Ndawula: Luweero’s new LC5 chairman

Mar 19, 2006

SOFT-SPOKEN Ronald Ndawula, who sailed through unopposed to take the Luweero LC5 seat, has always won victory on a silver plate.

By Frederick Kiwanuka
SOFT-SPOKEN Ronald Ndawula, who sailed through unopposed to take the Luweero LC5 seat, has always won victory on a silver plate.
The 36-year-old Ndawula, hitherto Luweero Town Council chairman, becomes the district’s fourth LC5 boss. Before him were former agriculture minister Dr Kisamba-Mugerwa, Deo Nsereko, who is currently Mukono RDC and outgoing Al-Hajji Abdul Nadduli.
His ascension to the highest political office in Luweero was so abrupt. He confesses that his victory over incumbent Nadduli was a surprise.
“I had only come to market myself so that I contest for the seat in 2011. I did not expect to defeat Nadduli,” says Ndawula, who stood as an independent.
Several elders in the district still have fresh memories of him as one of the small boys who used to make bricks – a job he did when he dropped out of school in 1988.
Born on September 12, 1970, in a peasant family, Ndawula has had a rough road to success. His father, the late Fred Kateregga, died when he was young and he was brought up by his mother and grandmother. He went to Luweero Boys’ School and later, Ntinda Primary School where he excelled in the Primary Leaving Examinations in 1984.
He joined Makerere College for Senior One and Two after which he went to Ndejje SS, where he completed his O’ Level in 1988 with aggregate 13. However, despite the good results, Ndawula could not pursue his A’ Level education due to the death of his father.
He did all sorts of odd jobs, including making bricks, cutting timber and taxi conductor in order to earn a living. He later pooled funds with other youths to form Builders’ Centre, a construction and carpentry company which handled numerous building and furniture supply contracts in the district in the late 1990s.
It was from the Builders’ Centre that he got capital to set up a secondary school – Everest College, which is one of the biggest private secondary schools in the district.
Haunted by his lack of higher education, Ndawula enrolled for online programmes with the Roche Ville University in the US, where he obtained a High School Diploma and Degree in Business Management.
In 2001, he stood for the Luweero Town Council chairmanship and registered a landslide victory over the then incumbent Betty Kyeyune.
Ndawula announced his intentions to contest for the LC5 seat in 2004, sparking off speculations that he was being used by Nadduli’s political foe, Maj. James Kinobe. However, he says,“I was not fronted by Kinobe. People’s cries for change of leadership forced me to stand for the office.”
As he leaves the Luweero Town Council chairmanship, Ndawula boasts of having initiated the construction of an office block and a new taxi park, whose construction is still at an early stage. He has also left behind a modern abattoir, piped water system and a drainage network.
A single father of five, Ndawula became a widower in September, 2005, when his wife died during labour.
Former students of Everest College, where he spends most of his time, describe him as a simple man who likes joking.
Ndawula says his biggest challenge is fighting poverty by helping residents to adopt modern farming methods.
He plans to help people access safe water and construct modern buildings at the district headquarters.
Ndawula, whose campaign slogan is “Work not Words”, criticises Nadduli for having spent more time talking on radio than working for the good of the district.
“Everybody has a special talent. He is good at talking, I am good at working,” he says.
Ndawula calls upon Nadduli, who has failed to come to terms with his defeat, to work with him. “There are areas where he needs me. I also need his advice since he is an experienced politician,” says Ndawula.
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