Fight breaks out at Ssebaana's vigil

Jul 04, 2017

A bitter verbal exchange spirals out of control and graduates to a physical fight between two groups at Ssebaana's vigil.

(Credit: Ashraf Kasirye)

CONFLICT | SSEBAANA VIGIL


KAMPALA - At about 9.30pm Monday, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago arrived at the late John Ssebaana Kizito's home in Kansanga.

He was warmly welcomed by fellow leaders like MP Medard Lubega Ssegona. But suddenly, a group of women started shouting, asking him to leave Democratic Party (DP) issues for DP members.

Lukwago kept silent and went on to greet other mourners.

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But the disruptive women intensified their verbal attack on him until another group made it clear that they had had enough. They started firing back at Luwago's attackers, defending his presence at the vigil.

The bitter exchange spiraled into a physical fight between the two groups, prompting Makindye Mayor Muhammad Mulyanyama to order police and some DP youths to drive them out of the vicinity.

Two of the women were forcefully carried out of the fallen veteran politician's home by police. They were former DP flagbearer for Makindye LCV councilor, Nuriat Sowedi and ex-DP flagbearer for KCCA LCV councilor Rubaga North, Jane Nayiga.

During the commotion, Nayiga kept calling Lukwago a "hypocrite", saying he "does not deserve to attend such a funeral service of an honest DP leader".

"He has to leave this place!" she kept on bellowing.

 

Nayiga's colleague Sowedi was also in verbal attack mode. She was later whisked away by fellow DP members, who handed her over to police.

But she did not go down without a fight though.  "That man [Lukwago] should only attend funerals of TJ [Truth and Justice] members because he ceased being part of the DP family the moment he chose to fight the party leadership," she yelled as she was being led away.

This episode was a blemish on an evening when many needed the peace and quiet to reflect on the life of Ssebaana, who has been one of the longest-serving politicians and business people in Uganda.

The former Kampala mayor and DP president-general died Monday morning at Nakasero Hospital after suffering a stroke.

Meanwhile, one of the DP delegates, Issa Muwonge from Lwengo, explained to New Vision the reason behind the fight at the vigil.

He said Lukwago's attackers are angry over his actions in the 2016 general elections, when he decided to front parallel TJ candidates against them (the attackers), who were officially voted in the party primaries as flagbearers for different posts.

"This fueled losses for most of them, and they vowed to fight Lukwago wherever they meet him. But it was wrong to express their anger at such a respected funeral. That is why we asked police to handle them," said Muwonge.

 

 

 

 

Busiro East MP Ssegona, who is chairing the committee organizing the burial of Ssebaana, said those were minor internal conflicts within the party and would be looked into after the interment.

Despite being the subject of the unflattering attention, Lukwago calmly took a seat amongst other DP leaders. One hour later, he stood up and left.

But before leaving the premises, he praised Ssebaana's role in the building of the oldest party in Uganda and underlined the task ahead.

"I pray that God rewards the late for the great role he played in developing his country. Besides the great legacy, he has also left behind many leadership challenges in the party he subscribed to over the years and the role of making things right is ours, the remaining DP leaders," the Kampala Lord Mayor told New Vision.

 

'That is indiscipline'

On his part, the party's national organizing secretary Sulaiman Kidandala said that the woman who led the group that attacked Lukwago has a reputation for conflicts and that the party is working out ways to legally deal with her.

 "This is too much. During the late Mathias Nsubuga's funeral, she attacked me and abused me the entire night, and she wanted to do the same to Lukwago. We all have differences but that is not how we express them. That is indiscipline and we intend to handle her under the party's constitution."

Burial program

Meanwhile, the burial of Ssebaana will take place on Saturday in Mpande village in Bulemeezi at 2pm local time.

The day before, on Thursday, his body will be taken to KCCA council chambers between 8am and 10am for city councilors to pay their respects. Thereafter, the body will be taken to parliament at 2pm local time for MPs to pay their tribute to a man whose political career spanned decades.

Friday morning, Ssebaana's remains will be taken to Sure House (SWICCO headquarters) for prayers led by Kampala Archbishop Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga.

Mourners will then accompany the body to Namirembe Cathedral for a funeral service. The body will then be taken to Mpande for burial.

According to Ssegona, this program was agreed upon during a meeting involving several DP leaders, family members led by Joseph Kizito, employees and workmates of the late Ssebaana, Mengo and central government representatives, among other stakeholders.

 

WHAT THEY SAID

Newly-elected Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu (pictured above): "Ssebaana was a leader but to me it was more personal because he was a great friend to my father, the late Joseph Walakira. They were together in the Democratic Party as young men. He kept on nurturing us, which compelled me to support him when he stood for mayor in Kampala."

Former MP and veteran politician, Israel Mayengo: "I was with the late in parliament from 1989 to 1996. I was representing Ssese Islands as he represented Kampala East. We had two principles - federalism and the belief in business as the hope for the development of this nation. He was committed to his principles and we fought hard to see that things like agriculture and trade are given priority in government.

ā€‹"As a former minister of housing and urban development, I attribute to him the achievement of changing Namuwongo from a slum to a urban developed area in Kampala. He did a great Job, and we are all proud of that."



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