M7 New Cabinet Lineup Takes Shape After Kyankwanzi, As Ugandans Count Down to Swearing-In Day 12th May

The just-ended NRM MPs Kyankwanzi retreat was infiltrated by more than 50 undercover political operatives and IOs whose duty it was to help gather intrusive personal information about the targeted new MPs’ suitability for inclusion in Cabinet.

The information gathered is meant to guide the ongoing vetting by the President who also took advantage of the several plenary sessions to do personal assessment of the individual MPs’ capabilities and limitations. As always, he carried his A4 notebook in which he kept noting down things as the newly elected legislators contributed during the different sessions.

The more than 50 undercover operatives kept retreating to the Kyankwanzi-based Green Lodge in turns to compare notes on the actionable intelligence that could have been gathered the previous day(s). The same would be consolidated into a comprehensive report for onward submission to the big man from Rwakitura who, given his busy schedule, was not able to personally attend each and every plenary session at Kyankwanzi.

Many of these IOs and political operatives were donned in attire that had the inscription ‘NALI staff.’ This ensured that MPs and other retreat participants easily disregarded them, taking them to be casual employees of the National Leadership Institute.

From their political intelligence briefs, the President was advised to help MPs reduce and overcome Cabinet-related hysteria or tensions and potential vulnerability/exploitation by the baferes (who tend to extort money from them while promising to lobby for one’s inclusion), by considering outing his new Cabinet list ahead of the 12th May swearing-in ceremony.

This is something he used to do before shifting to keeping the country guessing for long and taking his time up to towards end of July, before the new Ministerial re-deployments can be proclaimed. Sources say that this (having the cabinet list out before swearing) is something Gen Museveni is currently giving serious consideration to.

That he is sympathetic to especially new MPs whose naivety can easily be leveraged by Kampala-based baferes/power brokers who can go as far as manipulating new legislators to the point of taking a loan to pay them money, ostensibly to facilitate those lobbying for their inclusion in the new Cabinet.

The other reason being given to justify the need to have the new Cabinet list out before 12th May, as opposed to waiting up to July, is the need to end the attendant media speculation and let the very serious government service delivery work and execution of the 2026-2031 Manifesto work to begin real early without having to waste much time. There is also need to let go some in the old Cabinet, majority of whose members are evidently exhausted and need to be relieved to go into private life.

VETTING LIST:

This news website understands that those whose suitability for inclusion in the big man’s forthcoming Cabinet lineup is being vetted include Moses Byaruhanga, a long-serving political assistant to the President. Hailing from Bunyoro, Byaruhanga (arguably the most experienced and best networked regime ideologue) has been part of the Museveni innermost political universe since the late 1990s when he had just left University.

He briefly worked as a photographer in Kampala besides doing a bit of media work in partnership with Tamale Mirundi and Sam Kutesa before taking up full time political work for the President at State House.

He found favour of both Yoweri and Janet Museveni who went as far as match-making between him and his wife. This happens only after the naturally very observant Janet has keenly observed over the years and has found one to be good enough for marriage to her close relatives. The other beneficiaries of that similar parental arrangement and patronage by Janet include Odrek Rwabwogo, Henry Tumukunde and a few others.

Byaruhanga is an insider who has seen many Museveni servants (both in politics and civil service) come and go. He has seen, lived through much of the intrigue in the Museveni universe and personally suffered some of it. He is among those who were privileged to be mentored by Amelia Kyambadde who was Museveni’s principal private secretary for more than 40 years.

Byaruhanga has been part of the Museveni election taskforce since 1996 and knows all the political economy-related priorities for the President, more than anyone else. At State House, he has mentored future leaders like Peter Ogwang, MP John Teira, Peace Mutuzo and others-and he has also outlived many PPSs (including Amelia Kyambadde, Mary Amajo, Edith Nakalema/was defacto, Molly Kamukama, Kenneth Omona and now Gloria Omaswa).

He is also a blue-eyed boy for Gen Salim Saleh who is the most consequential relationship anyone can have in contemporary Uganda. He is ideological, intellectual and opinionated just like Saleh himself is. Byaruhanga is one of the few high level Musevenists who can ably fit in intellectual/top echelons circles and also among the ordinary people (muntu wawansi) too.

Some rogue-minded actors had envied his relationship with the President and badmouthed him to the veteran leader from Rwakitura, which had caused him to be sidelined for several years preceding 2020/2021 campaigning period. But with passage of time, Gen Museveni (who had written him off) realized that this was all fake intelligence by treacherous haters and a rehabilitated Byaruhanga is evidently back, and in a very big way.

The big man from Rwakitura is now grateful that Byaruhanga not only galvanized CBS for him and teamed up with Edwin Karugire to coordinate his 2026 re-election project with the EC but also supervised squads (including one headed by tycoon Med Sebaggala’s wife) which helped to deflate the NUP political momentum in the ballot box in especially the Greater Kampala Metropolitan districts of Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, a bit of Mityana, greater Mpigi, greater Luwero and Greater Kyagwe where Museveni’s electoral performance vs. Bobi Wine not only greatly improved but several other NRM candidates performed unexpectedly well.

Byaruhanga, a quiet man who many don’t easily recognize because of his down-to-earth approach, personally coordinated the political mischief that knocked out Mathias Walukagga in Busiro East, saw Betty Nambooze struggle in Mukono, diminished Robert Kyagulanyi in Buganda and delivered the Madina Nsereko & Amelia Kyambadde wins for the NRM in Kawempe South and Mawokota North respectively.

He equally knows a lot about why and how the likes of Lutamaguzi Semakula, Muwanga Kivumbi, Aisha Kabanda and the NUP MP candidates in Mityana trailed behind their pro-NRM competitors. By once again getting involved and effectively blunting the NUP wave in all these areas, smooth operator Byaruhanga was able to demonstrate to Museveni that notwithstanding the passage of time and the intrigue he has endured, he still has the relevant mobilization network in place which only required reignition.

He is also that man whose political tactics resulted into NUP not being able to remain in effective firm control of the councils for the five Kampala divisions. Courtesy of the Moses Byaruhanga’s clandestine mobilization, the ruling party got the Mayor for Makindye division for the first time since the year 2002, easily retained Kampala central mayorship, grabbed Kira Municipality mayorship, had their candidates win most LC3 chairpersonships in Wakiso, won the Wakiso LC5 seat for the first time since 2011, recaptured Nakawa East MP Seat through Fred Ruhindi, got their Minsa Kabanda defeat NUP’s Rubongoya to replace Mohammed Nsereko as Kampala Central MP and got large numbers of their candidates win parish and city hall-level councillorship positions in Kampala.

Their winning at the city councillor-level was so significant that NUP mayors like Kawempe’s Emmanuel Sserunjogi, Nakawa’s Nubian Li, Rubaga’s Zachary Mberaze and Lord Mayor-elect Ronald Balimwezo will have to tread carefully while generally being very complementary towards the NRM or else they are going to be impeached on top of getting their service delivery agendas frustrated.

All this dilemma is the work of experienced political strategist Moses Byaruhanga to whom Gen Museveni is very grateful for helping him to re-organize and recapture a little bit of Kampala in such a short time. The same Byaruhanga also knows a lot about the President’s wealth creation interventions such as Emyooga, PDM and all the preceding ones. This is the reason why knowledgeable sources are now saying that Byaruhanga is headed to replacing old man Matia Kasaija (who comes from Bunyoro like him) as the big man at the Finance Ministry.

The wisdom around this impending deployment is that Byaruhanga, to whom Gen Saleh recently bequeathed much of the work relating to the Musevenomics project, can effectively complement the new economic transformation enthusiasm that has been infused by PSST Ramathan Goobi, his fellow intellectual.

The other selling point is that Byaruhanga, who development partners won’t have any problem doing business with given his sophistication and intellectual depth, also has profound understanding about most of the GoU rehabilitation programs designed to fast-track the economic catching up of historically disadvantaged regions such as Acholi, Teso, Bunyoro, Luwero triangle districts, Karamoja and Rwenzori.

A clearly exhausted Matia Kasaija is being vetted and considered for elevation to OPM where he could be deployed to serve as one of the deputy premiers.

The outgoing Kampala state minister Kyofatogabye Kabuye is being vetted to replace Alice Kaboyo for the Luwero triangle docket. Madina Nsereko is being vetted to replace him at the Kampala Affairs Ministry and the only thing diminishing her suitability is the court case that was recently filed by NUP’s Fred Nyanzi challenging her Kawempe South MP victory.

Hajjat Minsa Kabanda is being considered for elevation to Presidency though even the incumbent Milly Babalanda remains appreciated for a job well done.

Kasambya MP David Kabanda is being marketed by members of a very strong lobby group to be considered for the position of State Minister for Sports, although Janet Kataha, the senior Minister there, remains very comfortable with the workaholic Peter Ogwang and wouldn’t want to see him taken away as the country counts down to the 2027 AFCON. Otherwise Kabanda is undisputedly a rising star given the fact that he is the Secretary General for PLU and given the big margin with which he won re-election as Kasambya County MP.

Notwithstanding the Catholic Church negativity and NUP/Rose Nalubowa Musajjakawa’s election petition challenging her EC declaration as the Woman MP-elect for Masaka City, the versatile Justin Namere is another new entrant seriously being vetted. Having opted to overlook all the hostility by NRM Masaka chairman Buregyeya, Museveni is open to deploying her either at fisheries or lands as one of the state ministers.

Being deployed to the Tourism docket is also a possibility as the appointing authority believes Namere can leverage her natural communication capabilities to globally market Uganda. The only negatives that are consistently being profiled about Namere by Mzee’s vetters is her belligerent character whereby she is one young lady who takes no prisoners-and will tell off anyone anywhere no matter who they are. It’s very concerning to the vetters that wherever she has worked, Namere picked quarrels with workmates and had acrimonious departures.

The fear is that the inclusion of such a person will only ferment, as opposed to deescalating, intrigue in Cabinet. Some Museveni advisors believe that Namere can do well replacing Balaam as Minister of youth and children affairs, as the very workaholic incumbent takes up the labor docket or that of information & ICT.

Aggrey Bagire, a long serving MP from Mayuge in Busoga, is being considered for redeployment as state minister to MAAIF where he served before as Minister and also as chairman of the now defunct NAADS.

Bagire is an agriculturalist by training and also practices the same trade in Busoga and Northern Uganda where he holds square miles of land on which he cultivates a lot of grain for which he is one of Uganda’s biggest exporters into South Sudan. He is a wealthy politician with demonstration farms back home in Busoga and his loyalty to Museveni and NRM is unquestionable. All these combine to make him the suitable cadre to fill the vacuum left by the Iganga/Kigulu North ouster of Bwino Kyakulaga.

Gen Museveni is obliged to reward Busoga because his electoral performance improved there, notwithstanding the original resentment the perceived mistreatment of Kadaga and Persis Namuganza had fermented among the ordinary people there.

From Kamuli, Buzaya’s Fred Muzaale and Bugabula North’s John Teira (who used to work at State House) are being vetted too. They are Kadaga loyalists who happen to enjoy organic support, just like their patron herself. And there is a high likelihood that one of them will be included, according to knowledgeable insiders.

Persis Namuganza, who is currently vying for Speakership even though she was able to bounce back as an independent after rogue-minded actors targeted her inside NRM internal elections, is being considered for elevation to full cabinet Minister with high chances of being deployed to head the Ministry of Kampala Metropolitan Affairs. She is a people-person who Gen Museveni believes can help advance the social justice causes (bread & butter issues) of the ordinary people in Uganda’s most urbanizing districts of Kampala, greater Mukono and Wakiso.

Eng Zadock Mutekanga, an effective mobilizer who defeated Buhweju County’s Francis Mwijukye who had been the lone opposition MP in Ankole since 2016, is also being vetted with a possibility of replacing Musa Ecweru as State Minister for Works.

Until he became the Buhweju MP-elect on Thursday 15th January, Eng Zadock had been running his road construction company based in Kyanja in Kampala’s Nakawa Division, while benefiting from the President’s generous intervention requiring government agencies to prioritize local contractors whenever it is practicable in order to give meaning to the ‘local content’ public procurement regulations.

Mpaka Mwine is being vetted too and accepted as due for cabinet level deployment except that his dad Afande Bright Rwamirama already serves in the same Cabinet. But since Uganda is increasingly moving into the post-shame era, Gen Museveni could surprise all of us by opting to have both father and son serve in the same Cabinet.

Mpaka’s selling points include being a morally upright person who can’t easily be corrupted; if the public record he demonstrated for the years, he headed Parliament’s Trade committee is anything to go by.

Having lived off government since leaving University (started out as youth MP defeating Henry Tumukunde’s son in 2016), Mpaka has also built profound understanding of how government works and Gen Museveni is convinced that he can do a very good in Cabinet just like Henry Musasizi (former chair of a related committee) has done-covering the ground for the evidently exhausted Matia Kasaija at the Finance Ministry. Mpaka could replace Evelyn Anite as State Minister in charge of investments & privatization.

Christopher Bakashaba, who flushed CEC member Mwesigwa Rukaari out of Mbarara City North, is another Cabinet-level prospect from that part of Ankole because whoever it turns out to be, Gen Museveni badly needs a young man for Cabinet-level deployment to embolden political mobilization of the young people in the fast-growing Mbarara City which over the past few years has been threatening to politically pivot towards Dr. Kizza Besigye and Bobi Wine-ism.

Making one of the MPs from there a Minister would amplify counter mobilisation to push back to ensure that the opposition doesn’t take firm root in Mbarara, which is in such close geographical proximity to Museveni’s backyard of Rwakitura.

Kiboga woman MP-elect Desire Muhooza is another potential Cabinet-level inclusion. She is young, spontaneously outgoing and shares similar credentials of being naturally a people-person just like her first cousin Natasha Karugire.

Gen Salim Saleh’s daughter famously led the NRM campaign to exorcist NUP-ism out of Kiboga during the just-ended election season and she succeeded. More senior Movementists from Kiboga tried to frustrate her efforts but Muhooza (at whose instigation the likes of ex-district Chairman Siraje Kizito Nkugwa quit NUP and returned to NRM) overlooked such intrigue and kept her eyes on the ball. In the end, the campaign teams she coordinated delivered victory for the President and for more than 80% of the other NRM candidates, to the detriment of the opposition NUP.

Last February, Moses Kigongo led a group of NRM officials including defence Minister Oboth-Oboth to celebrate her victory at Kiboga grounds where thousands turned up to declare their loyalty to the NRM revolution under Desire Muhooza’s leadership.

Both Kigongo and Oboth predicted bigger things for Muhooza and asked the people of Kiboga to solidly rally behind her and to never regret their decision to make her their MP.

Muhooza is vastly connected, being a member of the first family (Gen Saleh’s daughter), but she, ironically, is down to earth to the extent you can’t know of her powerful parental connections unless someone reveals it to you. She is clandestine in her operations and deliberately avoids the media limelight. She prefers that her actions speak for her record as opposed to engaging in self-praise.

At the Kiboga celebrations in February, Oboth and Hillary Onek revealed being aware of the very sensitive diplomatic assignments which Muhooza has over the years been undertaking for and on behalf of Generals Saleh and Museveni.

There is a lot about her pedigree actually much more than we are comfortable revealing under this reporting. She has served as the Gabon government consul to Uganda, which makes her a diplomat in her own right.

She is also the coordinator of the very consequential Uganda Coffee Farmers Development Alliance, an advocacy platform through which Uganda’s coffee has over the years been promoted in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Multiple sources have indicated that Muhooza is being vetted and should Museveni not feel morally-constrained, the new Kiboga Woman MP could end up replacing John Mulimba for the regional cooperation docket. In the same vein, Odrek Rwabwogo or whoever he recommends will most likely (all factors remaining constant) replace near-senile old man Francis Mwebesa for the Trade Ministry docket. Peruse through this link for our earlier reporting on Gen Museveni’s upcoming Cabinet: