Ssebagala joins presidential race
Aug 21, 2015
With hardly seven months to presidential polls, the field of aspirants is becoming congested by the day with former Kampala mayor, Nasser Ssebagala, picking nomination forms on Friday.
By Moses Walubiri
With hardly seven months to presidential polls, the field of aspirants is becoming congested by the day with former Kampala mayor, Nasser Ssebagala, picking nomination forms on Friday.
Ssebagala who resigned his post as a presidential advisor early this year after 'flirting' with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has had previous attempts to take a shot at the presidency thwarted by inadequate academic qualifications.
In 2001, Ssebagala, then a popular politician having served a stint in an American prison threw his weight behind Dr. Kiiza Besigye as the latter put up a spirited presidential bid.
Five years later, Ssebagala was elected Kampala mayor before joining NRM in the run up to the 2011 polls where he played a central role in canvassing support for President Yoweri Museveni especially in Buganda.
But when his 'reward' for swapping the Democratic Party for NRM came in form of a cabinet post, parliament's appointments committee stood in his way saying the maverick politician's academic qualifications were still 'lightweight.'
Ssebagala has joined former premier, Amama Mbabazi, Omar Kalinge Nyago, Dr. Abedi Bwanika and former Makerere University vice chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureba in registering interest in the country's top job.
The number of aspirants is expected to go beyond the current 24 with Museveni and Dr. Besigye or Muntu for Forum for Democratic Change expected to throw their hats in the ring.
Both Muntu and Besigye are locked in a contest for their party's presidential flag bearer before taking on other aspirants under the opposition's loose coalition (Democratic Alliance) which is seeking to support one candidate in the presidential race.
The aspirants are expected to return nomination forms by September 21, 2015 to afford the Electoral Commission ample time to scrutinize the required documents.
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