Same Cloth, Different Patterns: How NRM And NUP Are Both Marginalizing Buganda

Uganda’s two largest political formations, the NRM and NUP, are singing different songs but playing the same tune: the marginalisation of Buganda in top leadership positions.

A cold look at both cabinets exposes an uncomfortable truth. The most powerful positions are increasingly going to non-Baganda, while loyal cadres from the region watch from the sidelines.

NUP’s Shadow Cabinet: Loyalty Trumps Seniority 

Buganda delivers votes. But when it comes to power, both NRM and NUP treat Buganda like a campaign ground, not a leadership base.

NUP’s “New” Faces, Old Script

In NUP’s much-hyped Shadow Cabinet, the math doesn’t add up for Buganda.

The Leader of Opposition is Joel Ssenyonyi Bisekezi whose exact village roots remain curiously vague and untraceable from the Buruuli sub-region. The Parliamentary Commissioner is John Baptist Nambeshe, a Mugishu. The Opposition Chief Whip is Paul Mwiru, a Musoga.

The irony is painful. Paul Mwiru jumped onto the NUP caravan mere weeks to the 2021 elections. Yet he now scoops the strategic Chief Whip position. Meanwhile, long-serving party cadres from Buganda like Hon. Joseph Ssewungu and Hon. Kalwanga are left with ceremonial shadow ministries.

If NUP was built on “People Power” and rewarding struggle, why are latecomers from outside Buganda being prioritized over foot soldiers who bled for the party in its home base?

NRM’s Cabinet: Yellow Marginalization, Perfected

The NRM is no different. The Vice President is Jessica Alupo, an Itesot. The Prime Minister is Robinah Nabbanja, a Munyoro, with all her deputies coming from outside Buganda. Both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament are from outside the region. Even the highest-ranking judicial officer, the Deputy Chief Justice, holds a deputy role.

For a party that has ruled for 40 years and claims to represent all Ugandans, Buganda’s exclusion from top decision-making tables is no longer accidental. It looks deliberate.

Scandal Rewarded, Integrity Ignored

More troubling is how both parties treat scandal. In the NRM, Jacob Oboth Oboth, newly elevated to Speaker of Parliament, was at the center of the iron sheets scandal meant for poor Karamojong. Instead of reprimand, he was rewarded with another big office to “showcase his embezzling talent.”

In NUP, Zahara Luyirika, who was at the forefront of giving away the Nakivubo drainage channel to tycoon Ham Kiggundu for illegal arcade construction, now finds herself appointed Shadow Minister for Kampala. The same drainage distortion that has cost city traders billions in flood losses is now under her “watch” in the shadow cabinet.

Instead of disciplining questionable characters, both NRM and NUP are promoting them. Integrity loses. Opportunism wins.

Conclusion: Cut from the Same Cloth

The message is clear: whether red or yellow, both NRM and NUP are cut from the same piece of cloth. They preach inclusion in public but practice marginalization in appointments. They condemn scandal in opposition but reward it in power.

For Buganda, the home of both parties’ biggest vote banks, the joke is on them. They mobilize the votes, then watch non-Baganda and scandal-tainted figures eat at the high table.

NRM, a party that got its biggest Parliamentary numbers from Buganda has refused to give Buganda the keys to the main cabinet. You deliver the numbers, Kampala takes the offices. That’s not “all-inclusive government.” That’s political extraction.

The Ugly Truth

NUP tells Buganda “we’re different” while recycling NRM’s appointment formula: give top posts to non-Baganda, give Buganda cadres noise and committees

Until parties start rewarding loyalty over ethnicity and integrity over scandal, Uganda’s politics will remain a cycle of betrayal. Different colors, same marginalization.