ssebaggala said.
Ssebaggala said he was given a last minute invitation and that even then, he was first denied entry by the President’s security details, just like other dignitaries in the district. The chairman however insisted that they maintain their stand to hold an in-house meeting with him before a public rally in a future arrangement.
Without mincing words, Haji Ssebaggala said, “We lay blame on Minister Katumba Wamala for entrusting protocol arrangements fully with his boys who kept tossing us around”. Kyaggwe TV’s attempts to talk to Gen. Katumba failed as our calls on Sunday went unanswered.
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Among the people who narrowly survived being denied entry to the venue were the Assistant RDCs who pleaded with the security and presented their identification details, but were told they had not been invited. It took the intervention of highly placed executives to let the President’s Office workers enter.
“We do not know you; we have directives to allow only the RDC and her deputies,” said one of the security officers who was handling the entrance into the venue.
Contacted on phone for comment on Sunday, the RDC Hajat Fatuma Ndisaba Nabitaka clarified that the President’s visit was a national event arranged by the Ministry of Works and Transport together with the URC, with the district having no stake, and so powerless to decide who to invite and who to omit.
The Mukono district vice chairperson Haji Asuman Muwumuza Lubowa concurred with the above officials, saying there was a list of people to be allowed access to the venue, and that those not on the list were turned away.
“It is unfortunate that even leaders were neither given a chance to speak, nor introduced to the President, but we still need him as we expressed earlier to the Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babirye Babalanda,” Muwumuza said on phone.
Recently, Minister Babalanda visited Mukono to commission the rehabilitated office of the RDC, whereupon party leaders asked her to remind the President of their yearning to hold dialogue with him over a number of in-house issues.
The district party chairman Haji Ssebaggala had then told the Minister that for over ten years a lot has transpired, necessitating dialogue with the President.
“He has in that period visited Luweero over and over again, and passed here several times on his way to Buikwe, Teso and Bugisu regions, without even making a stopover,” Ssebaggala told Babalanda.
Muwumuza told Kyaggwe TV that the President could have an issue with Mukono, and suggested that the solution is holding a meeting to sort out the matter because he argued they also have issues with him.
From the previous 2021 general elections, Mukono district is among the districts in Buganda region in which the ruling party was overwhelmingly defeated, with all the five Members of Parliament slots going to the opposition, dominated by the National Unity Platform (NUP).
At the district council which is chaired by NUP’s Rev. Dr. Peter Bakaluba Mukasa, majority of the councillors subscribe to the opposition. The situation is not any different at the town councils, sub-counties and the two divisions of Mukono Central and Goma in Mukono Municipality.
Public opinion holds that Mukono district’s continued support of the opposition leaders against the NRM’s candidates could be one of the reasons behind President Museveni’s possible anger, and so dodging the party leaders.