NUP Foot Soldier Punches MP Nyeko Over Unsettled Shs 200,000 Debt

In 2022, the National Unity Platform (NUP) party treasurer Benjamin Katana lost his mother, Mary Katana, who was laid to rest in Buyanja-Kyeizooba, Bushenyi district.

The party leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, the ex-Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga, and a few MPs including Joel Ssenyonyi now the LoP, Joyce Bagaala, Flavia Nabagabe, and Derrick Nyeko attended the burial ceremony.

The LoP at the time posted on his X account, “I joined mourners at Buyanja-Kyeizooba, Bushenyi district for the send-off of Mama Mary Katana, mother to our comrade and @NUP_Ug Treasurer, Counsel Benjamin Katana. We pray for the Lord’s comfort to the family and mercy to the deceased.”

After the burial ceremony, MP Nyeko’s second-hand car, Shs200M, which was given to MPs by Parliament to procure cars in good condition, broke down, and he could not find a ride back to Kampala.

Luckily, a foot soldier who was Bobi’s official photographer at the time Ninye Tabs commonly known as Tabs ku Camera, offered to drive him home in exchange for Shs200,000.

Tabs ku Camera, eventually kicked out the other passengers to give MP Nyeko a comfortable ride, in privacy free from strangers.

They arrived at MP Nyeko’s home in Makindye East late at night. MP Nyeko asked Tabs ku Camera to wait until the next day to receive his payment, promising to access a money booth to make the transaction.

However, “tomorrow” never came, and Tabs ku Camera’s repeated calls for payment from Nyeko were ignored.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

The situation escalated when Tabs ku Camera bumped into MP Nyeko at an upscale hotel near Parliament, where he was enjoying himself with some women, recently.

Tabs ku Camera confronted Nyeko, demanding his payment there and then. MP Nyeko responded scornfully, “Read the room and understand the situation man. Do not just rudely demand your mere Shs200, 000 in public when even my VIIPs are seeing and listening to us. That is pocket change to me, and I can assure you, you lost it the day you accepted to leave me home without it. Town is not just buildings.”

Tabs ku Camera did not take MP Nyeko’s response lightly and angrily punched him.

MP Nyeko, feeling pains, filed an assault case at the police station and informed his NUP leaders about the incident.

The party president Bobi intervened, asking both MP Nyeko and Tabs ku Camera to drop the matter. “You are both my close buddies. You are both bad men, and in the Ghetto, big boys do not cry. I am sorry that a foot soldier has beaten up the MP, but I think it was a good way to settle the disagreement between the two of you,” Bobi said.

Despite the party president’s intervention, neither MP Nyeko nor Bobi bothered to pay Tabs ku Camera his due payment, only to think that the foot soldier had took in president’s word.

To their discomfort, Tabs ku Camera has been vocal and amplifying dissenting voices about MP Nyeko’s failures, accusing him of abandoning his constituents and only returning to ask for votes ahead of the 2026 elections.

Tabs ku Camera recently posted on his X account, “A foot soldier in East Ward confronted Nyeko and asked him what he had done since being elected to parliament, and he said, ‘I am the one who recorded the Bobi’s video while he was being arrested as he left the plane at Entebbe Airport’”

Nyeko’s reputation has taken a hit, and he has become a persona non-grata in his constituency. People shun and chase the MP from their constituency wherever he goes, accusing him of disappearing for four years and only returning to ask for votes.

The incident between MP Nyeko and Tabs ku Camera has exposed the deeper issues within the NUP, highlighting the disconnect between MPs, foot soldiers, and their constituents, and as the 2026 elections approach, MP Nyeko’s lazy actions will undoubtedly face scrutiny unlike in 2021 when he thrived on “whenever you see umbrella, just tick.”