KAMPALA – Nakaseke South Member of Parliament Hon Lutamaguzi Semakula has said that he will be supporting Robert Kyagulanyi to lead this country in the upcoming elections but without leaving his Democratic Party camp.
Lutamaguzi is one of the five Members of Parliament that remained in DP after close to ten of his counterparts leaving the party.
Last week on Thursday, ten Democratic Party members were officially unveiled in the National Unity Platform (NUP) at the party headquarters in Kamwokya and these were given NUP membership cards.
Others like Lyandro Komaketch, Peter Okot, Deogratius Kiyingi, Mary Babirye Kabanda and Lutamaguzi Ssemakula are the ones that remained with the party president Nobert Mao.
“The challenge we have today is not political parties, but seeing who can lead us to liberate our country,” Lutamaguzi said.
In an exclusive interview with a local TV station, Lutamaguzi spoke openly that he will support Robert Kyagulanyi basing in DP and he will also be using the party ticket in the parliamentary race.
“I am a proud member of the Democratic Party that supports Kyagulanyi Ssentamu. I told the people of my home area that I have the hoe. The battle that is in DP with Mao and the people that voted him in Katomi cannot chase me out of the party,” he explained.
Lutamaguzi bragged that he saw the capability and focus that Kyagulanyi had two years ago and his opinion about him has never been changed.
“I told people that the star shining from Magere is not an everyday star. Some stars tend to shine and we get on the bandwagon but when in actual sense they are just shooting stars. The Magere star has been shining permanently for some good years which made us confirm that it is a real star and not just a shooting one,” he said that adding that he then started to preach the gospel that any wise person should start running to Magere since there was something different he had seen much as even some of his friends that crossed to NUP were saying that was just a shooting star.
Whereas it may seem like DP is sinking after the exodus of some of its strong members, Lutamaguzi explains that the party is like a house that cannot be abandoned to perish even when the owner is dead.
“In Buganda we have what we call Enyumba Ye Kijja. You cannot abandon this house and leave it empty, it has to be kept in the custody of someone. A stranger can come from nowhere and knock it away and ask for proof that shows that the property belonged to you. But if he finds you in the house you can defend and claim ownership of the house,” he shared.
Lutamaguzi says most of the people that crossed to NUP were warned when they were bringing back Nobert Mao to the DP presidency in Katomi and now they see the repercussions.
“They know it that in the delegates’ conference that was convened in Katomi to vote for Mao as party president was illegal as there were many steps that were not followed.”
Apparently, Lutamaguzi and his four counterparts have remained on their own in parliament with just the party symbol after the DP chief whip in parliament Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu also crossed to NUP.
“Having a mosque without an Imam does not mean that Muslims won’t be having prayers. They know that with or without the Imam, Allah is always present,” Lutamaguzi explained