Former DP President Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere is dead, the longest serving Democratic Party president passed on this morning at the age of 90 years.
Dr. Ssemogerere led the Democratic Party in the highly contested 1980 general election which was won by two-time Ugandan president Milton Obote’s UPC party but he and DP stalwarts disputed the result.
Mzee Alikanjiro Sibibuka Alikanjiro 80, the first Kasese district chairperson for the DP said the plans to rig elections had begun in several parts of Uganda, recalling how the late Mbura Muhindo could not be registered for the MP seat in Kasese constituency under un clear circumstances.
He believes the tactical denial of the late Mbura Muhindo candidature gave Dr. Crispus Kiyonga of the UPM a big advantage against the late Adam Kisughu of the UPC in power then as the late Dr. Henry Bwambale chaired the DP leadership in Kasese district.
Mzee Alikanjiro speaking……
The disagreement triggered a civil war in Uganda during which various political actors, including then Minister Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who had also been a contender in the general election under his Uganda Patriotic Movement took to the bush to overthrow the Obote government, founded the People’s Resistance Army which would later morph into the National Resistance Army for this purpose.
Others who opposed the result included former prisons officer and aspiring politician Andrew Kayiira who founded and led his Uganda Freedom Movement in a similar struggle.
Mzee Alikangiro`s assertion that Ssemogerere was reportedly against an armed resistance to the “theft” of his victory were confirmed when the deceased ahead of the January, 2021 general elections led a process to formulate a joint strategy for the opposition than a conflict.
Mzee Alikangiro who called for no surprise to Dr. Semogerere death, described the deceased as a hardworking, focused and truthful politician who had had a good political journey with Ben Kiwanuka in the early sixties, the time the late Hon. Eziron Mbethe represented Kasese in Parliament. Mzee Alikanjyiro speaking……
After St. Mary’s College Kisubi, Ssemogerere born on 11th February 1932, enrolled at Makerere College, then the University College of East Africa, when it was still an affiliate of the University of London.
May his soul rest in peace. END