It was September 09th 2022 that the naughty Mityana Municipality MP Zaake Francis and his wife Bridget Namirembe tied the knot at St.Noah Mawaggali Cathedral, in Kiyinda-Mityana and later their reception at Gombolola grounds attended by dignitaries turned into a political stunt!
Politician across the political divide in Uganda save for a few NRM members of parliament, dignitaries from Buganda kingdom attended zaake’s wedding reception that has raised serious questions to the fate of political maturity in Uganda.
It’s not clear whether Zaake had formally invited the speaker of parliament to attend his wedding however the record has Zaake officially inviting her for his official wedding launch at Hotel Africana on the 25th of July which Anita Among never attended for probably personal reasons.
On the wedding day however, Ndorwa East MP Wilffred Nuwagaba who also doubles as the opposition attorney general carried the speaker’s message and cash gift of 10m which was very specific and referenced Zaake’s invitation.
Zaake was attentive to the speaker’s message delivered by Niwagaba and when it was time to deliver the gift, Zaake signaled Niwagaba to hand the envelope to his best man, an opposition leaning Karim Masaba from Mbale.
However, Zaake could not maintain the pressure from the NUP cartel, call them “foot soldiers” but their behavior qualifies them as hooligans who looked unhappy that he had accepted the 10m. Minutes later Zaake changed face, pleading with MC Zambaali that accepting Among’s money was a wrong move and would cost him politically. He needed to do something very fast and trust Zaake, he picked the money and threw it infront of where his father, businessman Butebi was seated, seemingly annoyed like a spoilt child, to the anger of many in attendance.
Butebi picked the money and certainly we all know where it might have ended but at least not to the fifth floor of parliament.
Indeed, Zaake has lived long enough with Kamwokya foot soldiers and he knows how to excite him. After throwing the money, their gloomy faces lit up in excitement. Looks like that’s all they can offer the struggle: excitement.
The stunt was successful in the moment, but an embarrassment to the diligent political, cultural leaders, in laws and omukungu Ssembuusi Butebi, Father to Zaake, who picked the money.
When they could not hold the shame anymore, the Buganda officials had to just walk away. They were followed by NRM MPs like Phiona Nyamutooro the national female Youth MP, Agnes Kirabo the Youth Mp Buganda and others who had out of courtesy to a colleague volunteered to be part of Zaake’s entrouge.
There’s been debate on social media on the conduct of Zaake some people saying it’s the struggle and that the NRM must be treated like that. But other people are asking, how come the ‘pulinsipo’ is respectful to his in-laws? Does it mean the ‘pulinsipo’ doesn’t know the struggle? Others said how come Senyonyi is well behaved? Was the struggle left to only Zaake? Or is just failed upbringing?
An insider in the opposition shadow cabinet has provided more information about Among’s 10m to Zaake. Apparently in the Tuesday meeting, furious members demanded an explanation from MP Niwagaba why he represented the speaker yet zaake never wanted and in his explanation to the cabinet Niwagaba said that when he received the money and letter on Thursday he called Hon Zaake to inform him and Hon zaake was disappointed that the speaker had promised 20m but was now sending only 10m. zaake according to Niwagaba even asked him to deliver the money that very evening before the wedding but niwagaba told him there was a lot of traffic and therefore he would deliver the money on Friday since he was coming for the wedding which he did. He was so surprised that Zaake who was aware and was waiting for the money, turned around and threw it.
Many voices are increasingly doubting whether NUP with people like Zaake’s Character can be trusted with power. People are afraid that with this kind of anger and political dishonesty the Kamokya group can plunge the country in chaos instead of bringing peace.
Nup as the youngest Political party in Uganda without formal ground structures at the onset failed nurture and orient politically its leaders neither has it used available political capital internally to draw a formal internal structure to contain its “Dogs” in public.
And it’s not by surprise that senior political leader in the party have opted shun the party headquarters in Kamwokya that is becoming a cult of myopic political dwarfs who only seek to insult them in public under the guise of the struggle.
Talk about LOP Mpuuga. The Kamokya group seems so angry at how Mpuuga conducts himself with a lot of calmness and restraint. Infact an insider who travelled to Zaakes wedding with party deputy spokesman Waiswa Mufumbira intimated to this reporter that the whole journey from Kampala to Mityana was about Mpuuga.
Waiswa and group accuse Mpuuga of being unnecessarily close to AMONG and therefore to NRM. But its not about that alone, the insider said. He said its about the way he dresses, the way he walks, his gestures, his finesse, his diplomacy
At this rate the public may want to know, what exactly does NUP want? There are also rumours that Zaake is one of those seriously eying the LOP position and he is doing everything possible to drag Mpuuga in whatever thing he can think about. That Waiswa said they had plans of embarrassing Mpuuga at zaakes wedding and to prevent him from speaking.
Reports say Zaake’s anger stems from the fact that he was knifed from the Parliamentary Commission and he thinks that instead himself, Mpuuga should have begged on his behalf for Anita to forgive him. While ill motivated Zaake constantly made contacts with Among he has hypoctically maintained to the pub lic that he is not bothered by the position. Yet his desire to remain at the commission led him to strike a deal with Among which saw their infamous hug in Kololo at her election. What the naive Zaake didn’t know is that the Mafia that Among she had played him. Now Zaake wants to carry all that anger to Mpuuga.
This reporter has also established that the pretentious Zaake after receiving a letter from parliament to return all parliamentary commission property, he instead hid the car, up to now its in his possession. The same Zaake who claims that Mpuuga has not helped him, is being defended by Erias Lukwago a close Mpuuga associate in this matter. Is Hon Zaake an honest legislator? If indeed he claims that the commission position has (d) no value, why is he hanging on? Why is he in court? Why is he in possession of the commission vehicle? Are Ugandans so gullible?
Many questions remain unanswered
Why did Zaake invite Among for his wedding launch if he didn’t want her at the wedding?
Why did he even allow the representative of the speaker to deliver her message and gift if she was not invited?
Was throwing the money an afterthought?
Is zaake like other NUP MPs taken hostage that he felt threatened if he didn’t act like that?
Why did zaakes father pick the money?
Where is the money now? Did zaake secretly receive the money from his father? Has he returned it to sender? If not, who is fooling who?
Is Zaake mentally stable? Those who attended the church service, said Zaake at some point started behaving like a mad person, forcing the available medical doctor Kiza Besigye to offer him first aid but the situation worsened and he was whisked away to a healthy facility to be attended to.
He spent more than an hour, put-of-church and he only returned to sign his marriage certificate. On getting of the church, he had refused the same car with his newly-wed wife Bridget, fuming that was “forced into the marriage.” Close family members also complain that Zaake abused and embarrassed his father on Wednesday and Thursday before the wedding on Friday, further creating suspicion that the legislator is a mental case.
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