In the electrifying arena of Ugandan media, few programs pulse with the raw energy of NBS Barometer. Airing weekly on NBS Television—Uganda’s most trusted news station as per a February 2025 survey—Barometer has solidified its status as the go-to forum for dissecting the nation’s political underbelly. With episodes routinely amassing thousands of views, like the 3.5K for its August 5, 2025, installment, the show thrives on unfiltered debates that mirror the chaos of 2026 election fever.
Hosted by sharp minds like Adam Kungu or Bulasio Zambaali, it draws top-tier guests to unpack everything from NRM’s enduring grip on power to opposition infighting, making it a barometer—pun intended—for public sentiment. In a landscape dominated by state-aligned outlets, Barometer’s appeal lies in its audacity: it doesn’t just report; it provokes, turning living rooms into cauldrons of discourse.
Yet, for all its fire, the show’s formula risks staleness. Regular panelists like Betty Nambooze, David Kabanda, and Charles Rwomushana bring gravitas, but their entrenched perspectives—shaped by decades in Uganda’s polarized arena—can echo familiar refrains. Nambooze, the fiery Mukono Municipality MP, rides on moral outrage, recently torching Frank Gashumba in a July 2025 fireworks display over voter behavior ahead of 2026. Her unyielding advocacy for accountability, as seen in her January 2025 nod to Rwomushana’s Trump policy takedown, keeps the opposition flame alive. Kabanda, the NRM stalwart and Kasambya County MP, injects ruling-party realism; his January 2025 clash with Gashumba on the political landscape underscored NRM’s internal dynamics with unflinching candor. Then there’s Rwomushana, the grizzled analyst whose September 2025 dissection of NUP vetting processes painted a vivid portrait of a fragmented opposition. His October 7, 2025, riff on forces shaping voter turnout—blending Pan-Africanism with local grit—remains a highlight.
These voices are indispensable, yet they often orbit familiar orbits: Nambooze’s DP-NUP defiance, Kabanda’s NRM loyalty, Rwomushana’s broad strokes. Social media buzz, from X posts decrying Rwomushana’s “year-after-year” dominance to calls for fresher takes, signals viewer fatigue. Barometer needs an independent thinker—a wildcard who disrupts without derailing, challenges without capitulating. Enter Moses Bigirwa, the erstwhile NUP Eastern coordinator turned Common Man’s Party (CMP) Secretary General. His recent Barometer stints, like the October 7, 2025, episode alongside Nambooze and Rwomushana, prove he’s that disruptor.
Bigirwa’s debating prowess is surgical: he wields facts like a blade, slicing through propaganda with Busoga-bred authenticity. On that October episode, he eviscerated NUP’s resource disparities—NRM’s daily UGX 2 billion war chest versus NUP’s UGX 300-500 million—while touting CMP’s “striking” symbol as a populist masterstroke for the overlooked masses. No bluster, just data-driven jabs that force panelists to pivot. His May 2025 takedown of opposition MPs’ uphill battle against the UPDF Amendment Bill exposed the elite disconnect, insisting leaders “resemble their supporters” in political naivety—a line that sparked X frenzy. Bigirwa doesn’t just argue; he anticipates, parrying Rwomushana’s broad strokes with granular Eastern insights, like CMP’s nomination hurdles in a resource-starved arena.
As a political analyst, Bigirwa embodies today’s Uganda: post-NUP disillusionment meets grassroots reinvention. Sacked from NUP in 2023 amid extortion allegations he calls smears, he launched CMP in July 2025, vowing issue-based campaigns over personality cults. His September 2025 Sanyuka Morning Xpress critique of NUP’s “propaganda politics” wasn’t sour grapes—it was a blueprint for sustainable opposition, urging focus on real issues like funding transparency. In a 2026 landscape rife with fragmentation, Bigirwa’s lens—regional, unaligned, unflinching—illuminates blind spots. He bridges Kampala’s echo chamber with Busoga’s trenches, analyzing Sseggona’s NUP ouster not as gossip, but as symptom of vetting rot.
XBarometer’s magic is its mirror to Uganda’s soul, but mirrors crack without diversity. Bigirwa isn’t anti-establishment; he’s pro-evolution, a debater who elevates discourse and an analyst who humanizes politics. Kin Kariisa’s Next Media empire thrives on innovation—why not make Bigirwa a fixture? In an election year begging for bold truths, his voice isn’t optional; it’s oxygen.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
