Sweet voiced musician Eddy Yawe Ssentamu has castigated haters criticizing his Kira Municipality MP bid over his relationship with National Unity Platform-NUP supreme leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu urging him to step out of the race lest he risks being judged harshly for trying to ride on his brother’s fame.
Mostly known for his scintillating romantic music flavored with a strong romantic feeling awakening voice, Yawe is surprisingly not a political newbie like his younger brother Bobi Wine.
His magical flowing songs like “Mukayembe, Nakibuuka, Gira tukiggale among others had made him a darling of Uganda’s party animals.
A silent DP fanatics all his life, Yawe chose to give active politics a shot in 2011 and 2016 for Kampala Central and Kira Municipality MP seats respectively before being trounced by Muhammad Nsereko and Ibrahim Semujju Nganda on the respective occasions.
The popular Ssentamu brother has however never stopped lamenting over the 2011 Kampala Central vote which he claims was rigged by the regime in power in favor of the incumbent who had stood on the ruling National Resistance Movement party ticket.
Even the loss in Kira last electoral term didn’t kill the prospective legislator’s Parliamentary dreams.
As soon as the results were announced in favor of FDC’s Nganda, Yawe instantly consoled himself and convened a meeting in Kireka where he encouraged his campaign team to stay focused on a challenge 5 years later.
All this was long before his brother had even considered venturing into active politics.
Its only after Bobi Wine’s ascent to political stardom between 2017 and now that calls for him to quit politics so as to let his brother face off with Museveni have been deafening.
Critics have argued that having Yawe contest for the Kira Municipality Member of Parliament would have Kyagulanyi accused of nepotism, a policy he has been faulting President Museveni over.
Yawe’s opinion on the accusation is however a different one. According to him, it would be unfair to blame him for standing in Kira even when he has been attempting since 2011.
The ambitious Ssentamu brother who boasts of having played an influential role in his young brother’s life both musically and politically feels Bobi Wine’s blessing should not come with a curse to his immediate family members but rather allow them drink from his cup of good luck.
“I am not riding on Bobi’ s game and everyone knows that. I have been in politics even when he was still in music. I don’t know why some people feel they should be the only ones to reap from his political advantage but not those related to him,” he told Watchdog’s Andrew Baba in a telephone conversation on Monday.
Yawe also intimated to us that he has opted to ditch his love for Democratic party in favor of NUP as a way of getting himself fully committed to helping his brother ascend to the Presidency.
He defends his decision to join NUP arguing that it was the way to go after seeing all the party big wigs swapping loyalties from the country’s oldest party to the newest at Kamwokya.
On what he intends to do different to avoid a repeat of 2016 in Kira, the ‘Gira tukiggale” hit maker enumerates a number of factors that played against him in 2016 while asserting that majority of them have been mitigated.
Among them, he blamed the poor organisation of his democratic party under the leadership of Nobert Mao which failed to support it’s candidates, making it hard especially for first timers like him.
He also says that having no Presidential candidate in that election grossly worked to the disadvantage of his Party’s candidates and their counterparts from FDC benefited as voters who voted Col Besigye would automatically tick the key to their advantage.
And now that he is a bonafide member of NUP whose leader Robert Kyagulanyi has already confirmed to challenge for the Presidency, the future seems all bright for him.
He has vowed to form an important component of the Kyagulanyi 2021 Presidential team, pouring scorn on those that have reasoned that his Kira Municipality ambitions will leave him too committed to engage in the wider struggle.
“I can assure you that I will devote a lot of my time towards delivering the Presidency to Kamwokya. Those saying I will be too busy for the task seem not to know what they are talking about. I am currently not holding any administrative position in the party unlike most people who already have a lot on their shoulders and will still contest. ” He added.
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