KACITA boss writes to Police Chief over leadership row

KAMPALA - The new leadership of the Kampala City Traders’ Association (KACITA) has written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) following confusion and tension over management of the association office.

In a letter to the IGP, copied to the Director General of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and the Commandant, Kampala Metropolitan Police, the new Acting Chairman of KACITA, Issa Ssekitto, requested that the security agencies cooperate and support the new leadership in addressing the ongoing dilemma.

This comes after the outgoing acting chairman, Thaddeus Musoke Nagenda, refused to vacate office after accepting the outcome of their meeting on Thursday, August 14, 2025, during which he agreed to take leave and hand over the office.

The developments followed earlier scenes where traders opposed to Musoke locked him in the office, accusing him of defying his suspension from office by the executive committee.

The committee accused him of allegedly taking part in partisan politics, which they said was against the constitution after he contested as the NRM flag bearer for the position of Lord Mayor for Kampala city.

Musoke was, however, rescued by the police from the Central Police Station in Kampala.

The executive in a press release declared that Musoke had been replaced by the long-term spokesperson, Issa Ssekitto. But Musoke shot back and dismissed his suspension, saying the process was irregular and that they did not have the power to suspend him.

 The association patron, Godfrey Kirumira, also Namibian consul to Uganda, recently convened a meeting of both parties at International Hotel, Muyenga, to resolve the impasse.

Sekitto reports that during the extraordinary meeting, Musoke agreed to step aside as requested and hand over office.

In the letter to the IGP, Ssekitto attached the minutes of their Thursday, August 14, 2025, meeting, which was chaired by Kirumira and attended by some founders and board members.

He stated that Musoke attended this meeting and signed the minutes.

“Dr. Musoke Thadeus Nagenda has requested to be on leave and first concentrate on his political career till the next elections, 2026. It has also been resolved that Hajji Issa Ssekitto shall substantively be in acting capacity till the next annual general meeting,” the letter, attended by 14 executive members, reads in part.

It adds, “The above is meant to allow the association to keep afloat until it stabilises.”  
However, according to Ssekitto, there were several other engagements between him and Musoke until the extraordinary meeting where he was given the mandate as the acting chairman.

He stated that the meeting also resolved that KACITA management takes control of the office immediately and that Musoke was supposed to withdraw people and the security he had deployed at the office.

Ssekitto’s letter was also copied to Kirumira, the police officer in charge Aponye Mall area police and to Musoke.

When contacted, however, Musoke acknowledged attending the Thursday meeting but said he had been misled into signing the document because he felt that he was overwhelmed. 

He explained that his lawyer was not allowed to attend the meeting, yet they had their own.

He said he later realised his mistake and on return, he apologised to his team he had left at the office, saying he had been ‘overpowered’ by the number and signed under duress.

He insisted that he was still the acting chairman until an extraordinary meeting due in December 2025, which will decide his fate.

“I respect our patron who convened the meeting, but because all these people had already made underground work to throw me out, I signed the document, but inside me, I knew I was under pressure,” he stated.

He explained that the reason for pushing him out of office was mainly political. 

He accused Ssekitto and other people fighting him of being supporters of the opposition groups and hated him because he was a supporter of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and President Yoweri Museveni.

He said that before he stood in the NRM primaries eyeing to hold the party flag for the position of the Kampala City Lord Mayor, he went to Kirumira and informed him.

He said there was no clause in the association constitution stopping him from joining elective politics. 

He said he was surprised that after losing in the primaries, the Ssekitto group, which mainly comprises opposition supporters, turned around and asked him to resign.

“In the previous elections, I was a supporter of the Alliance for National Transformation and I contested and lost, but I did not first resign my position on the board,” he stated.
“After realising that I signed the document written after the Thursday meeting, I changed my mind, I confirm that I am still in office,” he said.

When contacted, Kirumira said that he was shocked by Nagenda’s turnaround after the Thursday meeting, saying the new development was putting the association at crossroads.

He said that he did not expect the association leaders to fight over positions but rather accepted them to amicably resolve any misunderstandings and work for the common good of the association.      

Musoke was appointed acting chairman in 2021 following the sudden death of the association chairperson, Everest Kayondo.