The race for the seat of Mukono Municipality member of parliament is attracting more challengers as the 2026 general elections period draws nearer.
The incumbent, Betty Nambooze Bakireke of the National Unity Platform (NUP) is at the centre of the heat. At least all the other contenders are putting it to the outspoken legislator popularly known as Madam Teacher that she has outlived her usefulness, that it is time for her departure and create room for more agile, fresh and young blood.
Nambooze however seems to be still positioned and not yet ready to relinquish the seat, let alone listen to anyone with a message close to her retirement.
Unofficially, she seems to pass on the message almost everywhere that she has done all there is to do, as far as legislating for her constituency is concerned, and community mobilization for a number of projects.
However, her contenders fault her for having failed to lobby adequately for her constituents, and in some instances fighting some government projects that had been intended to uplift the welfare of the community.
Among Nambooze’s contenders is former Mayor for Mukono Municipality, George Fred Kagimu who stood against Nambooze on the Democratic Party (DP) ticket in the 2021 elections, and one of his strongest points is that, according to him, he had lobbied Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to build a tower at the junction that connects Kayunga road to Mukono-Jinja highway, which project he says was frustrated by the incumbent MP.
Kagimu says engineers had projected that construction of a tower and a modern roundabout in the area had been intended to reduce the heavy traffic jam that affects business in the town as it slows down the movement of vehicles.
Because the development was to affect the current Mukono taxi park by eating away part of it especially, part of which was going to be eaten up especially the kiosks zone, Kagimu explains that the traders were going to be compensated and that the taxi park would be relocated to Kamwanyi Cell behind Sombe Supermarket, to create room for development.
Kagimu boasts that he is one of Mukono leaders that have executed many developmental projects which he says, created an enormous impact for the benefit of the community. He claims such undertakings range from opening up new roads outside the main Kampala-Jinja highway and Mukono- Kayunga road, in a bid to create by-passes that have offloaded traffic from major roads and would, once completed, address the traffic jam challenge.
He says he had finalized an agreement with UNRA to have those opened access roads tarmacked one by one, adding however that he was astonished that his successor, Nambooze’s own brainchild, seems to have seen no value in all this.
The results from the recent general elections saw Nambooze leading with 38,383 votes and followed by DP’s Kagimu with 16,209 votes, while NRM’s Abbas Ssozi garnered 6,167 votes. Other candidates in the race were; Hadija Ndagire Nankanja with 457 votes, FDC’s Dunstan Mbogo with 355 votes, ANC’s Seerah Ninshaba with 319, and Edward Bugembe Balikuddembe who stood as an independent, collecting a sum of 159 votes.
The loss to Kagimu did not throw him off, and he believes that was simply a battle which has given him fresh impetus, and that he is set for a fresh face-off. Kagimu is the vice chairperson for DP in Buganda Region.
Others wishing for the seat are; Dr. Daisy Ssonko and former Mukono district chairman Andrew Ssenyonga both of the NRM, Mukono Deputy Resident District Commissioner Mike Ssegawa, the youthful NUP leaning Lawrence Mayanja, and independent Ivan Ssentongo, among others.
And the new kid on the political block is the NUP legal advisor George Musisi, who is swearing to give a running nose to iron lady Nambooze come 2026. Musisi who is just coming to the limelight, is making his first political appearance.
His rapid popularity is rooted in the numerous times he has pleaded for NUP leader Kyagulanyi’s supporters who have been arraigned in law courts for the numerous political cases filed against NUP sympathizers. Ultimately, this has won him wide support even in his attempt to unseat MP Nambooze in the forthcoming elections.
Others mildly expressing political desire but have not openly come out include Mukono RDC Hajjat Fatumah Ndisaba Nabitaka, and Mukono diocesan head of laity, Herbert Bataamye.
Despite the low profile she has maintained on the issue, Ndisaba’s supporters especially NRM big shots are pointing a finger at her as the right choice to take on Nambooze.
Nambooze who has been on the political stage for some time first representing Mukono North constituency for a few years where she beat then NRM’s Rev. Peter Bakaluba Mukasa in a by-election in 2010, and before Mukono was elevated to a municipality status.
Nambooze faced the toughest competition in the campaign trail with Ndisaba in 2016, with many NRM loyals contending that even if she won, she would live with the trauma and hangover in the aftermath. Here most NRM members thought that even when she won, she had tested the wrath of an iron lady of her own measure.
Ndisaba’s deputy Mike Ssegawa is warming up. He is already doing ground work, selling himself as a best candidate come 2026. A senior journalist who worked for many years and later joined politics in 2021, when he stood as a municipality councillor, from where he was picked and named Deputy RCC for Jinja, and subsequently, Deputy RDC for Mukono.
As a youth, vibrant in the media and rich in mobilization skills, Ssegawa believes he is tested enough to serve as the best representative for Mukono Municipality. Fellow NRM party youth are rallying behind him.
Still in the NRM house, there is Dr. Daisy Ssonko, who in 2021 contested as the NRM flag bearer for Mukono Municipality mayoral seat, losing to NUP’s Erisa Mukasa Nkoyoyo.
Ssonko says that basing on her experience as a leader and business person who has been operating in Mukono for years, as a leading MTN agent operating in the greater Mukono districts, she has the best qualities to replace Nambooze whom she believes has outlived her importance.
She operates a factory which employs a number of people and given the fact that she also stood in the previous campaigns, she says that she is well versed with the politics of the area.
The former chairperson of Mukono district, Andrew Ssenyonga is also vying for the same seat saying that he is ready to stop Nambooze’s supremacy in Mukono. Ssenyonga has been in the district’s NRM party leadership for years.
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