Members of Parliament Francis Zaake (Mityana Municipality) and Joyce Bagala Ntwatwa (District Woman Representative), both flag bearers of the National Unity Platform (NUP), were glaringly absent as President Yoweri Museveni stormed Mityana District on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
This was part of the president’s four-day Parish Development Model (PDM) assessment tour in the Greater Mubende sub region, sending political shockwaves across the region.
Excited locals at Busimbi Railways cell in Busimbi Division, Mityana Municipality gathered along the roadside to President Museveni. Clip by Ronald Odongo.
As drums pounded delivering endless revolutionary rhythms and jubilant chants of “Museveni, oh yeah!” echoed through the dusty streets at Busimbi Railways cell in Busimbi Division, two of the district’s top legislators were nowhere to be seen.
In their absence, hundreds of energized locals lined the pothole-ridden roads, waving yellow flags and dancing in a surprising display of support to receive him.
“We expected our MPs to speak for us,” he lamented. How can they miss this chance to confront the president with the truth about our suffering?” David Waiswa, a known NUP mobilizer, said.
President Museveni arrived to thunderous ululations at exactly 5:52 pm, his motorcade navigating the treacherous terrain that residents claim has been ignored by local leadership.
Standing atop his signature open-roof vehicle, the president fired up the crowd with his characteristic charisma, rallying citizens to embrace wealth creation programs under PDM and urging them to “vote for the right leaders.”
“How can we have these horrible roads when the government sends Shs.1 billion annually?” asked a visibly frustrated Joseph Ssemanda, a local trader. “Something is very wrong in this town; we must fix this bad opposition mentality. Being an NUP member doesn’t mean you should not engage with the government, yet it is the only way you can support your people.”
Attempts to reach Zaake and Bagaala hit a dead end. However, insiders say the two MPs have maintained a hardline boycott of all NRM-led activities, even if they’re meant to benefit their own constituents.
But this latest snub may have crossed a line, and for many locals in Mityana, the no-show felt like a betrayal, a refusal to represent the cries of the ordinary people at the one moment they had the president’s ear right in their villages.
And as if to drive his message home, the President dipped into his pocket on the spot for UGX 10 million for Christine Wineza’s poultry farm, UGX 1 million each for 10 PDM beneficiaries, and UGX 6 million for the LCI Chairperson of Busimbi Railways.
In a twist of irony, it was Minister Judith Nabakooba, Museveni’s loyalist and former Mityana Woman MP, who stepped up to defend the district, pleading with the president for more central government support and exposing rot in the local systems.
With Zaake and Bagaala’s silence growing louder and locals increasingly dancing to the rhythm of NRM drums, analysts are warning of a looming political earthquake against the opposition in 2026.
“If NUP leaders think they can ghost the people and survive 2026, they are badly mistaken. Only time will tell whether this no-show will cost them dearly or rally more opposition sympathy. But for now, one thing is clear. Museveni just scored big in enemy territory,” said Mugisha Rodgers, a local trader in Mityana Municipality.
