A thanksgiving service for a prominent Buikwe politician and opinion leader was on Sunday turned into a political rally. Speaker after speaker, invited guests right away set into laying bare their manifestos come 2026 elections, in addition to pleading to voters to ‘see them’ at election time.
The thanksgiving service for the former Nkokonjeru Town Council mayor, the late Ssaalongo Edward Mukasa Ssamanya, led by retired bishop of Mukono Diocese, James William Ssebaggala. It was attended by a cross section of politicians ranging from parliamentarians to district, local council leaders and others.
Among the most prominent members of the congregation was Buikwe South Member of Parliament, Dr. Michael Lulume Bayiga and his predecessor David Mutebi who is incidentally planning a comeback in 2026, who gave conflicting views about the proposal to merge Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and the mother Ministry for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
First on the podium was Dr. Lulume who unreservedly blamed President Museveni for floating the idea of merging the two, saying it is calculated at frustrating coffee farmers who he said are making a fortune out of coffee, one of Uganda’s prominent cash crops.
Lulume said, along with other legislators subscribing to his school of thought mostly from the Buganda caucus, are planning to traverse the country seeking views from coffee growers on the planned merger, and to mobilise them to reject it. He said the fate of about 12 million coffee growers in the central region is at stake if the merger is effected.
When his turn to speak came, his predecessor David Mutebi rubbished claims that the government has plans to frustrate coffee growers, adding, ‘Government has for years been distributing coffee seedlings to farmers; how can a mother strangle her own child?’ he asked.
Mutebi reminded his listeners that when he came with seedlings to distribute to people in 2012, the same people now pretending to love coffee more than anybody else, used to decampaign his efforts.
“Be careful about political dramatists who simply decampaign any government programme after failing to adequately use powers you gave to them at elections,” Mutebi said without mentioning names.
And former Buikwe NRM chairperson for Buikwe district Harriet Nankabirwa who wants to unseat incumbent woman MP, the State Minister in the Office of the Vice President, Diana Mutasingwa, attacked her for allegedly deliberately absenting herself at such functions.
Mutasingwa who was absent could not, naturally, defend herself which gave Nankabirwaa a field day.
Nkokonjeru mayor Ssentongo Ssali Kezaala began by outlining achievements of his council in the health, education, social services and other sectors and on exhausting his list, he dropped the bombshell by announcing that he was abandoning the mayorship and opting to vie for the district chairmanship.
The most spectacular aspirant was Dr. Daisy Ssonko who transferred her ambitions from Mukono district where she intends to stand, crossed borders and asked for votes from Buikwe. Ssonko plans to make a second trial in politics after hitting a deadlock from 2021 where she vied for the post of Mukono Municipality mayor losing to NUP’s Erisa Mukasa Nkoyoyo. This time round, Ssonko is eying parliament, after unseating Mukono Municipality’s Betty Nambooze Bakireke.
Mutebi’s supporters took things a bit too far when they started waving election posters for President Museveni and David Mutebi, emotionally dancing for hours on end at songs by renowned NRM singer Munnamasaka Emma Nsereko, including the one congratulating President Museveni ahead of his birthday celebrations slated to take place in Nakaseke district.
