Will NUP fight for Nakimuli’s victory in Kalangala?

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As voters from Kalangala gear up for polls to replace the deceased district woman Member of Parliament (MP), Hellen Nakimuli, during the June 24 by-election, a number of residents are worried about the limited time granted to candidates for campaigns.

On May 28, 2026, the National Unity Platform (NUP) nominated Irene Nampala as its flagbearer to replace Nakimuli. Nampala defeated 13 other aspirants to win the NUP ticket. She will now contest with other candidates from other political parties.

In this by-election, four candidates have shown interest so far. Besides NUP's Nampala, Aidah Nabayiga is contesting on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket, while Hellen Flavia Nagawa and Lydia Nakimera Kizza are independent candidates.

Political analysts in Kalangala said the late Nakimuli had deep-rooted support across five of the seven sub-counties that make up Kalangala. This, they argued, was due to her engagements in community activities as the district community development officer.

“Besides politics, Nakimuli was a sports lady who used to watch football with other islanders and engaged directly in netball and volleyball. So, when she decided to contest for the Woman MP seat in the 2021 general elections, she easily won and got another term in January this year before she died,” said Bambalazaabwe Ssemakula, a resident of Kalangala and political commentator.

Ssemakula added that unlike other candidates who always leave the islands and come back to contest on different positions, Nakimuli never left Kalangala, and this made her adorable to the islanders.

“It will be hard for her successor under NUP to persuade every voter across the district during these 18 days left to cast their votes for her despite pledging to fulfil the late's programmes, which she left in the pipeline,” he observed.   

Besides being a native of Kalangala, Nakimuli had grabbed the attention of Ugandans due to her ability to deliberate on the floor of parliament, mainly on disasters not only for Kalangala but across the country and on other matters of national importance.

“She had made the NUP more powerful in the islands than any other opposition political party,” noted Ssemakula.

NRM effect

In the 2021 general elections, the opposition took over Kalangala’s major political positions. These included Nakimuli taking the woman MP seat, Kyamuswa County was taken by Moses Kabuusu, then a member of the Forum for Democratic Change (now a member of People's Front for Freedom), while Bujumba County was taken by Julius Mukasa Opondo, an independent. Rajab Ssemakula won the Kalangala district chairpersonship on the NUP ticket.

However, the NRM fought back in the 2026 elections and won all other parliamentary seats apart from the woman MP seat that Nakimuli won for the second time running. Willy Lugoloobi of NRM won the Bujumba MP seat, while another NRM member, Carolyn Birungi Nanyondo, won the Kyamuswa MP seat.

Gerald Sande Kayita, the Kalangala district NRM chairperson, noted that through their structures, they will recover all the top political positions which had been taken over by the opposition parties.

“We call upon all our members to support every candidate that the party trusts with its flag to contest at any stage," Kayita said, adding that since President Yoweri Museveni emerged the winner of the presidential polls, Kalangala islanders should send NRM members as MPs, as this will make it easy for them to lobby the government for services.

According to the Electoral Commission roadmap for the Kalangala woman MP by-election, candidates will be nominated on June 10 and 11, and campaigns will commence on June 12.