Muwanga’s Shs300M First Easter Concert Fails To Win Butambala People’s Smiles

Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, the NUP Deputy President for Buganda and MP for Butambala, had one goal in the mind for Easter Sunday: to win back the hearts of his constituents.

After 13 years in Parliament, Muwanga had never organized a platform for the people of Butambala to discuss development. Yet, he shelled out Shs300M to hire trending artists and comedians, including King Saha, Maurana, and Reign.

After a month-long promotion of the concert via mainstream radio stations, the football pitch where he organized it was packed to capacity, but Muwanga’s excitement was short-lived.

Despite the expensive entertainment featuring celebrated artists and comedians, the crowd of revellers, who enjoyed the concert fully sponsored by Muwanga, remained unimpressed. Donning a red jacket, Muwanga waved enthusiastically to the audience, but his gestures were met with unresponsiveness. Even comedian Reign’s songs and jokes praising Muwanga fell flat.

As the concert progressed with sustained, yet unreturned, waves, Muwanga’s smile began to fade. He eventually retreated to his seat, murmuring to himself. A few minutes later, he walked out of the venue, clearly disappointed with the responses on the ground.

As he approached his vehicle to leave the artists entertaining the constituents without him, Muwanga, who had paid them upfront in addition to covering their meal bills due to his past defaulting on King Saha’s payment after performing for him in 2016, was overheard blaming the people’s hostility towards him on his political competitor, Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi.

“I know why the people of Butambala are now hostile towards me. That little boy Mukiibi is spoiling them with little money and decampaigning words, and this fully explains why people can even get the guts to behave unholy by turning up for the festivities, which cost me a lot of money. They fail to even do a simple wave back at me,” Muwanga said.

Mukiibi, a journalist by profession, has spent over two years making his mark in Butambala by engaging a multitude of stakeholders, including political influencers, religious leaders, elders, young people, and women. He has used this period to demonstrate a new approach to leadership, contrasting Muwanga’s empty talk politics that enriches himself at the expense of his constituency’s progress.

To try and counter Mukiibi’s impact in the constituency, Muwanga, a renowned stringy, is making financial efforts to win back the people’s hearts, thus far to no avail.