The silent fight between Fred Nyanzi Ssentamu (Chairman Nyanzi), the National Unity Platform (NUP) Secretary in Charge of National Mobilization who is also the elder brother to Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) and the Party Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya has reached its climax which has put the entire party top leadership in panic.
Highly placed sources at Makerere Kavule have confirmed to TV10GanoMazima that Nyanzi and Rubongoya’s misunderstanding started when they disagreed on how to run the countrywide political mobilization drive dubbed KUNGA.
The drive was headed by Nyanzi but the funds to facilitate it were supposed to be authorised by Rubongoya as the party Secretary General.
Sources revealed that Rubongoya advised that it was not the right time to kick off the countrywide mobilization given that the party did not have the money and it was too early for such mobilisation.
Sources said that Bobi Wine intervened and the misunderstanding was resolved but the beef remained.
However, at that time, Nyanzi told TV10GanoMazima that there was no misunderstanding between him and Rubongoya.
Sources said that in October last year, Nyanzi was shocked to learn that among the party top officials who are clandestinely mobilizing support for Lord Mayor NUP ticket was Rubongoya even though he was moving around telling fellow party members that he was going to contest for the seat.
Insiders in Nyanzi’s camp said that their man made a number of political calculations and established that it will be very difficult for him to win Kampala Affairs senior minister Hajjat Minsa Kabanda who is set to be fronted by the National Resistance Movement(NRM) to contest for Kampala Central Division Parliamentary Seat in 2026 as a replacement for Muhammad Nsereko who declared in 2021 parliamentary elections that he was not going to contest for that position come 2026.
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Sources close to Nsereko allege that he also has plans to contest for the Lord Mayor seat, others are saying that he is going to contest for presidency.
“The voters register in Kampala Central is controlled by NRM people and security operatives, it will be very difficult for the opposition to win Kampala Central that’s why people like Salim Uhuru survived the 2021 NUP wave, so Nyanzi discovered that issue very first and changed his mind,” a source said.
In the 2021 parliamentary election, Nyanzi was defeated by Nsereko but challenged his victory in the High Court.
Nyanzi lost the first legal battle and is awaiting the Court of Appeal Judgment on the matter.
Sources said that Rubongoya also wants to test his muscle by contesting for a political office, instead of staying at the party secretariat as a Secretary General.
To prove that he is serious, he has started mobilizing for support.
However, party supporters are very scared that the Rubongoya, Nyanzi political fight is likely to divide that party especially in 2026 general election that is why Bobi Wine should intervene at an early stage and put his house in order.
However, NUP insiders disclosed that the problem is Bobi Wine fears both personalities because they are the ones who shaped his political ambitions.
Rubongoya and Nyanzi’s interest to contest for Lord Mayor seat has silenced other party members like Kawempe Division Mayor Emmanuel Sserunjogi Oweddembe and Ali Kasirye Mulyanyama the Makindye Division mayor who had already declared their interest to contest for the party ticket.
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Both Mulyanyama and Sserunjogi had started decampaining the incumbent Ssalongo Erias Lukwago by telling voters that he has done nothing for the city apart from playing politics while hiding in fighting President Museveni’s government.
It is not clear whether they will surrender and return back to contest in their current offices but Butambala County legislator Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi insists that each position should be contested for internally.
