Word-On-Word Mpuuga’s Emotional Farewell Speech For Ssegirinya: A Scathing Indictment Of Uganda’s Politics

On January 10, 2025, Parliamentary Commissioner Mathias Mpuuga delivered a heartfelt farewell speech during a special parliamentary sitting to pay tribute to the late Muhammad Ssegirinya who represented Kawempe North.

The speech by the former Leader of Opposition (LoP) on the other hand, was a scathing indictment of Uganda’s politics. With resolute determination, Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mpuuga condemned the government’s vengeful actions against Ssegirinya and lamented the petty, callous, and insensitive nature of politics, where some politicians prioritized plotting for Ssegirinya’s position over showing empathy during his illness.

Here is a verbatim version of Mpuuga’s farewell speech.

Rt. Hon Speaker, I would like to convey my sympathies and those of the people of Masaka to the family, the children, and the mother in a special way because she had this special attachment to his son that I witnessed and touched over time.

I thought, Rt. Hon Speaker, I would say much here, but then on reflection I felt it is not necessary any way. I am going to make just a few remarks in recognition of the legacy of this gentleman lying before us.

We do not choose the time we bow out. It is not in our space. I have been scanning through the commentary relating to his demise, and you could tell that there is not a single statement that would afford him a befitting epitaph. Probably, his life has been a cocktail. It was a short life, and we could not master exactly where his journey would end, but like I said, we do not choose when we bow out. He never chose this.

I followed him closely on behalf of Parliament and then as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) when he was arrested. I followed him and his brother, the Honorable Allan Ssewanyana, through the challenges in prison and the troubles he went through to secure clearance from the medical board for medical treatment away from treatment in prison and from within the country.

I want to thank you, Rt. Hon Speaker, for the effort. At one stage, the Rt. Hon Speaker had to conduct a manhunt for members of the medical board to convene and clear the treatment of Hon. Ssegirinya. It was tough, and we were losing time. He had to be driven on the tarmac for emergency treatment.

Certainly, his illness and eventual demise exposed our systems. The state system has been weak, and porous, incapable of a coherent investigation to give a decent man justice, incapable of a decent prosecution, the entire exercise in which he was being prosecuted tainted with a lot of inconsistency and you could feel a sense of revenge and retribution in this whole thing, and for me, that should not be part of our life.

I am glad the Hon. Minister for Youth has made a commitment. I want to see you follow through with that commitment that the haunting and hounding of the opposition must cease.

The Hon. Ssegirinya had so many friends, and I want to thank his friends who stood with him in prison, and in hospital even when he left prison, and some friends were questioning how he was released yet they knew he was sick.

That for me, was inhumane. Secondly, to thank the medical team at Nsambya Hospital led by Dr. Ssekitoleko and team, Rubaga Hospital led by Rev. Sister Dr. Grace Nanyondo and team. They did a great job, and of course, the team at the Agha Khan Hospital (Nairobi).

I visited Ssegirinya at Agha Khan, and I thought, we had lost him, but the mother stayed strong and the young man called Kasagga who was taking care of him, very closely. I found them very desperate. The doctor at Agha Khan asked me; can’t you manage this in Uganda? I felt a sense of shame on my part.

Rt. Hon Speaker, as I conclude, he (Ssegirinya) has left us, and his departure has exposed the pettiness, the callousness, the emptiness, the insensitivity of politics and politicians, and we need to learn. From both sides of the House Madam Speaker, we need to appreciate that our sense of humanness should never disappear regardless of the disagreement we find ourselves into.

What became of our sense of humanity? What became of our Africanism that in the suffering and sickness should never be exploited? Should never be used for politicking? Should never be used to milk politics and political space?

Rt. Hon Speaker, while this man was suffering some people were jostling for his position in Kawempe! What happened to us as politicians? As he was ill in the hospital, and I made sure that all those deserved to know, get to know.

They never visited. They were plotting for his position in Kawempe! This is very callous of politicians, it must stop. We do not chose when we go. Our sense of sensitivity should never get away because one of us is suffering. We must feel for each other, and this I am saying to both sides of the House.

Rt. Hon Speaker, to the Hon. Ssegirinya, you fought your battle and you did your bit humbly with humility, with little in terms of exposition, in terms of capacity. We shall escort you, not as a villain, but as a victor in these very small spaces in which we struggle to make a difference.

Sleep well my brother.