The outcome of last Thursday’s presidential and parliamentary elections has sparked debate in Nakasongola District.
Political analysts say voters, the majority of whom support the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, elected an Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) for Nakasongola County but overwhelmingly voted for the NRM presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni, to extend his time in office to 45 years. Nakasongola District Returning Officer Rashidah Najjuka last Thursday declared National Unity Platform (NUP) party’s Ivan Kyeyune the elected MP for Nakasongola County after polling 15,611 votes against his closest rival, Mr Stephen Tiberondwa Bujjingo, who garnered 11, 699 votes.
While the results appeared shocking to several NRM officials, political analysts say the voters simply made a statement earlier ignored by the party on the choice of their candidates. Mr Gabriel Ssenono, a retired secondary school head teacher and an elder in Kakooge Sub-county in Nakasongola, said the decision to vote for an Opposition candidate while at the same time retaining Mr Museveni in State House was a premeditated and strategic move. ‘The Baruuli should not be mistaken for being tribal, but like any other cultural grouping, they want to champion their own destiny using the different leadership positions at the grassroots and national level.
All the candidates that stood for [the] Nakasongola County parliamentary seat were good, but they [Baruuli] had earlier re-echoed a sense of cultural identity which several of the top NRM party leaders ignored. They used the ballot box to elect their own in disregard of his political party affiliation,’ he stated. Ms Keturah Nabayego, a resident of Kalongo Sub-county in Nakasongola, concurred with Mr Ssenono by saying: ‘Many people will come out to judge us (Baruuli) as tribal and possibly not sensitive while making leadership decisions, but this happens in many areas across the country.
If our leaders had tried to address the concerns of the Baruuli and possibly explained the choice of the candidates, the voters would have possibly made a different decision. I voted for the NUP flagbearer for MP and NRM candidate Museveni for President.’ But earlier in December 2025, the Buruuli cultural institution, which had possibly sensed growing political tensions in the area, clarified that the ethnic Baruuli are accommodative and have a mixture of more than 30 tribes settled within Nakasongola.
‘The people of Buruuli have freely lived with other tribes without discrimination. We should not encourage tribal sentiments as people of Buruuli. As part of our efforts to ensure that our culture is strengthened, we are encouraging the teaching of the Ruruuli language in schools. As your cultural leader, I will not encourage divisions based on tribal sentiments if we are to strengthen Buruuli,’ the Buruuli cultural head, Isabaruuli Mwogezi Butamanya, said at a function in Nakasongola Town on January 5. Mr Kyeyune, the MP-elect for Nakasongola County, also dismissed the notion of voters using the tribal card in last week’s election.
‘The people of Nakasongola have for long lacked a vocal Member of Parliament who can articulate their issues without fear. The reason why the people of Nakasongola voted for me as their next MP is because of the earlier abilities that they identified in my political career as their liberator. It is not true that the people of Nakasongola went tribal as alleged by some individuals,’ he said. Mr Kyeyune explained that he had made attempts to vie for the same seat in 2016 and 2021, but was unsuccessful. ‘I also believe that the people of Nakasongola, like many other regions, now want a leader who will fight for their cause,’ he stated.
The Baruuli, according to their cultural leader (Isabaruuli), are inseparable from President Museveni.
‘When the Baruuli got displaced in the Lango Sub-region and were forced to settle in different parts of Uganda in the early 1970s, Museveni, who at the time was Minister for Defence, came up to defend the Baruuli people against the harassment. Even when he became President… later, he ensured that the people of Buruuli regain their cultural identity as guided by the Constitution of Uganda,’ the Isabaruli said at his 21st coronation anniversary held on December 10, 2025. Nakasongola District has two constituencies that include Budyebo and Nakasongola counties. Figures from the Electoral Commission put the voter population in the area at 107,877.