Lukooya holds Mukono in the palm of his hand

By Joel Ogwang
Two successive losses bit deep into his ego, but Francis Lukooya Mukoome was not fazed. At the third attempt, he won the coveted Mukono District LC5 seat.

When I seek him out, I get the picture of a happy man. “This is my new office,” he says. “Take a seat.”

Donning a light-blue shirt, a colourful tie and a black suit, he looks distinguished. His deep voice is attention-grabbing and authoritative.

Lukooya’s portrait and that of President Yoweri Museveni welcome you into this well-furnished office at the district headquarters.

His first attempt to become the district chief came in 2002 when, as a councillor for Goma sub-county, he lined up against Kanakulya Bbanga.

“It was a painful loss,” the 42-year-old acknowledges. “But he (Bbanga) lacked minimum (academic) qualifications. I took him to court and won the petition,” he adds.

The Electoral Commission (EC) declared the seat vacant. Lukooya again tendered in his candidature, this time against Godfrey Ddamulira, Bbanga’s former deputy.

“The only difference between Ddamulira and Bbanga was that the former was younger and had papers,” Lukooya says. Under the then individual merit system, Ddamulira won the by-elections that followed.

Few politicians, however, take losses well. In fact, courts are busier after elections, waiting to hear one petition after the other. Lukooya was not the kind. “I conceded defeat,” he says.

“But because of my hard work and openness, the President nominated me Wakiso RDC,” he adds.

Ddamulira governed Mukono but his reign was short-lived. His attempts to re-unite a district torn apart by all sorts of evil were fruitless as his reign lasted just two years.

Lukooya, for the third time, bounced back. First came his victory over old foe, Ddamulira in the NRM party elections. By 6,000 to 2,000 votes, he was declared victor.

Then came the general elections on February 23. “Once I won the party elections, I rejoiced even before the (general) elections day,” Lukooya says.

“Victory was in sight.” He defeated Democratic Party’s (DP) Donald Muguluma and was later sworn in as the district chief.

Lukooya was born to Paul Mukoome and Efrance Nabukalu of Nakifuma, Mukono in 1964. He is one of 49 children. “My father was a traditionalist with several wives,” he says.

At four years, Lukooya joined Namyoya P/S. “The school was three kilometres away from home but with my elder sisters, I had to walk that distance to and fro daily,” he says.

Right from childhood, he was full of controversies. When his mother, a peasant farmer, relocated to Kamuli, Lukooya didn’t move with her. “She was surprised that I decided to stay with my aunt,” he says.

He enrolled at Kyambogo College School for O’ level. This was the beginning of his leadership career.

“Teachers caned students at will and I didn’t like it,” he says. “This prompted me to stand and I was elected head boy and also chairman of Tiger House in Senior Three,” he says.

He used his position to influence the formation of a prefects’ boardroom.
“The school did not have badges, but I influenced their introduction,” he says, gleefully. Because he was hardworking, open and innovative, Lukooya developed a warm relationship with Gerald Lukwago, the then headteacher.

Lukooya attended A’level at Caltec Academy, Makerere in 1982. Here, he campaigned to become Head prefect but lost. He instead became external affairs’ minister.

Around this time, the National Resistance Army rebellion against Milton Obote’s regime was gathering momentum. Lukooya joined the five-year-long-war in 1983. “It wasn’t easy staying in the bush but I endured,” he says.

In 1985, however, Tito Okello Lutwa, a former army chief in the Obote II regime, staged a coup and declared himself president. His regime, though, lasted only a year. In 1986, the NRA fought their way into power.

Three months into power, Lukooya resigned from the army. “I developed a complicated eye problem,” he says. “ I left the army and started life as a civilian.”

Lukooya formed an anti-HIV/AIDS NGO, Talent Calls, rallying youths through drama. “We organised youths and made bricks for construction of community health centres, schools and houses for the elderly,” he says.

He, through a Commonwealth foundation South-to-South Development Initiative, got a scholarship to study in India in 1989. “I studied community development for three years,” he says.

He was also among the founders of Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Association (DENIVA) in 1992.
He stood and was elected Goma sub-county secretary for youth.

He was also elected the NRM secretary general on the Mukono youth council. Lukooya later stood and was elected Goma LC5 councillor. He was also elected NRM secretary general, with the late Kalule Kagodo the district party chairman.

It was at this time that he was also voted board member of DENIVA and Uganda National NGO forum.

Through a recommendation from DENIVA, Lukooya was later made the regional chairperson of the IGAD civil society forum.

He enrolled for social sciences, majoring in public administration at Makerere University in 1999. “I have submitted my research for a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. I hope to graduate in March 2007,” he says.

Lukooya is now six months into his five-year term as Mukono LC5 chief. He attributes part of his victory to his father. “Mukoome is popular because he was one of Buganda’s best wrestler during the Kabaka Chwa and Mutesa regimes,” he says. “Being his son was enough to rally support for me,” he explains.

But like any ordinary person, Lukooya is not an angel. In a bid to ensure strict accountability, His toughness seems to have earned him more enemies than friends.

“He is a very arrogant fellow. Lukooya thinks he knows everything and this will cause unrest in the district,” says a senior civil servant who preferred anonymity.

The press recently reported him as saying he would axe all non-NRM faithful from the civil service. This also generated widespread hatred.

“Lukooya treats everyone like his son. He bullies just any one, even us on the district council,” an NRM councillor says.

Lukooya has nicknamed himself the “bulldozer”. “I am not fazed by what my critics say,” he says. “I want the best for my district and provided there is a way to do it, I will explore it,” he adds.

Top on Lukooya’s five-year plan is fighting corruption to zero level.

This, he says, will ensure service delivery.

He also wants to introduce model villages to boost food production. They are demonstration gardens where crops, for cash and food, are grown in a village.

“This will ensure food security,” he says, “We have earmarked sh600m to kick- start this project.”

The project will start with 145 model villages in 2007, with an extension to 155 by the end of the year. “Sub-counties will be zoned,” he says. Zoning is a method of farming where farmers in a village, sub-county or district, grow a common crop.

He has also entered an agreement with contractors in which any firm that wins a tender at the district will train youths in what they do.

“We want to fight unemployment by enabling people learn practical work,” he says.