Erias Lukwago has always framed himself as the shield, or, in Luganda, Engabo, of Kampala-Uganda’s capital-against growing abuses by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its agents. But this relationship ended on Thursday when the National Unity Platform’s Ronald Balimwezo was voted in as the fifth mayor of Kampala. Lukwago’s relationship with the people of the capital as their shield goes way back to 2006 when he was voted as Kampala Central legislator. This was after he ousted Edward Francis Babu of the NRM. It was during this period that Lukwago faced off with what he termed NRM agents who were seizing public property, including Kisekka Market, Nakasero Market, and Owino Market, as well as public schools such as Bat Valley Primary School and Buganda Road Primary School.
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It was during this time that the Kisekka market became a site of confrontations between the police and the traders. The violence became common after vendors came to know that the government, Kampala City Council (KCC), under the leadership of Nasser Ntege, had ceded the market to Rhino Investments owned by Kampala businessman Col John Mugenyi. Lukwago became the flag-bearer of the interests of the common man in the capital as he sought to ensure that vendors own the markets. ‘In this city, everyone grabs. So let me also grab something for my people, the vendors. They must own the markets,’ Lukwago said. Indeed, in 2008, Lukwago leaked what he said was a parliamentary report to Nakasero market vendors. The report indicated that legislators sitting on the Local Government committee of Parliament had handed over Nakasero market to Sheils Investments, owned by NRM cadre, Hassan Basajjabalaba.
Interest in mayorship
Lukwago’s move, which was rubbished by Members of Parliament (MPs) as populist, was enough to spark off riots among the traders in Nakasero. As a result of this chaos, it became common for vendors to beseech Lukwago to stand for the mayoral position instead of defending his Kampala Central MP slot. He complied with what the voters wanted and stood as an Independent. Having allied with Opposition doyen, Dr Kizza Besigye, Lukwago beat off a challenge from NRM’s Peter Sematimba by taking 64.4 percent of the vote. Lukwago’s first term would soon run into a speed bump after the powers of the Lord Mayor were clipped under the new Kampala Capital Authority (KCCA) Act.
The tweak allowed the President to appoint a powerful executive director in the name of Jennifer Ssemakula Musisi as well as a Minister in Charge of Kampala in the shape of Frank Tumwebaze. As Kampala minister, Mr Tumwebaze literally let Ms Musisi run the show at City Hall. When the latter beseeched the former, the Kibale County lawmaker would simply agree with the executive director’s position. The two ganged up against their common opponent-Mr Lukwago. They ensured that Mr Lukwago was dragged to Justice Catherine Bamugemereire’s commission of inquiry, where they accused him of abuse of office and misconduct. The High Court later stayed the implementation of Justice Bamugemereire’s report after the indefatigable Lukwago challenged it.
Be that as it may, the duo ensured that Mr Lukwago never returned to office from 2013 until he was re-elected by the defiant voters of Kampala into office in 2016 with a bigger margin of 75.5 percent. Yet even before he was re-elected for his second term, the councillors who had initially supported Mr Lukwago’s ouster had lost patience with Ms Musisi, accusing her of being high-handed and bullish. This change of heart among the councillors came to the fore in 2014 when Frank Kanduho, at the time the councillor representing Uganda Law Society (ULS) at City Hall, reported Ms Musisi to Mr Tumwebaze. This was on behalf of several councillors who felt that the Authority was going astray.
Vindicated
Though he was among the councillors who voted to impeach Mr Lukwago, which gave Ms Musisi a free rein as the city supremo, Mr Kanduho lamented to Mr Tumwebaze that any councillor who criticises managers is isolated. ‘Whoever raises a legitimate concern pointing at or questioning the governance and accountability fog and mist that there is in KCCA is always threatened with the censorship blackmail of ‘so you, too, want Lukwago back…so you too are working to fail the ED?’ Mr Kanduho wrote. ‘No one is allowed to question this or demand some explanation.
We don’t even have a forum to ask any accountability-related questions. Whoever attempts to speak in ways and means the chief steward considers anti-establishment is blacklisted as part of the bad elements working to facilitate Lukwago’s return. Animal Farm at play here.’ All this was ignored by Mr Museveni, and to a greater extent, Mr Tumwebaze, who was concentrating on his duties as Minister in-charge of the Presidency. This made Ms Musisi happy as her agenda was executed without any hindrance. There was no reason to resign. But nothing lasts forever. In the 2016 elections, Mr Museveni and his ruling NRM were humiliated at the polls in Kampala. In a complete U-turn, Mr Museveni pointed at Ms Musisi as some kind of scapegoat.
He said Ms Musisi’s highhandedness in evicting vendors led to this humiliating electoral defeat, which saw Mr Lukwago, who once again stood as an Independent, allied to the FDC, return to City Hall together with a coalition of FDC councillors. Ms Musisi never recovered from this incident as she grew milder and nearly inconspicuous. The pomp of the earlier years, which had been spurred by Mr Museveni, was all gone.
Leaving DP
As the 2021 elections were knocking on the door, unlike his former allies such as Betty Nambooze, Medard Lubega Sseggona, and Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, who had joined the newly formed National Unity Platform (NUP), Mr Lukwago chose to join his long-time ally Besigye at the FDC. Though he had made it clear that he would never abandon DP, citing his life membership card, which he got in 2004, in 2020, it seemed that Mr Lukwago had had enough of the ongoing fights with the party’s President-General Nobert Mao and other officials. Mr Lukwago’s decision to join FDC wasn’t surprising since he had allied with the party and particularly Besigye’s ‘People’s Government’ where he was deputy president, no wonder Mr Mao took offence, saying they were making the marriage official.
‘It’s a great day when a person who has been cohabitating finally gets married,’ Mao said. Under the FDC banner, Lukwago was still able to withstand the so-called umbrella wave of 2021 when he beat NUP’s Nabilah Naggayi Ssempala with a difference of 134,500 votes. Yet the voters had hamstrung Lukwago when they gave him a council full of NUP councillors, setting the stage for a clash. In 2023, Lukwago and the NUP councillors clashed after the Kiteezi landfill disasters resulted in the death of over 34 people. Mr Lukwago sent a clear warning to the NUP councillors, saying they couldn’t outlast him if they went into a full-blown fight. Mr Lukwago said he was not the kind who turned the other cheek after being slapped.
Mr Lukwago’s message was directed towards councillors who belong to NUP led by the Authority speaker Zahrah Maala Luyirika, who caused chaos by accusing the KCCA political leadership led by Lukwago of failing to table a report on waste management in Kampala. Mr Lukwago denied claims by the NUP councillors, saying his leadership was meant to furnish the report on the collapse of the Kiteezi landfill that resulted in the death of more than 34 people. Mr Lukwago said theatrics by NUP councillors thwarted the entire process of presenting the report. ‘Unfortunately, the theatrics that characterised the council thwarted the process. It’s very regrettable, and it’s of great concern to us,’ Mr Lukwago said.
Mr Lukwago also wondered why NUP councillors hadn’t yet put the KCCA ministers, Minsa Kabanda and Kyofatogabye Kabuye, under pressure to present a report on waste management. ‘I have never seen the councillors in the council saying they have summoned the minister [of KCCA] to furnish them with a report from Cabinet, after all, she is the Minister of Kampala. Why don’t you put the Minister of Kampala under pressure after all she is the representative of the President, and instead you divert your energy on John Mary Ssebuwufu, the Authority’s secretary for finance and administration,’ Lukwago said.
What next?
Yet the relationship between Mr Lukwago and NUP councillors proved to be damaged beyond repair when it emerged that the councillors had sanctioned the giveaway to Nakivubo channel to NRM-leaning businessman Hamis Kiggundu. Mr Lukwago had this to say: ‘I was disappointed in the Council; instead of focusing on reclaiming the Nakivubo drainage channel, they all turned their discussion on me because I criticised the project. I moved a motion that Mr Kiggundu get arrested and prosecuted for his illegal activities, but the motion was rejected by council members.’ Mr Lukwago’s plea that voters shouldn’t vote again for NUP wasn’t enough.
Observers say the rejection will hit the outgoing Lord Mayor where it hurts as he likely attempts to build a national profile with an eye on 2031. The performance of the nascent People’s Front for Freedom (PPF), where he serves as its interim president, barely helps matters. The party won only a couple of seats in the House. Mr Lukwago will now solely shift his attention to building the legal case for the incarcerated Dr Besigye who is battling treason charges. While the four-time presidential candidate has previously made it clear that he would endorse Mr Lukwago as a presidential candidate, it remains to be seen what his latest political defeat will bring with it.
Dr Besigye said what he likes about Mr Lukwago is the consistency and clarity of his political pursuits. If he maintains both, the PFF interim president will not be wished away.