Buwembo is hopeful that NUP will trust him with the ticket since the incumbent Mukasa has fallen out with the party’s leadership. But he faces serious competitors for NUP ticket other than Mukasa. These include famous comedian and musician, Reign as well Eugenia Nassolo who has since crossed back to NUP.
Renowned Kampala political and human rights activist,
Habib Buwembo, is confident that if he secures the National Unity Platform
(NUP) ticket he will win Rubaga South constituency on his second attempt.
Buwembo crossed from Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to NUP about two years ago and
aims at giving a second shot at Rubaga South constituency.
//cue in “since then I have crossed…
Cue out “…I crossed”//
Buwembo became famous for participating in almost all
of FDC protests regarding political persecutions, amendments of articles
prohibiting President Yoweri Museveni’s stay in power and skyrocketing commodity prices.
Besides FDC and other opposition led protests, Buwembo
has severally staged demonstrations regarding unattended to drainage channels
like Nalukolongo channel which previously claimed lives of at least five
children.
Buwembo also made headlines for challenging the 2016 victory of now deceased former Rubaga South
Member of Parliament, Kato Lubwama, on grounds that he lacked academic
credentials.
Although Buwembo won the case, the ruling came after
Kato Lubwama had served the his term in parliament and had lost his second
bid to Aloysius Mukasa in 2021. The court awarded Buwembo money which had
accumulated to more than a billion Shillings at the time Kato Lubwama died in
2023.
Despite the political and human rights activism as
well the legal battles against Kato Lubwama, Buwembo’s bid to win Rubaga South
on FDC ticket in 2021 ended in a dismal performance with slightly over 1,000
votes while the NUP candidate Mukasa won with nearly 40,000 votes.
Mukasa was followed by Eugenia Nassolo who was on DP
ticket, while the incumbent Kato Lubwama came third and Buwembo was fourth in
the race of 10 candidates.
In an interview with Uganda Radio Network (URN),
Buwembo said if he secures NUP ticket, he is assured to being a member of the
12th parliament.
“In 2021, I was an FDC member and I was the party’s
flag bearer. But I have since crossed to NUP because I realized along the way
our leaders deviated from the principles. I think we’re infiltrated by the
regime and I couldn’t stay in the party which has lost track,” Buwembo said.
Buwembo is hopeful that NUP will trust him with the
ticket since the incumbent Mukasa has fallen out with the party’s leadership. But
he faces serious competitors for NUP ticket other than Mukasa. These include
famous comedian and musician, Reign as well Eugenia Nassolo who has since
crossed back to NUP.
“In fact, I have one challenger for NUP ticket. That
is comedian Reign. I am sure Aloysius Mukasa won’t waste time to contest for
NUP ticket. Eugenia was one of the first people to embrace NUP but she went
back to DP once she failed to secure the ticket. That one has trust issues and I
don’t see her getting the NUP ticket,” Buwembo said.
Buwembo has since been moving from one village to
another in Rubaga South donned in NUP’s signature attire the red overall. In addition, addressing issues he believes all the previous legislators of Rubaga
South failed to accomplish and are affecting the electorates.
Some of these include
unemployment, drug addiction among teenagers and the youth and failure to lobby
for development projects.
Mr Joseph Kato graduated with a Master's Degree of Art in Journalism & Communication on February 02, 2024 at Makerere University. He holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Journalism and Media Studies which he attained in 2023 at Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway.
Mr Kato holds a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication from Kampala International University. The Master's Degree studies and a decade of journalism practice have enabled Mr Kato to be one of the reliable researchers in areas of conflict, r
