Ono Bwino can exclusively report that Kampala district woman legislator Shamim Malende is considering taking a tough decision of retiring from active politics to concentrate on her health and family.
Malende retained her seat in the recently concluded parliamentary elections but highly placed sources close to her have revealed that chances are minimal that she will contest in the 2031 parliamentary election or any other political office.
The source divulged that the decision is being guided after wide consultations she made with friends and family who all advised her to concentrate on her health.
He explained that since 2023, family and friends have been worried over Malende’s deteriorating health especially after a strange disease which doctors in Nairobi are struggling to treat attacked her and before returning back in 2025 for campaigns, she was referred to a specialised hospital in United States which deals more in treating people suspected to have been poisoned.
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However, this website cannot independently confirm that Malende is receiving treatment in United States even though a family member refuted these claims.
However, another friend to the legislator insists that she is getting treatment in Kenya.
The public got to know about Malende’s illness when she was representing late Muhammad Ssegirinya the former Kawempe North legislator and Allan Ssewanyana of Makindye west who were battling with criminal charges of murder and terrorism.
Her health conditions deteriorated when military commandos manhandled her and other opposition legislators during the passing of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) bill and she was admitted to a local hospital before being referred to Kenya again.
Others sources said that Malende was further depressed and felt betrayed by her party top leadership which is the National Unity Platform (NUP) who decided to sacrifice her with all the sacrifices she made for the party by representing political prisoners on politically fabricated criminal cases and facilitating party mobilization drives.
“If it was not because of the public pressure, top leaders of the party were determined to sacrifice her in favour of Zahara Luyirika,” a NUP foot soldier narrates
To compensate Luyirika, she was awarded with the party ticket in Makindye west where she first pick interest and she won.
A senior NUP leader told this reporter that Luyirika was convinced to stand for the Kampala district Woman Member of Parliament position because they were scared that Malende was not going to contest again because of her sickness.
“She was subjected to a tough campaign, first to fight for her party ticket, then her seat in the general elections. With grace from God, she won in both but we advised her as friends to first concentrate on her health because moving from one court to another defending party supporters and leaders arrested during the elections was going to worsen the situation,” a family member said.
The security operation of arresting NUP supporters and leaders also scared Malende’s friends because their friends in security circles assured them that she was on the list of those to be arrested.
He said that they are expecting her back in the country not far away from now because the political situation is normalising yet she has to prepare for her swearing-in in May 2026.
A senior NUP leader told Ono Bwino that Malende’s spirit concerning the political struggle against Museveni government changed in 2023 and that’s when she started distancing herself from the party leadership and was always absent from party activities
“The decision was not to return the party ticket to her because we suspected that she was already recruited by the regime but pressure mounted on the top leaders and she was given another chance,” he said.
Ono Bwino tried to reach out to her but all her known phone numbers were not going through.
