Bobi Leaves Muwanga To The Dogs As Crowd Puller Declined To Campaign For His Deputy In Butambala

National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine shocked his deputy president Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi and party deputy secretary general Aisha Kabanda when the crowd puller did not campaign for them or de-campaign their rivals during his rally in Butambala on October 3, 2025.

Sources say Bobi is not keen to help his deputy to regain Butambala because NUP’s inner circle fears that if re-elected to Parliament, Kivumbi could become a problem for Bobi, and NUP

Kyagulanyi, who is running for president for the second time, was racing against time as he had to cover Butambala and Gomba districts on the same day.

Setting off after a press briefing at Makerere-Kavule (Kampala), Kayagulanyi’s entourage snaked through the Kampala Northern Bypass, Busega round about and onto Masaka Road.

By the time the entourage made its way out of Kyengera town, Kyagulanyi already had thousands of bodas and hundreds of cars to give him company.

Along the way, the entourage was further joined by groups organized by MPs; Kalwanga (Busujju), Teddy Nambooze (woman MP Mpigi), Hillary Kiyaga (Mawokota North) and Godfrey Ssazi (Gomba East). By the time the entourage made its way into Kibibi town council, the venue of the rally in Butambala, Kyagulanyi was accompanied by people enough to fill up a stadium.

In preparation for the rally, Butambala MP Kivumbi and Woman MP Kabanda had gone into overdrive. They had painted the constituency red, removing the posters of their main challengers; former Daily Monitor Editor Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi and former woman MP Lydia Mirembe, replacing them with their posters.

The NUP unpopular MPs had a lot of hope that Bobi’s visit would give them a lift since their rivals appear to enjoy more support than them just over two months to the election slated for January 15, 2026.

Disappointed

Kivumbi and Kabanda, however, were left shocked when Bobi chose to speak more generally about the election, saying that he had not gone to Butambala to campaign for Kivumbi, Kabanda or even himself, but to “spread the message of the need to remove Museveni from power.”

The user-and-dump Bobi only lukewarmly urged the voters to “tick the umbrella”, his party’s symbol.

This was different from when Bobi vigorously de-campaigned Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa and Mityana Woman MP Joyce Bagala in favour of NUP’s flagbearers.

Kivumbi and Kabanda had hoped for the same stance in Butambala, and Kivumbi, who spoke immediately before Bobi spoke, had given his boss cue by launching an attack against Mirembe, who is thought to be ahead of Kabanda in then race for the woman MP slot.

Kivumbi and Kabanda have launched vigorous attacks against those competing for MP slots on independent ticket since both Mukiibi and Mirembe are running as independents and are widely expected to defeat Kivumbi and Kabanda, respectively.

Mukiibi and Mirembe held heavily-attended rallies after their nomination on October 22 and 23, 2025 respectively, and both rallies were much more vigorous than the joint rally that Kivumbi, Kabanda and Butambala district chairperson Rashida Namboowa held at Gombe on October 23, 2025.

The picture that emerged out of the rallies, especially since Kivumbi had to ferry thousands of people from neighboring Gomba and Mawokota counties, and even as far as Kampala, solidified the view that the incumbents are on their way out and desperately needed Bobi to arrive in Butambala and make a powerful plea to the voters of Butambala to save his faded deputy for Buganda (Kivumbi) and Kabanda, who is the party’s deputy secretary general.

Is Kivumbi’s time over?

Insiders at NUP’s Kavule headquarter, however, say that Bobi is not interested in saving Kivumbi, who is seen as a potential danger to Bobi’s hold onto power if he returns to Parliament.

In his conversations with fellow legislators and others, Kivumbi has over the past year or so indicated that he desperately needs to return to Parliament and be appointed Leader of the Opposition (LoP), a position he craves so badly.

Kivumbi started fighting for the position of LoP when former holder Mathias Mpuuga’s two-and-a-half-year tenure was still running.

To prevent Mpuuga from being reappointed to the position, Kivumbi started reporting and in many instances, lied to Bobi whatever happened in Parliament that he saw as Mpuuga’s weakness or fault, convincing Bobi that Mpuuga harbored ill intentions against Bobi on the one hand, while on the other hand showing Bobi that Kivumbi was loyal and ready to work under him.

Bobi Turns Kivumbi Into A Sword Against Mpuuga

In Bobi’s playbook, both Mpuuga and Kivumbi were supposed to be discarded, but Kivumbi’s willingness to help in bringing down Mpuuga meant that he would be given more time in the party to be dealt with later.

So, Kivumbi continued in his role and helped to bring down Mpuuga within the party, hoping to fully replace the Nyendo-Mukungwe legislator as deputy president for Buganda and, most crucially, LoP.

However, Bobi had different ideas, and appointed inexperienced Joel Senyonyi, his loyal lieutenant and party spokesperson, as LoP.

Choosing inept Senyonyi ahead of Kivumbi for the LoP position caused acrimony within NUP, with Kivumbi storming out of a meeting attended by Bobi and refusing to attend a few party meetings that followed.

After he had missed a crucial party meeting in early 2024, journalists tickled Kivumbi the wrong way when, at the stairs of Parliament, they asked him for an explanation for his absence.

When a journalist asked whether the legislator did not risk being denied the party’s ticket for this election, Kivumbi let out an angry outburst, saying that his first election to Parliament was not on an NUP ticket and that the party would be at liberty to choose another candidate in his place.

He added that he could help his party win back the Butambala seat, and that in any case, “some of us are tired of being Members of Parliament.”

When Kivumbi let out that outburst, it appeared as if there was no way back for him into the NUP fold, and back in Butambala, the expectation was that Kivumbi would lose the NUP ticket to Musa Matovu Kimirante, who at the time was also eyeing the MP seat.

Amid the seeming vacuum, more aspirants cropped up, with district chairperson Namboowa also weighing up her options and printing some posters in preparation for declaring her interest in the direct MP seat.

Kivumbi swallows humble pie

It was at that time towards the end of April 2024 when former Daily Monitor Editor Mukiibi declared his intention to run for the MP seat, which changed a number of things.

Namboowa dropped her aspirations immediately; Kimirante eventually dropped his aspirations and went for the district chair seat to compete with Namboowa; Kivumbi returned to the NUP headquarters on bended knees.

On ground in Butambala, the voters accuse Kivumbi of not spearheading anything tangible to lift their wellbeing and Mukiibi, who adopted the moniker Teekamunkola (implement) for his campaign has milked Kivumbi’s poor record in service delivery to worm him way into the hearts of the people of Butambala.

Because Kivumbi could not surmount such adversity without the backing of Bobi, the three-term legislator turned himself into an errands boy for Bobi, verbally attacking whoever he thought Bobi wanted attacked and immersing himself into the activities of NUP.

Back in Butambala, Kivumbi, Kabanda and their allies adopted the practice of relaying “greetings from Bobi Wine” in every speech they delivered at any function, something they used not to do in the first half of this term.

It was clear that in the plans of Kivumbi, Kabanda and their allies, the only hope of surviving this election lay in their perceived attachment to Bobi.

Too little too late?

But Bobi is not so eager to see Kivumbi re-elected. Players close to Bobi say that the NUP leader is aware of the danger Kivumbi’s re-election would cause him and NUP.

The NUP inner circle has analyzed the work methods of Kivumbi and decided that they won’t need him that much after the election.

In one meeting, one insider brought out the example of how Kivumbi turned against Dr. Kizza Besigye and publicly attacked him in Butambala and on radio shows ahead of the 2016 election yet Besigye had played a crucial role in Kivumbi’s by-election win in 2012.

They also referred to how Kivumbi had spearheaded the fight against Mpuuga despite Mpuuga being a key pillar in Muwanga’s political journey.

Bobi then shocked the meeting when he pointed out that he was aware that Kivumbi looks down upon him and considers himself a better and more deserving leader with a better education.

“Oyo guy [Kivumbi] yampisaamuddaeggaali (that guy belittled me at some point),” Bobi said, referring to those days when Bobi first floated the idea of running for president, potentially as the DP candidate under the auspices of what they called the DP Bloc. Kivumbi was one of those who said then that Bobi was not qualified to be president, and Bobi knows that Muwanga’s current avowals of loyalty to Bobi are just for convenience.

Embarrassing Roles

But because Kivumbi has come out to vigorously do much of the embarrassing for NUP in the recent past, especially tasks regarding disparaging former allies and saying things others may consider embarrassing, Kyagulanyi and his inner circle are reluctant to speak out against him and prefer that his fate is sealed by the voters of Butambala.

Kivumbi on shaky ground

As a way of rehabilitating Kivumbi after denying him the LoP position, Bobi eventually appointed him deputy president for Buganda, and Kivumbi was quick to try and use the position to lift his damaged image in Butambala.

Shortly after the appointment was announced, Kivumbi organized celebrations in Kibibi and Bulo, then two towns he has heavily relied on for his support in the past.

He invited Bobi for Juma prayers at Bulo mosque and a rally at Kibibi. At Bulo, there were bloody scenes as supporters of Mukiibi, armed with placards of their preferred candidate, held a demonstration to inform Bobi that much as many of them would support him, they were not ready to re-elect “ill-mannered” Kivumbi as their MP.

As Bobi’s arrival in Bulo neared on the day, Kivumbi sent in omnibuses full of hired youths who launched a fierce battle on the inhabitants of Bulo, and scores were left badly injured.

Kivumbi arrived together with Bobi but given the acrimonious environment that obtained in the town at the time, the area MP was unable to even wave to the residents of Bulo.

He was just driven straight to the mosque, attended prayers and left. Kivumbi made cash pledges for himself and on behalf of Bobi to complete the Imam’s house which remain unfulfilled to-date.

In the end, Bobi’s visits to Bulo and Kibibi at that time did not seem to significantly help Kivumbi’s fight to regain the support of the constituents.

But Kivumbi still kept hopeful and a few months ago, he organized a rally in Ngando, the sub-county of Mukiibi’s birth and promised the people of Butambala that he would show up with Bobi.

The occasion was for announcing NUP flagbearers for local council positions in Butambala. Despite the preparations and repeated announcements, Bobi was a no-show.

Kivumbi, perhaps unsure what to tell the people, arrived at the rally he had organized for days after 7:00PM and left after a brief speech in which he read out the names of the NUP flagbearers for the different local government slots.

The list of NUP flagbearers for local government positions itself caused serious problems for Kivumbi and Kabanda.

A number of popular incumbents who had been elected on NUP ticket but had indicated that they would not support Kivumbi and Kabanda in the coming election were denied party tickets despite their continued avowals that they support Bobi and NUP.

Those who were denied party tickets on this premise, especially in Bulo and Kalamba sub-counties, now openly back Mukiibi and Mirembe.

Rubongoya Effect

Ahead of Bobi’s campaigns in Butambala, sources at NUP headquarters say secretary general Rubongoya received a brief that Kivumbi and Kabanda were unpopular on ground and campaigning for them against Mukiibi and Mirembe, who are independents and enjoy most of the popular support, could anger the supporters who are still prepared to vote for Bobi and won’t vote for Kivumbi and Kabanda. To starters, Rubongoya makes the final decision on what Bobi says and does.

With that background, and given the fact that Rubongoya is himself eyeing a parliamentary seat and would be happy to avoid competition from Kivumbi for the LoP position, the decision to let Kivumbi and Kabanda fight their battles in Butambala without much help from the party was easy.

Every man for himself, God for us all!