Ono Bwino can exclusively report that former Buganda Kingdom premier who is also one of the leaders of Suubi political pressure group Owekitiibwa Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemogerere is looking for a convenient date to summon all members for a political retreat.
Suubi political pressure group was formed in 2011 by youthful Buganda politicians under the guidance of Owekitiibwa Ssemogerere to fight for Buganda’s share in the big Uganda and among the prominent members were Kampala Lord Mayor Ssalongo Erias Lukwako, Nyendo-Mukungwe legislator Mathius Mpuuga Nsamba, Busiro East Medard Lubega Sseggona, Butambala county’s Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, Kira Municipality’s Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda among others.
However, all of them were defeated in the recent general elections with the only survivor being Mukono Municipality’s Betty Nambooze.
One of the prominent members told Ono Bwino that the reason why Ssemogerere is trying to summon them for a political retreat is to study and examine their next course of action after their poor performance and to know whether there is still room for them to work together as it was in 2011 when they were establishing this political pressure group.
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He added that they plan to use Kivumbi’s imprisonment on terrorism related charges to unite them again. He revealed that since his arrest, all the members apart from Mpuuga have been in touch including holding physical meetings with the accused person’s family to strategize on how to rescue him from Kitalya prison where he was remanded last week
He insisted that the coming of the National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) in the political space fuelled the fights among Suubi group members to the extent that Nambooze and Kivumbi were used to fight others.
He claimed that it was a deliberate move by Bobi Wine to finish the Suubi group politicians and it is a pity that they failed to detect it early. He divulged that they have information that in one of the first confidential meetings with his inner circle, after taking a decision to join politics, Bobi Wine announced to a section of his foot soldiers that he will revenge on those so called political elites from Buganda who undermined him and declined to openly welcome him to the political space.
This source further admitted that it is true Ssegona and Mpuuga politically miscalculated concerning Bobi Wine’s intentions when they joined his political pressure group People Power which gave birth to NUP.
“On the issue of political patience, Kivumbi and Nambooze politically calculated and fit in Bobi Wine’s game. Mpuuga tested the sweetness of power when he was a appointed the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, so he started exhibiting signs of threatening Bobi Wine’s dominance. That is why Bobi Wine was advised by his political handlers to use the opportunity of the controversial Shs500m service award to politically crush him,” he said.
Sseggona confirmed that the previous political fights cannot divide them as Suubi group members noting that they have become brothers and sisters. He confirmed that him and Omuloodi Lukwago together with Asuman Basalirwa are going to lead a legal team to defend Kivumbi in all the legal troubles he is currently going through.
He added that when he received the news that Kivumbi was arrested, they immediately assigned Ssemujju to follow-up on what was going on around their comrade as Basalirwa provided legal services to the accused person.
Ssemujju recently explained that the reason why they formed Suubi group was to guild and offer good leadership in Buganda upon realising that leaders especially Members of Parliament from Buganda were a laughing stock and they were being used by President Museveni to achieve his political goals in Buganda.
“By then I was a political journalist covering parliament, but the only time me and my friends would get to excuse ourselves like going for a short call or praying during parliamentary proceeding was when a legislator from Buganda was given the opportunity to speak. A person like Vicent Nyanzi who kissed Museveni’s shoes and James Kakooza were given ministerial jobs not because they were good for the job, but because they always praised Museveni. To me, people like them were a disgrace to Buganda and we joined politics to rescue our region,” Ssemujju said.
He boasted that people should know that they have made a big contribution to Uganda and Buganda politics and that their absence in parliament will be widely felt even though voters thought that it is the right time to replace them with leaders they think are more useful than them.
Like Lukwago and Sseggona said after conceding defeat, Ssemujju also assured Ugandans that he is going to continue contributing to the political struggle against President Museveni especially fighting injustices on other fronts.
However, veteran journalist turned lobbyist Richard Baguma insists that all members of Suubi group are still around and they will dominate the country’s politics because they are still young in age yet they are politically experienced.
“All of them are in their 50s, in politics, at that age, you’re still young. Another issue, they survived poverty, so they have money to play politics,” Baguma said
He also added that they have created connections locally and internationally which can help them to continue dominating the country’s politics.
