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In 2020, after having served two terms as the lawmaker for Rubaga North, Mr Moses Kasibante found himself locking horns with Mr Abubaker Kawalya who was determined to make the most of his status as the flag bearer for the National Unity Platform (NUP) party.

The posters Kasibante put out had an inscription that read: “Rubaga North is not for sale.” This was a veiled attack on Kawalya who Kasibante accused of, without giving evidence, using his financial muscle to secure the NUP flag.

Before joining the Rubaga North parliamentary race, Mr Kawalya was a councillor for Rubaga North. He had a fallout with his party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) over his decision to vie for the speakership.

The FDC and Mr Erias Lukwago, the Kampala lord mayor, had fronted Makerere University councillor Doreen Nyanjura, but Mr Kawalya defied them. He allied with National Resistance Movement (NRM) and won the speakership. In this deal, Mr Bruhan Byaruhanga, an NRM councillor, became the deputy speaker while Mr Kawalya became the speaker.

The allegations that Mr Kawalya was in bed with the NRM didn’t stop NUP under the leadership of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine, from welcoming him into the nascent party. But during the entire campaign, Mr Kasibante branded Mr Kawalya a fifth columnist—essentially an enemy within who was doing the bidding of the NRM.

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