Kyamuswa MP Kabuusu slams Opposition 'isolationist politics'

During the 1996 elections, a 17-year-old Moses Kabuusu, though ineligible to vote, says he was already politically awake.

In his own words, he was a sympathiser of the then Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere (RIP), who was challenging President Yoweri Museveni.

In the subsequent elections, Kabuusu took matters into his own hands and contested for the Kalangala youth councillor LC5 seat, which he won.

In the 2006 General Election, Kabuusu, running as an Independent aligned with the Opposition, delivered a stunning blow to the ruling National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) party's Tim Lwanga by clinching the Kyamuswa County seat.

However, in the next two elections, he unsuccessfully sought the same post before making a comeback in 2021 on the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) ticket.

Having been defeated in the most recent 2026 polls, Kabuusu, who ran under the Katonga road-based People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), is now plotting a return.

Kabuusu was defeated by NRM's Carol Nanyondo Birungi. 

While he doesn’t intend to contest the outcome in court, Kabuusu says that beyond the 'evident cases of rigging', the Opposition must move away from isolationist politics if it hopes to be competitive in the future.

Isolationist politics

Speaking exclusively to New Vision Online on February 4, 2026, Kabuusu singled out National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, whom he said, instead of embracing all Opposition unity, allegedly chose to put candidates against his peers in other parties, even in areas where his party stood little chance, like in Kyamuswa.

“When that candidate of the Opposition, Mr Kyagulanyi, came to our constituencies, he would say we are not with those people, they are not for us. Ours are those people only with umbrella tickets. So, it was challenging. Even when we had establishments, projects, supporters and voters, our voters remained confused,” Kabuusu said.

Ideally, in his view, the Opposition should have coalesced and rallied behind a single candidate to avoid the divisions and blackmail that come with fielding too many Opposition candidates.

“If you went to a public pit-latrine that has many stances, checking out of one stance to another one, you are still in a pit-latrine. You are not checking out of pit-latrine to a hotel or restaurant. So, they are asking you if you’re in the Opposition and still you are coming in another opposition party, what changes are you making?” he explained.

Why Opposition dismally performed

Meanwhile, while they were tearing each other apart, Kabuusu said the ruling party was busy consolidating its base, a phenomenon, he warns, forms a cocktail of reasons why the Opposition and Kyagulanyi performed underwhelmingly in the just-concluded polls.

Unfortunately, chances of rectifying this loophole appear to be slim owing to what he claims is careerism within Opposition ranks and Kyagulanyi’s nonchalant attitude.

“If a political party like his has establishments that need us, he should look for us. President Museveni himself looks for people opposed to him. He creates avenues and platforms for him and them to discuss,” Kabuusu alleged.

“This other gentleman (Kyagulanyi) does not. He cares less because he thinks we need him more than he needs the struggle, and that is why it will affect his numbers more. The earlier he realises that he needs to work with us, the better. If he doesn’t, he will stay in the jungles where he is,” he added.

In the just-concluded January 15, 2026, polls, President Yoweri Museveni of NRM beat six other candidates to emerge the winner. Museveni, who was seeking a seventh term in office, polled 7.9 million (71.4 per cent) while NUP’s Kyagulanyi garnered 2.7 million votes.

The People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), which managed to bring only two MPs to the Twelfth Parliament, did not field a presidential candidate in the election.

Similarly, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and the Democratic Party (DP) also did not present presidential candidates due to varying circumstances.

This election also saw a significant drop in the number of Opposition lawmakers in the House. Particularly, the National Unity Platform (NUP) lost seven MPs, reducing its representation to 50, largely as a consequence of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) eating into its previously dominant base in the central region.

Opposition alliances 2017 to date

At the inception of his political career in 2017, when he had just entered Parliament as Kyadondo East MP on an independent ticket, Kyagulanyi went out of his way in various byelections to campaign for candidates he believed best represented Opposition interests.

These included Justice Forum’s (JEEMA) Asuman Basalirwa in Bugiri Municipality, Kasiano Wadri, who, despite belonging to FDC, ran as an independent in the Arua municipality byelection that followed the grotesque murder of the incumbent Ibrahim Abiriga.

Others included FDC’s Paul Mwiiru in Jinja East and Betty Muzanira in the Rukungiri Woman MP repeat elections. One might ask, what went wrong along the way?

Perspective change or circumstances

During recent presidential campaigns at Ssaza grounds in Bugiri district four months ago, Kyagulanyi revisited this question, stopping short of saying he was betrayed.

“I came here when I had just entered politics because you had trusted me. Because politicians had lied to you for a long time. You didn’t believe in your friend from this area. But I came because I had met him before and believed people could change. He had contested several times, yet you had refused to elect him,” Kyagulanyi told supporters.

“Because you trusted me, you took me to Freestyle Ghetto and said, ‘Bobi, we trust you, but what about the person you have brought to us?’ I asked you, on my behalf, to trust him. You sat me down and made me swear. From there, we went to a ghetto called Obama and then to another called Kamwokya here in Bugiri and you supported us. I want to thank you,” he said at the time.

Summing up, Kyagulanyi said it was unfortunate that they no longer understood the very friend they had helped to elect.

It cannot be said whether it was a single incident that shifted Kyagulanyi’s view of alliances within the Opposition or the quest for tyranny of numbers that multi-partyism tends to breed among those competing for political power.