{UAH} Who is David Lewis Rubongoya??

David Lewis Rubongoya (aged 32) is the Secretary General of NUP and probably the youngest SG for any major political party in Uganda. Rubongoya, who has his eyes on EALA (2022-2027), hasn't known Kyagulanyi that long. In fact, he was a close Museveni confidant until a few years ago. At Makerere University, where he graduated with LLB in January 2016, Rubongoya was actually a leading NRM ideologue and used his position as President Makerere Law Society to always bring key NRM ideologues to Makerere namely Kale Kayihura, Elly Tumwine etc. The vigor with which cadres like him operated is the reason a group of UYD-leaning young men formed something called "Kagugube Fellowship" whose members used to meet at Ham Towers-based Diners Café to discuss how to counter the NRM at Makerere. Roy Semboga and Ivan Bwowe, both subsequent Makerere guild Presidents and key Rubongoya political adversaries at Makerere, were some of the key leaders for the Kagugube fellowship.

MEETING KYAGULANYI

 

By some coincidence, Kyagulanyi also used to attend some of the discussions of the "Kagugube fellowship" at the Diners Café whose manager Faisal Mugayi eventually became his good friend and supporter in PP. He had originally connected with Bwowe and Semboga as the two UYD firebrands (along with others like Allan Mutagubya) struggled to revive the Miss Makerere beauty pageant. They onetime organized an event called "Face of Makerere" which was meant to be a curtain-raiser event building momentum leading up to the Miss Makerere beauty pageant. They were broke and struggling having been shunned by corporate sponsors who were uncomfortable dealing with them because of their well-publicized anti-Museveni rhetoric.

Yet naturally they needed some quality entertainment to attract large numbers of campusers. Musicians were very expensive but Kyagulanyi, who hadn't even thought of joining partisan politics (we are talking of 2014-2016 period), offered to perform free of charge. The organizers occasionally walked to Kamwokya to update him and to consult on events management ideas. That is how the original bonding between Kyagulanyi and many of the former Kagugube fellowship members began [examples include Jeremiah Keeya Mwanje, Semboga, Bwowe, Justus Harris Akampulira, Allan Mutagubya and others]. He would casually tell them "I'm a musician but guys I like your relentless spirit to fighter for an inclusive political system that treats all of us fairly." It therefore wasn't that much surprising when his race for Kyaddondo East MP began and Semboga was among his first recruits and diehard supporters. And being very good at building teams and cadre identification, Semboga traced former allies at the Kagugube fellowship and recruited them into PP and eventually NUP.

BACK TO RUBONGOYA

 

After the Makerere graduation, the boy from Kanyarweru leveraged on his old State House contacts (had grown to the level of calling Gen M7 directly without going through anyone) and secured money directly from the President which he used to enroll for and complete his masters at Harvard University in the US. A naturally very intelligent student, Rubongoya (an OB of Nganwa High School in Mbarara where he was head boy & also used to preach spirituality on the streets) ) was able to join Harvard because his law school grades had been just excellent. He naturally had high job expectations after his masters degree but got deeply disappointed when he returned from his masters and couldn't have the unlimited access to Gen Museveni as he used to.

 

A disgruntled Rubongoya even tried joining the NYC and become its President but failed along the way because the Kawempe Division structures he tried to come through were deeply hostile to him because of his NRM leanings and ethnicity. He somehow never made it to the national level where he would have competed with Lillian Aber who eventually took the NYC Presidency. He managed to get a job for himself with the Equal Opportunities Commission but the environment wasn't very favorable for the high-flying Harvard graduate he considered himself to be. He reached out to Hassan Basajjabalaba who gave him a teaching job at the KIU law School but he remained uncontended because the salary was little and irregular.

Still financially dissatisfied, Rubongoya reached out to Cavendish University where he met first year student Bobi Wine for whom he  became the very favorite Constitutional Law lecturer.  Bobi Wine had enrolled for a law degree aspiring to become a lawyer someday. Because of anger and disappointment that the Musevenist system hadn't adequately deployed him on return from Harvard, Rubongoya would be very critical of the NRM government's way of governing during his Cavendish lectures. This is something that Kyagulanyi, an anti-regime musician, found fascinating and got more attracted to his very eloquent lecturer.

 

"That is how Rubongoya started having enormous influence on Kyagulanyi and his criticism of the regime during the Cavendish lectures radicalized him to end his fence-sitting and join politics and the Kyadondo by-election just came at a right time. His mind was already adequately politicized and even the returns from music were clearly dwindling and the Rasta needed quick financial fixing because the music industry was generally becoming very unprofitable especially for older generation musicians after the likes of Eddie Kenzo got their breakthrough in the industry," says a knowledgeable source.

Much as Rubongoya didn't conspicuously join his student in the Kyaddondo trenches immediately, he was very impressed with the performance he put up and would call him with some words of encouragement. When Kyagulanyi won and realized the momentum his victory created was way much greater than he anticipated, Rubongoya offered to come on board more actively and that is how he actually resigned from the other jobs he had to come to Kamwokya and help Bobi Wine translate his momentum into something more significant. Kyagulanyi, who had to market him and convince others he was a good guy who had permanently fallen out and broken ranks with Museveni, initially made him administrator and chief ideologue of the PP movement.

 

In fact, when Kyagulanyi later got to speak to the likes of Joel Senyonyi who were apprehensive about resigning their jobs to come and work as volunteers for the PP struggle, he always referenced on the Rubongoya example. The Senyonyis were told there is no way they would give effective leadership to the change struggle without first resigning and letting go of their positions. Along the way, lawyer Benjamin Katana (who was as disgruntled with the Museveni system just like Rubongoya was) came into the picture. Himself had quit the government job in the Internal Affairs Ministry and became very furious with the curious circumstances under which his mentor and foster father Gen Aronda Nyakayirima had met his death.

Gratefully, Rubongoya was someone Katana had previously done business with. He was guild President KIU and a leading NRM ideologue there just like Rubongoya was at Makerere.  As young idealistic lawyers, the two now NUP diehards didn't appreciate the circumstances under which the age limit was scrapped in the Constitution. This is something Kyagulanyi, who was new in the House, vigorously opposed and thereby winning their love even more.

 

POWERFUL SG

 

In NUP, Rubongoya has grown into a very powerful bureaucrat that Kyagulanyi would offer to lose anyone else just to keep him around. He likes him for being loyal and youthful just like him. The Kyagulanyi inner circles (operating as Fire Base army) equally like Rubongoya and they operate several pseudo Facebook accounts which they use to demonize anybody in NUP who dare antagonize their SG. Consequently, the likes of Nubian Li, Tony Hauls, Dan Magic (these are real Kyagulanyi guys because he values trust and loyalty) recognize him as the PP/NUP 2nd in command who shouldn't be antagonized by anyone in meetings. That is one aspect of Rubongoya's source of power besides the fact that even Kyagulanyi's very influential wife Barbie considers him a loyalist who must not be antagonized.

When the DP Bloc diehards joined NUP, there were fears that Rubongoya would become discomforted because many of them were naturally hostile to him envious of his enormous influence on Bobi who involves him in every decision just like he does with Senyonyi and Chairman Nyanzi. Kyagulanyi quickly noticed this potential chaos and immediately made their man Mathias Mpuuga deputy NUP Principal and permitted him to mobilize resources and open something called NUP Buganda offices based in Rubaga Kabusu near Monalisa Bar. He anticipated chaos as the DP bloc members insisted on all their people becoming natural flag bearers for NUP, something Mr. Rubongoya was very cautious and nervous about.

 

The likes of Mike Mabikke and Sempala Kigozi Sajjalyabene (renowned for their rubble rousing approach) were openly defiant towards Rubongoya who they perceived as hateful towards career older politicians at Kamwokya. Indeed, their Kabusu office has continued to be the refuge for long Kyagulanyi acquaintances who are never comfortable at Kamwokya because they think Rubongoya is very contemptuous of them because of their age. Many of them have since resorted to running as pro-Kyagulanyi independents while claiming its Rubongoya who denied them party tickets.

They freely lounge out at the Kabusu office where they engage in plenty of anti-Rubongoya plotting and talk including questioning his ethnicity and contempt for older politicians. Through his spies, who are everywhere in NUP, Rubongoya always gets to know their hostilities and he has invested in planning how to overcome their mischief during the very first elective delegates' conference during which all NUP positions (including his as SG) will be competed for. The conference, to be preceded by some changes to the party constitution, is being planned to take place in the first year after the 2021 elections. As SG, Rubongoya is determined to control the delegates' list and ensure his preferred candidates win.

A source gave an example of a recent incident that showed Rubongoya's might and the extent to which he can influence Kyagulanyi. On the eve of their defection at Kamwokya, the DP Bloc members came up with a writing which they called an MoU to formalize their integration into NUP. On getting a copy, which came through Medard Segona and Mathias Mpuuga, Kyagulanyi sent it to Rubongoya. He asked him to study the same and advise. "But honestly SG, I'm not comfortable signing this thing. If they want let them come and join us without conditions or if they don't like, they are free to remain where they are because they need us more than we need them," Kyagulanyi told Rubongoya about the MoU.

 

Working through the night, Rubongoya cut out many things and reduced the thing to just half a page having removed many of the demands the Bloc members had made on the Principal. In the end, Kyagulanyi rang one of the key NUP emissaries saying "comrades I'm not signing this because I don't find it necessary."

It was Rubongoya who prevailed on him at the last minute prompting a reluctant Kyagulanyi to append his signature. "But let them indicate to us the guys who will be signing from their side because some of those people are very complicated. We don't want them to make very derailing demands on us in future claiming to be enforcing the MoU," Rubongoya told Kyagulanyi leading into some of the Bloc key architects who desired to sign being excluded from the MoU signatures.

 

THE INTERNATIONAL GUY

 

Yet there is much more as to why Kyagulanyi considers Rubongoya to be such an asset to his struggle. Being a Harvard graduate naturally comes with its own clout in the West because the Americans are very prestigious about Harvard. "The Principal one time told us that much of the publicity he gets on the international media channels like Al-Jazeera is because of Lewis because those media guys are easily moved on hearing that his [Bobi's] handler is a Harvard graduate," says a Kamwokya insider adding that Kyagulanyi considers Rubongoya to be a source of better international connections for him than what DP Bloc guys like Mike Mabikke were promising him at some point in time.

Kyagulanyi also considers Rubongoya very trustworthy the very reason he withdraws all his MP salary each time it comes and hands it over to him to run NUP and never demands for accountability. Leveraging on his Harvard connections, Rubongoya has also already secured a PhD slot at Oxford University; something Kyagulanyi considers an additional advantage to create networks and connections for the anti-Museveni struggle. "He will be going for that course immediately after elections and after winning the EALA seat. His calculation is to do the PhD while earning his cool Shs50m from EALA as one of the MPs there representing Ugandan political parties. For that EALA Seat he will get the required endorsement because in NUP everybody fears to show any appetite for it because nobody crosses Lewis' path and get away with it," says a source who deeply knows both Kyagulanyi and Rubongoya's political calculations quite well.

OTHERS

 

Yet beyond Rubongoya, there are other very powerful actors in NUP and these include Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro (head of research, training, ideology & patriotism programs), Flavia Kalule Nabagabe, the elderly Mary Sserumaga (who recently returned from abroad to head the Kyagulanyi manifesto committee & policy matters), Joel Senyonyi (for obvious reasons), DSG Aisha Kabanda Nalule (heading fundraising and delegated to handle all financial matters at Kamwokya), Dan Magic, Nubian Li (rarely talks in meetings and many see him as a listening post for Barbie), Tony Hauls (not political but trusted because of his proven loyalty to Bobi), Benjamin Katana (lawyer & national treasurer) and of course Chairman Fred Nyanzi (notwithstanding his cold wars with SG Rubongoya). Kanda North MP Patrick Nsamba is equally powerful because Kyagulanyi and Rubongoya respect him for not being petty as he refused to be associated with some members of the Kabusu group who like discussing Rubongoya as a very big obstacle to their interests.

 

"MP Patrick Nsamba is clearly above those petty things of intrigue and trying to undermine the young people and sideline them from Bobi on trivial grounds. He also contributes generously to financing party activities and if all those MPs were like him, there is no way more than 200 would-be NUP flag bearers would have failed to get nomination fees," says a Kyagulanyi insider. "Sometimes, the Principal gets disgusted and doesn't pick calls of some of those older politicians but he can never miss or avoid talking to Nsamba because he never reports to him intrigue and trivialities. He is always on the large picture of things."

The PAT Gang member Roy Semboga is also very powerful and vastly respected because he is the guy Kyagulanyi relied on to recruit many of the officials forming the core NUP team after the Kasanda fallout with DP bloc diehards. He is also respected for the sacrifice he made abandoning his medicine course at Makerere University (uncompleted) in order to be fully available to serve the Kyagulanyi political interests. He is also seen as the patron of the young people (non DP Bloc adherents) who aren't very comfortable with SG Rubongoya's leadership style. He is also a close ally of Chairman Nyanzi who fought hard to make him the NUP MP Flag bearer for Kawempe South but got overwhelmed by SG Rubongoya who insisted it had to be Kazibwe Bashir.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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