There is probably no political party in Uganda that has given President Museveni as much headache as the National Unity Platform. It is no exaggeration that he loses sleep over its popularity, especially in Buganda, where his governing party, the NRM, enjoyed solid support for decades but now struggles to win elections.
All the beatings, crackdowns, detentions, harassment, persecutions and prosecutions, torture, etc that NUP supporters have endured are meant to break the party’s backbone.
Mr Museveni has not succeeded—but if he eventually does, few Ugandans will be surprised. Some will simply say: We saw it coming.
In football speak, and given the political developments we have witnessed these past few weeks, we can say that NUP has conceded a goal, and Mr Museveni is the striker who blasted the ball past the goalkeeper.
The goal is the election to Makerere University’s guild presidency of James Churchill Ssentamu, the son of Fred Nyanzi Ssentamu, the chief mobiliser at NUP and the elder brother of NUP President Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, aka Bobi Wine.
James Ssentamu stood as an independent candidate. But in Uganda’s murky politics, being independent does not necessarily mean you are independent. Sometimes it means you are pro-NRM, your campaign has been bankrolled by the NRM—but you have compelling reasons not to identify with the NRM.
Mr Museveni does not normally go to Makerere to meet with student leaders, but after James Ssentamu’s election, photos of him with the guild president and other students—complete with Vice-Chancellor Barnabas Nawangwe, a man variously accused of politicising Makerere—have been circulating on social media.
Ugandans have avidly shared the photos because they could not imagine seeing James Ssentamu anywhere near Mr Museveni. The Ssentamu family, after all, detests the president.
I have seen photos of my son seated with the dictator. My son, Churchill, the man you were seated with is a murderer. He has blood on his hands. Two months ago, he tried to kill me
Indeed, after the photos made the rounds on social media, Fred Ssentamu recorded a video in which he says he is angry at his son’s photo opportunity. He did apologise to Ugandans for his son’s action and then laid into Mr Museveni while also warning the guild president that he is associating with a “murderer”.
“I have received news circulating on the internet, which has angered Ugandans and me very much,” he says in the video. “I have seen photos of my son seated with the dictator. My son, Churchill, the man you were seated with is a murderer. He has blood on his hands. Two months ago, he tried to kill me.”
He goes on: “He tried to kill your uncle, Kyagulanyi, and you know this very well. He jailed your sisters. He caused the deaths of our grandparents. There are many Ugandans who have died at his hands—for example, Frank Ssenteza, Ritah Nabukenya. Your friends are in prison, and others have disappeared without trace.”
Urging his son to apologise to Ugandans, Fred Ssentamu said that Mr Museveni has tried hard to find just one person from the Ssentamu family to further his political schemes and that he now appears to have settled on his son—and wants to use the photos for political mileage.
James Ssentamu’s reaction to the photos has been confusing. Initially, he said: “I do not actively use Facebook, and the post making the rounds on the app isn’t from me!” His post on X had a red fake content label plastered on the photos.
Then on April 11, he said in a press release that the public should not blame his family, especially his father, for his actions as a guild president.
“My family has stood firm against oppression in this country, and I honour their courage,” he said. “The pictures in circulation should not be interpreted as a betrayal of our shared values but as a consequence of balancing personal beliefs with public responsibility.”
Mr Museveni is adept at destroying his political opponents, and if there is a way he can take advantage of James Ssentamu, especially by using money to infiltrate NUP, the party’s days are numbered.
In the photos, James Ssentamu’s body language suggests Mr Museveni is not the villain the Ssentamu family believes he is. He assumed a posture of deference, standing with his hand pressed to his chest and his head slightly bowed. His bowed head may have tilted NUP’s future in Museveni’s favour.
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