By KT Reporter
Matia Lwanga Bwanika, the three-term Wakiso District chairperson, has declared his intention to contest the Busiro South parliamentary seat as an independent candidate in the 2026 general elections.
Flanked by several supporters at the district headquarters, Bwanika made the announcement just days after being denied the National Unity Platform -NUP ticket by the party’s top brass. The ticket was given to incumbent Charles Matovu.
“I am not one to bow out quietly when the people of Busiro South deserve better,” Bwanika said. “For 15 years, I’ve steered Wakiso through floods, urban sprawl, and political storms. Parliament needs voices like mine, not mediocre echoes.”
With the tagline “The Time is Now,” Bwanika said he had reflected and consulted different institutions, campaign teams, and people of Busiro South in recent days, and decided to run as an independent.
Bwanika, a former Democratic Party (DP) stalwart with deep roots in the Catholic Church networks and Buganda kingdom, crossed to NUP ahead of the 2021 polls in a bid to bolster his reelection as district chair. That daring move paid off handsomely; he trounced his rivals to secure a third term.
Unlike other leaders who were denied the party flag and responded with accusations of bias against the Elections Management Committee, Bwanika only said that he was unhappy with the decision. He added that he would not blame NUP directly, arguing that the state has failed to let parties operate within proper systems, leaving them without the capacity for structures, checks, balances, and effective functioning.
He added that in this void, his duty is to the people of Busiro South, who in the past three terms have had mediocre representation, yet the area once produced strong leaders. He said the time is now.
Godfrey Ssemwemba Kasakya, the NUP youth chairperson for Kajjansi Town, is one of the leaders who have openly defied the party line and instead thrown their weight behind Bwanika, describing him as the most credible choice for the constituency.
“We have listened to the people on the ground, and their voice is clear,” Kasakya said. “Bwanika is the popular and better candidate, so we’ve chosen to stand with him. The party may have made its decision, but our duty is to people power.”
Lubwama Mukubabyasi, a local leader in the area, criticised the NUP primaries, calling them a farce rigged against experienced candidates, that the process sidelined capable leaders in favour of those chosen by party officials, not voters.
Bwanika’s exit from the district chair now funnels his ambitions squarely into Busiro South, a peri-urban enclave of traders, farmers, and commuters along the Kampala-Entebbe highway. Yet, his independent bid risks splitting the opposition vote in a constituency where NUP’s incumbent, Charles Matovu, already faces murmurs of discontent over “lukewarm” representation.
This is hardly uncharted territory in Ugandan politics, where party primaries often devolve into bloodbaths, birthing a rogue’s gallery of independents who upend the status quo. Busiro South, one of Wakiso’s 7 constituencies, has long been a Catholic-DP stronghold. Carved from the Buganda Kingdom’s heartland, the area traces its electoral lineage to Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, who was its first representative.
Home of 1996 presidential candidate Kawanga Ssemogerere, the constituency picked Alfred Mubanda during the 1996 parliamentary elections for Parliament from 1996 to 2001. In 2001, it elected Patrick Musisi, DP caucus treasurer, who died in 2005 and was succeeded by his son Joseph Balikuddembe Mutebi, DP, in 2006 and defended it in 2010. In 2016, NRM’s Peter Sematimba dramatically captured it.
-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
