When he was the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mathias Mpuuga made no secret of how little he thought of the vast majority of lawmakers elected to the House on a National Unity Platform (NUP) party ticket. Most, he severally said, were very raw.

“Some don’t know the procedures to follow in Parliament. They don’t know what to do if they want to bring a Bill. They need a lot of initiation, but some aren’t willing to listen,” Mpuuga said back then.

Among the lawmakers Mpuuga thought were not intellectually fit was Aloysius Mukasa. Yet despite this, NUP gave Mukasa the green light to have a shot at a parliamentary seat.

“What we considered when choosing a candidate was the popularity of that candidate. If that candidate had a minimum of an A- Level certificate and was popular, that’s what mattered. And from the ground testing we did, it looked as if Mukasa was the sole candidate,” said Jeremiah Keeya Mwanje, who was part of NUP’s committee that vetted candidates.

Quiet presence

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