Meet Muyunga, ANT's lone councillor in NUP-dominated Buganda

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The first thought that comes to mind when Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) is mentioned is simple: It has no elected MPs. On that basis alone, many are quick to dismiss it as inconsequential in Uganda’s political arena.

Yet, while the party has long struggled with funding and establishing structures, it would be wrong to assume it is entirely irrelevant on the ground.

A narrative Maj. Gen. (rtd) Gregory Mugisha Muntu, the ANT national co-ordinator and presidential flag-bearer, recently downplayed during a media briefing at New Pearl Hotel, Mbarara city.

“Last time (2021), we got fifty leaders, the highest being LC5 chairperson Terego,” Muntu said.

Meet Kasasa

However, it is not until you meet Dennis Muyunga, the Kasasa LC3 chairperson, that you truly appreciate the quiet strides the party has made since its inauguration six years ago.

Dennis Muyunga, the Kasasa LC3 chairperson, Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) lone councillor. (Photo by Stuart Yiga)

Simply put, Muyunga is one of the few kawonawo (survivors) who withstood the National Unity Platform’s (NUP) red wave that swept most parts of Buganda in the 2021 General Election.

On October 12, 2025, New Vision Online sat down with him in Rakai town council for a quick chat to understand how this came about.

Political roots

Dressed in a green Maoist-style Kaunda suit, a pink rosary, and sharp-pointed shoes, Muyunga reminded us that while his victory came as a surprise, it was no accident. Having been mentored early enough by his grandfather, a staunch Democratic Party (DP) supporter.

Joining FDC

However, the same politics that made him a household name in Greater Rakai’s grassroots nearly estranged him from his family when he later chose a different political path.

“In 2001, I was in Senior Three at Kimaanya SS when I joined Dr Kizza Besigye’s Reform Agenda pressure group, a move that nearly split me from my family,” Muyunga recalls.

The fiasco, however, did little in stemming his passion for politics. If at all, he says it only emboldened him.

Muyunga disclosed that on the very last day he sat his senior six exams, he was summoned by opposition bigwigs Betty Kamya, Joyce Ssebugwawo and the late Suleiman Kiggundu, who at the time were laying the groundwork for the formation of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which, a year later after the re-introduction of multiparty politics, would for twenty solid years hold fort as the strongest challenger to the President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM).

“They had been told about a strong youth mobiliser at Kimaanya, and that’s how I got involved. We held our last meeting, and that’s how I entered politics, becoming one of the pioneers of FDC,” he intimated.

Muyunga revealed that on the very day he sat his Senior Six exams, he was summoned by Opposition stalwarts, including Betty Kamya, who hails from Lwamaggwa-Kyotera, Joyce Ssebugwawo and the late Suleiman Kiggundu.

The trio at the time were then laying the groundwork for the formation of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which would rise to become the strongest challenger to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) for two decades.

It is worth noting that Kamya, now the outgoing Inspector General of Government, once served as the Lubaga North MP between 2006 and 2011 on the FDC ticket.

Her relationship with the party would later sour after she attempted to replace the late former Bank of Uganda (BOU) Governor Kiggundu as National Party chairperson, following his tragic demise in June 2008.

After her fallout, Kamya founded the Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA), under which she contested for president in 2011. She later joined the NRM and, after unsuccessfully contesting for her old parliamentary seat in the last elections, she was appointed Inspector General of Police (IGG) until late last month when her contract ran out.

Ssebugwawo, on the other hand, served as FDC’s national chairperson and was the mayor of Rubaga Division in Kampala city. She crossed to the NRM in 2021 after a disappointing electoral outcome.

“Our first meeting was at Bwala Social Centre in Masaka, where I met those senior figures who later took me to Kampala. We sat at Najjanankumbi with the late Musinguzi Garuga who officially handed over the party headquarters and we started from there. I was then selected as the FDC youth chairperson for Greater Masaka at just 21 years old. I am among the few people who started FDC,” he added.

Besigye returns from exile

His entry into the party coincided with the return of veteran politician Col. (Rtd) Dr Kizza Besigye from self-imposed exile in South Africa.

Besigye had just been elected party president at FDC’s inaugural conference in Stellenbosch, following the merger of the Reform Agenda (RA) and the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO).

“I was among the few who welcomed him back at Entebbe airport as part of the youths who were fighting for freedom. From then onwards, I grew in strength and in 2006 was elected to become FDC chairperson in charge of Greater Kyotera, before it was split,” he narrated.

“I even contested as Kasasa LC III on FDC ticket and didn’t win,” he added.

Due to his talent, he was noticed. During his time in FDC, Muyunga was first appointed as an aide to Dr Besigye and later to Gen. Muntu, a role that saw him traverse the country extensively.

“I traversed the entire bicycle on a blue bicycle, wearing all blue, I got a label in the politics of this area and earned a name. I was very disciplined,” he remarked.

Chaotic FDC primaries

However, his attachment to the party ended after the chaotic FDC presidential primaries in which the incumbent, Gen. Muntu, was defeated by Patrick Oboi Amuriat. 

Amid allegations of mudslinging and internal divisions, Muntu later broke ranks with FDC, first establishing The New Formation pressure group, which eventually evolved into the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) in 2019.

“During that election, I supported Gen. Mugisha Muntu together with Winnie Kiiza, Ibrahim Semujju Nganda, Paul Mwiru, Kasiano Wadri, but at the end of the day separated. We did whatever we could because we had the party at heart but those guys told us that Mugisha Muntu was a spy. We responded that real spies would reveal themselves with time. I was among the few who immediately followed Muntu to form the Alliance for National Transformation,” Muyunga revealed.

After which, he was handpicked as coordinator for Greater Masaka and in 2021, successfully contested for the position of Kasasa LC3 chairperson, winning with over 78 per cent of the votes.

Constituency ambitions

“I found it very difficult to market the Alliance when it was still unknown, especially since the National Unity Platform (NUP) was already deeply entrenched. But because people had seen me in the struggle all along, and knew I wasn’t one to defect easily, they decided to vote for me,” he pointed out.

Since then, Muyunga is still in bed with ANT. 

While he acknowledges the party’s limited funding, he disclosed that in the forthcoming elections, he managed to field four councillors on the party ticket in his sub-county and he is confident they will make it.

When asked whether he intends to contest for the Kakuuto seat in the 2026 elections, Muyunga said he still has much work to do and cannot be seen as betraying the very people he helped bring to power.

“In my area, I have helped build every opposition political party. When someone from NUP comes, we work together. I fought tooth and nail to bring Geoffrey Lutaaya into the seat because my sub-county is home to him, Haruna Kasolo, who has also built a home here and Ntake,” he explained.