Former Kawempe North legislator Al-Hajji Latif Ssebaggala Ssengendo has confirmed to theGrapevine that he has abandoned his political dream to replace Muhammad Ssegirinya as Kawempe North member of parliament come 2026.

In 2021, Ssebaggala who had been in parliament for 20 years was defeated by the then Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Councilor Ssegirinya who contested on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket.

Ssebaggala declined to take legal action against Ssegirinya and concentrated on clandestine political mobilization.Voters in the constituency were very sure that he was coming to reclaim his political seat.

However, exclusively speaking to theGrapevine, Ssebaggala revealed that in 2026, he is going to contest against Emmanuel Sserunjogi for Kawempe Division mayorship seat.

When asked why he abandoned the juicy MP seat and decided to contest for a mayor, he explained that he spent a number of years in parliament and made a big contribution to his people and now he wants to serve them in another capacity as a Division mayor.

theGrapevine established that Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi, the wife to Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) has a hand in Ssebaggala’s decision to contest as mayor.

Itungo is one of the strong members of the inner circle in NUP who are highly respected given that she is the first lady and her decisions are always final and not contested.

However, Ssebaggala’s decision to change his mind and to contest against Sserunjogi has created for him a hostile environment in the area because Sserunjogi’s supporters have started sabotaging his new campaign by mobilizing people not to listen to him.

“He should retire from active politics, he has nothing to add to Kawempe and we shall not allow him to address people in our presence,” one of the foot soldiers who is a close friend to Sserunjogi said.

“He shouldn’t waste his resources and energy because he will lose in 2026. Bobi Wine will not abandon people he knows very well in favour of people like Ssebaggala who was a staunch Democratic Party (DP) supporter,” a source said.

Other sources said that Itungo is still making political calculations after being advised to contest for Wakiso district woman Member of Parliament to replace NUP’s Betty Esther Naluyima who is a relative to veteran journalist and also spokesperson of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) Andrew Mwenda.

Mwenda revealed that Naluyima is one of the NUP candidates in 2021 who were surprised by their win because she did not have money to move around the entire district campaigning.

Before Itungo comes into the political picture, after one Sylvia Namutyaba, a foot soldier and also a darling to Bobi Wine also declared interest to contest against her for NUP ticket come 2026.

theGrapevine has further established that Ssegirinya is also still interested in the seat and even though he is still receiving treatment, he has plans to start his political campaign in 2025 after fully recovering from a strange disease. He is currently still getting medication from Nairobi Kenya.

“He has a lot of unfinished business that is why he is coming back,” Alex Luwemba his personal assistant said.

Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro the party deputy spokesperson is also interested in the seat because he is very sure that it will be very difficult for him to win a political seat back home in Busoga.

President Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) has used a lot of energy to make sure that it sweeps Busoga and removes all traces of the opposition.

Kampala city lawyer Erais Nalukoola has also declared interest to contest on the same seat and has confirmed talks with Bobi Wine so that he is fronted by NUP.

Since Norbert Mao the DP president general entered a political marriage with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s government, Nalukoola, who is DP’s chief legal advisor feels his career in the party is threatened because he protested against the agreement.

Sources close to Nalukoola said that come 2025, he is likely to cross to NUP if the ongoing negotiations with Bobi Wine succeed but if they fail, he is going to stand as an independent.

Nalukoola is very understands the political dynamics in Kawempe Division because he was once a youth councilor.

By that time, he was still a student at Law Development Center and a personal lawyer to a number of prominent families in Kawempe.

Bobi Wine is at the cross roads given that he has to take a tough decision of stoping his wife from contesting for a political office come 2026 as he did in 2021 when he stopped her from contesting for Wakiso district woman Member of Parliament seat.

Recently, Commissioner of Parliament Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba revealed that Bobi Wine is under siege and his family members are using him as a weapon to gain politically, socially and economically.

However, Bobi Wine rubbished the allegation.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

Maverick Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Junior Minister Joseph Christopher Kabuye Kyofatogabye has narrated how he survived being humiliated by angry traders at State House before his boss President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last week.

Minister Kabuye was part of the team that organised the meeting between President Museveni and traders to solve their tax grievances with Uganda Revenue Authority  (URA) after they closed their shops for a week.

The angry traders were protesting against the high tax levies slapped on them and the use of the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing System (EFRIS) as a mechanism to collect taxes.

Minister Kabuye revealed that he chickened out of the meeting at the last moment because his intelligence briefed him at the last hour before the meeting that there was a group of traders who had strategised to humiliate him before the President like they tried to do to URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi Rujoki.

theGrapevine recently reported how a female trader, a one Doreen Nakirya shocked the meeting when she told the President that Rujoki’s men sexually harass female traders when collecting taxes and the president directed his Special Forces Command (SFC) detectives to record statements from both from Nakirya and the male taxman who she accused of sexual harassment. They were later released.

Kabuye said that a section of traders were not happy when he told them not to first consult National Unity Platform (NUP) boss Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) on what to tell Museveni yet others were planning to ‘Kulabisa’ Museveni as Bobi Wine encouraged them to do by exposing and humiliating leaders.

“Those people who were stopped at the State House gate were not traders but they were taken to State House to humiliate me. Never joke with the government, it has intelligence,” Kabuye boasted.

Sources within the traders associations confirmed the allegation adding that they wanted to tell the president that Kabuye was using government’s money to bribe a section of traders to withdraw from the strike so that he is praised as an influential minister in the city.

The sources added that when Kabuye invited the traders at Africana Hotel to discuss their issues before meeting the president, he came with people who they didn’t know in the trader’s circle and his plan was to declare before the media that they are ready to open the shops.

“We identified them before the meeting and we started grilling them to tell us where they operate business from and their shop numbers. When they failed, we forced them out of the meeting and we frustrated Kabuye’s meeting,” one of the leaders in the trader association said.

He divulged that they wanted to tell the President that Kabuye is very arrogant and doesn’t listen to them and like former KCCA Executive Director Jenniffer Musisi, he runs the city on orders.

He added that they know that political leaders are mobilizing non traders to be taken to President Museveni’s meeting on 7^th May 2024 at Kololo Independent grounds to tell lies to the big man.

On that date, Museveni is expected to make a final announcement on the issue of EFRIS.

By Hadijjah Namagembe

Security at Mulago hospital cancer institute was beefed up after controversial city tycoon Godfrey Kato Kajubi was admitted very sick.

Highly placed sources at Luzira Murchison Bay hospital revealed that early this month, Kajubi was referred to Mulago cancer institute for more medical attention after his health condition went out of control.

Last year, Kajubi was diagnosed with cancer and he has been getting treatment from both Murchison Bay hospital and Mulago cancer institute until his situation worsened.

theGrapevine reporter was denied access to Kajubi because the Hospital security was tense compared to previous days but we managed to see him from a long distance.

Sources said that Kajubi no longer manages himself and he is moving in a wheelchair.

“The problem with Kajubi is he believes in witchcraft so much, so whenever he felt sick, instead of telling the prison’s authority so that he is taken to hospital, he claims its witchcraft. So the cancer was discovered at a very dangerous stage,” a source at Luzira Upper prison said.

He added that every Wednesday, Kajubi used to go with other inmates who believe in witchcraft at the place called Mpanga and they sat under a very big tree singing and enchanting.

He added that Kajubi is a very desperate man because of the huge amount of money he has been spending on fraudsters who have always promised that they will help him to get pardon from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

In 2012, Kajubi was sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court Criminal Division on charges of murder and the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence.

Kajubi was convicted for killing 12-year-old Joseph Kasirye and prosecution produced evidence that Kajubi took Kasirye’s head and genitals to cleanse his real estate business which was struggling.

He denied the charges claiming that his personal witchdoctor Umar Katerega and his wife Mariam Nabukeera are the ones who murdered Kasirye.

However, it was discovered that Kajubi facilitated the murder and was present at Kayugi village in Masaka district when Kasirye was being sacrificed and his head and genitals cut off.

Kajubi rushed to the East African Court of Justice to challenge the Supreme Court decision of life imprisonment while also strategizing on how to convince President Museveni to pardon him.

By Sengooba Alirabaki