A seasoned political editor in one of the leading dailies in the country reveals to Ono Bwino that he was shocked by the announcement made by Shartsi Musherure Kutesa Namatovu that she was not going to defend her position as Mawogola North Constituency in the 2026 parliamentary elections.
“After spending months pushing for her interview, we agreed on the day. She had already assured me that she was going to contest in the coming parliamentary elections. In the morning, I was shocked when I landed on her statement on her official social platforms declaring that she had pulled out of the contest. I tried to reach out to her but she was not responding, and one of my contacts in her camp told me that she was recovering from the shock because was forced to make the political announcement,” a senior respected journalist said
The decision according to sources resulted from a meeting summoned by President Museveni who is also the chairperson of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) as one of the mechanisms he deployed to avoid violence in his party’s primaries on parliamentary elections after Mawogola North was zeroed down as one of the hot spots in the country.
According to family sources, Museveni is faced a difficult task of convincing his young brother Godfrey Aine Kaguta to pull out of the race in favour of his daughter-in-law Musherure because in 2020, Aine accepted his elder brother Museveni’s prayer to pull out of the race during the family meeting that took place at Museveni’s farm in Gomba district.
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In 2021, Musherure succeeded her father the former Attorney General and Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kahamba Kutesa and according to sources close to her, she was still interested in the position. However, in the meeting, Museveni reminded her of her word that in 2026, that she will leave Aine to contest on the NRM ticket. She reminded her to respect her word and the family members who attended the meeting.
“Kutesa left a strong political ground for her and she used it well when she was in parliament by connecting with the common person. Chances were high that she was going to retain her seat but because of the family decision, she accepted to pull out of the race. But her political campaigners and agents including those of her father declined to support Aine on grounds that he is incompetent and cannot replace Musherure. That’s when they started to look for an alternative,” a source said
He revealed that they zeroed on flamboyant city lawyer Jet Tumwebaze a son of the area who is well connected with members of the Deep State because his father Col Jet Tumwebaze fought the liberation war that brought Museveni’s government in 1986.
“The problem Aine is facing is the very problem Col Fred Mwesigye faced in Nyabushozi county elections in 2021 when he was defeated by Wilson Kajwengye. The young generation in Ankole and surrounding area are only looking for people who can properly articulate national issues on the floor of parliament because they know that the highly anticipated political transition is on the way, that’s why they cannot accept to replace Musherure with Aine,” a source said
He added that because Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda understands whatever is going on, he is very bitter with National Unity Platform’s Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) for dropping career politicians and professionals in favour of comedians and musicians to takeover political leadership in Buganda.
Sources assured us that Museveni’s family is sharply divided following the Tumwebaze/Aine contest and each camp is scared of the outcome because each of them has power, money and has access to the security apparatus.
Musherure is a twin sister to Charlotte Nankunda Kutesa wife to the Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who sources claim put up a spirited fight to help her sister-in-law get the NRM ticket in 2021.
On several occasions, Museveni have been stopping his family members from competing in elective politics and even though his wife who also doubles as the Minister for Education and Sports Janet Kataha Museveni contested as a Member of Parliament in Ntungamo district, he managed to stop Aine in 2020 and Shedruck Nzeire Kaguta from contesting for a top executive position in the just concluded NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections.
