By Robert Tumwesigye
This article delves into Ntungamo’s rich political history, exploring its connections to Uganda’s current economic and political landscape. As a pivotal part of Uganda’s foundation and the Ankole economic corridor, Ntungamo’s influential political systems play a significant role in shaping the country’s economic and political forces.
This narrative is geared towards serious citizens, change agents, and stakeholders seeking practical solutions to revitalize Ntungamo. While it may not cater to casual readers accustomed to bite-sized social media content, those eager for knowledge and transformation will find valuable insights to inform their discussions and writings on local, national, and international platforms.Ntungamo is a district in Western Uganda, known for its agricultural productivity, particularly in dairy farming and banana cultivation. The district has a rich cultural heritage, with the Banyankore people being the dominant ethnic group.
This economic and political analysis was triggered by a Ntungamo young politician and academician Hon.Kamayangi Gloria,who has the district at heart after traversing the district soliciting votes in each village. This exposed her to the nitty gritties of the home district,of milk and honey, district of president and first lady and home to various former historicals of this nation. This sounds so amazing,and one may think it is the paradise with ‘first class’ citizens,yet paradoxically forgotten deliberately or inadvertently by the leaders to tell the forgotten district to the First Citizens. She narrates the ordeal with passion and empathy of her district,calling for unity and collaboration for development.
Ntungamo was part of the Mpororo kingdom and led by Bashambo, and as social, economic, and political revolutions took place due to many factors, it was annexed to other kingdoms in Ankole and ended up under Ankole kingdom where it played key roles in leadership. Ankole Kingdom shaped Ntungamo because it found it when it had already tested some serious leadership and tapped quickly from the Ankole kingdom resources. It was an added opportunity to have the most powerful Prime Minister of Ankole kingdom, Nuwa Mbaguta, who later shifted from Ntungamo to Sheema. Though he migrated to Sheema, he kept close to Ntungamo, and this helped Ntungamo to connect with colonial masters who sharpened it the more.
The Rwanda people who came to Ntungamo from a francophone country and, having been ruled by kings and others, brought some knowledge, which created some positive impact in the early days. This strong foundation raised powerful leaders from Ntungamo who shaped Ankole and Uganda politics. Leaders like Enock Muntuyera were part of Ankole’s political driving force and who inspired many in Ntungamo. Muntuyera proved his excessive powers when he fought for Kitunga High School and took it to Kajara when it was already planned for Ruyonza.
This came at the time when UPC diehards started blaming each other and calling some members concentrated, and others diluted (UPC otwizi and UPC enkomba). The UPC leadership in Ntungamo was deeply grounded, and all decisions in the region were vetted by Ntungamo UPC diehards. Mzee Buningo played a big role in the early politics, and later came leaders like Kagurusi Rwaboona, Kapampara, Kuburabe, Wycliffe Kazoora, who was among Uganda’s polished and seasoned lawyers of the time, and he was the Ankole kingdom lawyer.
The great men of Ntungamo gave a big political face to Ankole and Uganda. Butagira, who was from Rwampara, which is neighboring Ntungamo, traded more politically in Ntungamo, and as a national figure, his presence was an added advantage for grooming high-level politicians in the area. Modern farming was highly facilitated by men like Perez Kabasharira, who introduced modern farming with exotic cows and inspired traditional cattle keepers.
Ntungamo became economically powerful and a model in some areas. But above all, it continued to be a high-level political corridor and later raised the president of Uganda and, at the same time, produced Uganda’s First Lady. This is unique and very special and not common in many African countries. The area became a political melting pot for high-level politicians at all levels, including Yona Kanyomozi, Eliya Kategaya, Arthur Kangaho, Janet Bagarukayo, Gad Gasatura, Augustine Ruzindana, and John Karazarwe, who became the pioneer district Chairperson and gave it a solid foundation.
The modern leadership brought in leaders like Ambassador Kweronda Ruhemba (RIP), Fred Kamweiga, Rukutana, Stephen Tashobya, Naome Kabasharira, Ambassador Richard Kabonero, Denis Singahakye, Mugisha Muntu, and many leaders, dead or alive, whose legacy memories remain key in Ntungamo, which made it what it is today.
The district, which already had a strong political foundation, became stronger when it was part of the NRM liberation war. This came as a result of UPC harassment where innocent Banyankole and Banyarwanda were tortured, and some ended up in refugee camps as Rwandese when they were native people. This prompted many people from Ntungamo to join the bush war. Remember number one bush war commander and number two, Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Brig. Eliya Kategaya came from Ntungamo. Many army officers of high rank came from Ntungamo, including Gen. Mugisha Muntu, who served as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) for a long time. Some are still serving, and others retired, and their technical military guidance is still paramount to the nation.
This positioned Ntungamo district strategically under the NRM leadership, which has been in power for 40 years. The district leadership has changed hands, and some past leaders have kept more relevant as good elders or opinion leaders. The current district leadership is so powerful, and the formidable district has pulled them up.
Today, Ntungamo district leadership is one of the admired in Uganda, with some district councillors who are national celebrities, even those who lost in the last elections; some are looking forward to being appointed to different boards and committees while others are looking beyond the district to positions like RDCs, Presidential Advisors, Central government recruitment, and others.
Some names like Savimbi Muhumuza, Amon Nabaasa, Byamukama Kafanta, Shakira Kabyaija, Jacob Kafureka, Cosmas Kakuru, Juliet Mpamize, and Samuel Mucunguzi, who is now the district political commander, have earned political fame, even the whole sub-region feels them politically.
The new team of members of Parliament is expected to serve a more wanting community amidst local, national, and global challenges that need new solutions. The team, which includes Beatrice Rwakimari, Moses Kahima Mugabe, Gerald Karuhanga, Viola Namanya, James Tukahirwa, and Naome Kabashari, is waited for to change lives.
The young politician and academician who participated in the last elections and could not make it to parliament due to various reasons never gave up on Ntungamo district. After one year of travelling in the whole district, encountering the situation on the ground, and couldn’t believe that Ntungamo, which has been under NRM leadership for 40 years and is a home for the NRM founder, NRM Chairperson, Commander of armed forces, President of Uganda, First Lady, and many NRM historical figures, with all multiple resources and opportunities, there are some areas where nobody can reach where bridges were broken a long time ago, without access roads, and where people are like living on a forgotten island.
Using the political and economic double lens with a positive mind, she tried to connect the dots to find the deep truth beyond ordinary. The first thing was to zoom in on the whole district and match it with the leadership. It was discovered that the Ntungamo district is supposed to be divided into three districts but has been kept as one district to keep its prestige and resources connected.
The district, which is so huge geographically, has a population close to 600,000 people, 310,000 voters, 34 sub-counties, and some of them very big, 129 parishes, 1033 villages, and 5 constituencies. When the First Lady served as the Member of Parliament, she tried her level best to take safe water to people, electricity, and improved education greatly. She found the district in a sorry state, and her work was almost beginning from almost nothing because the old leadership used limited resources to share it across a huge district, and it was not very viable until she came in and boosted it.
The district has been supported with big projects, including Ntungamo Diary Farmers Cooperative Union (NDAFCU), Nyamukana Pineapple Factory, Inspire Africa Coffee Park, Pearl Flower Rose Farm, Eliya Kategaya Vocational Training Institute, and other projects going on, including mining in Nyanga and Rwanoni. The district has benefited from PDM and 40 billion already given out to people, and Ntungamo people are cattle keepers and peasant farmers where most people have average income.
In search of the missing gaps, Kamayangi Gloria, a young, dynamic politician and academician who contested in Ntungamo as Woman Member of Parliament, found that losing the seat did not matter much, but looking at the situation of some communities which are totally disconnected from Ntungamo urban, like Kiziba, Rwoho, Kirungu, Murambi, and Ngomba, which have been kept so remote, where early marriages are still practiced and children are dropping out of school at P7.
Her concern goes beyond ordinary and takes a bigger picture of the whole district and the municipality, with all opportunities, and the district is still trailing behind in some key sectors, yet it should be number one because it is the home of the president and the First Lady, who should be used for lobbying at all levels.
Gloria, who has worked in the Parliament of Uganda and is exposed to local, national, and international issues, has taken her time to discover the solution for Ntungamo, and the revelation has shown that there is a ready set political time bomb. There are so many people silent, yet with skills and knowledge to create changes, but they have not been given space to make their contributions, even though the NRM is still in power and opportunities are still at hand.
Ntungamo is forgotten in some areas, but most people are not aware. As the district where the president is a native and a resident with the First Lady, it has been taken for granted that the district is given everything, yet lobbyists and power brokers cannot operate in Ntungamo. The few who get the advantage to access the First Family lobby for their families and relatives.
There are some key people in Ntungamo whose powers continue to shadow others, and this has kept the district stuck, silently and unknowingly. Even RDCs who are posted to Ntungamo and other senior officers in big positions get diverted by some resident and non-resident leaders and work in fear that anything may backfire and they end up before the president to answer questions without answers. This high-tension environment has limited officers’ creativity and made them dull, waiting to work only under instructions.
But Gloria has become like another Sir Isaac Newton, a village boy who was born very tiny and left to die for a few days. The mother of Isaac got married to another man after the death of her husband, and she left Isaac with her aunt and expected him to die soon. Fortunately, Isaac never died and got some education in hardships and fighting to survive. He later got a scholarship and graduated as the best mathematician of the 16th century. He saw a mango fruit falling down from the tree above him and asked himself why it couldn’t go up the way it came down. He made serious observations, and it is where he discovered the scientific universal gravitational force, which later changed the world of science through Newton’s Law of Motion, which keeps planes in the skies and more from his discoveries.
In the same manner, Gloria, who is self-made and deeply exposed to rural and urban life, has observed Ntungamo’s political history, the status quo, and goes beyond to check the future based on the current political situation. She is not attacking anybody, nor blaming leadership, but looking beyond to find out wide, realistic possible solutions that may provide solutions to social, economic, and political multiple challenges.
As a politician and academician with experience from government operations, her engagement may provide cross-cutting solutions tailored for residents and absent people from Ntungamo. The new findings indicate that Ntungamo has great leaders, but they work in isolation, and Gloria has found that lack of unity amongst leaders is the key bottleneck to development.
Another key factor is the First Family’s comfortability and hoping that the First Family will solve the district’s challenges, forgetting that the Head of State has a very busy schedule, which doesn’t give him time to tour the whole of Ntungamo and take actions. The president can only be engaged when leadership is united and working together as one team with one voice.
The first important thing to do in Ntungamo is to bring all key stakeholders together in planning and implementation, in consultation with the president where possible, through a shared communication where all key stakeholders make contributions, rather than individuals smuggling their personal reports to earn personal gains and fame.
Gloria calls for the key 5 groups, which comprise all key stakeholders in Ntungamo, to find time and sit together for at least one day and begin the journey of Ntungamo’s new development agenda, and these include:
1. Ntungamo District Local Council Executive Committee headed by the district Chairperson
2. Ntungamo District NRM Executive Committee headed by NRM district Chairperson and the Deputy
3. Ntungamo District Parliamentary Forum headed by the Chairperson
4. Ntungamo District Chairpersons of NRM Special Organs, including key opinion leaders headed by DEC and NRM Chairperson
5. The First Family as the moderator, either present or represented, headed by the president
This is what is needed first, but each team should make serious consultations with members represented in order to get all serious challenges from the whole district.
Kamayangi goes beyond ordinary and boldly takes a big look at mobilisation, coordination, and stakeholders’ constant engagements. She argues that Ntungamo has been left out of ministerial positions for long, and this has greatly affected it, based on the size, population, and unique multiple challenges.
The district needs a minister to help with political mobilisation and resource mobilisation. When the district gets a minister, it becomes easy for lobbying and may be easy for the minister to coordinate with members of Parliament and the district leadership to engage development agencies and the president.
For example, the Presidential Advisory Committee on Export and Industrial Development (PACEID), which has helped many districts establish industrial parks, Ntungamo is empty with all low materials apart from the coffee factory, which is at the national standards.
Uganda Support to Municipality Infrastructure Development Programme (USMID) would have started with Ntungamo municipality, and Ntungamo will come last. African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is headed by a Ntungamo native, should have been benefiting Ntungamo greatly, but nobody to influence and engage local leadership.
There are many related cases. All these will be sorted by a minister who will coordinate local, national, and international issues and engage Ntungamo leaders where possible.
Gloria offers herself to take charge as a minister or any special assignment given an opportunity. She may be making the proposal thinking that someone who is somewhere maybe willing to take the assignment, and when in reality, nobody is looking at this position with the same interests of looking at the whole district and interested in multitasking as mentioned above.
She comes boldly and bravely to defend her findings and presents herself to be part of the driving force to avoid the ready set political time bomb where leadership will blame each other when all available opportunities are gone, including the president, who is ready and willing to support a united and well-coordinated Ntungamo district.
Apart from local politics, Gloria cherishes Uganda’s scorecard at the East African level and international relations. Uganda is leading in East African Community participation and has been able to help bring more countries on board and has paid for some East African member countries, which has made it stand high.
She commends Uganda’s refugee policy, which has enabled Uganda to host more than 1.5 million refugees. Uganda has been able to keep good relationships with most superpowers like the UK and the USA. It has kept good relationships with the World Bank, and Uganda borrows even beyond the limit where other countries cannot be allowed.
Uganda is a signatory to many treaties and conventions and has kept trade agreements with many countries and praises President Museveni for his visionary leadership and proposes the discussion on succession plan in order to keep Uganda’s social, economic, and political progress.
In the conversation, she doesn’t leave behind people like Fred Bamwesigye, Bob Kabonero, Nelson Tugume, Ben Kumumanya, Stephen Rwangyezi, Sarah Kagingo, Stephen Tashobya, and others from Ntungamo who are advantaged and can be mobilised for the good work.
Gloria, who entered politics to give voice to the voiceless and to change Ntungamo as the woman member of Parliament, has been lobbying for students’ scholarships, lobbying for jobs and internships, supporting churches, and extending guidance and counseling, especially to girls and women who face multiple challenges because of poverty and the environment.
She is a young politician and academician, a self-made and multitalented lady with experience in government policies after serving for 12 years in government. She worked in Parliament from 2013-2025 as Assistant Clerk, where she served as a secretary to different committees, including East African Affairs, Gender, Defence, Appointment, National Economy, Commissions, and State Enterprises (COCASE).
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Social Administration (SWASA) from Kyambogo University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration, and a Certificate in Administration Law. She is doing a Master’s in Management Studies at Uganda Management Institute (UMI) and a Master’s in International Relations and Diplomacy Studies at Cavendish University.
Her big picture is Ntungamo people’s agro-processing and value addition to their low products through industrialization and cottage industries using the available resources, especially milk, coffee, and bananas. Youth skilling and vocational training are key in her dream for Ntungamo.
The big dream is to bring all Ntungamo leadership together and be willing to take the risky centre stage to mobilise and facilitate the Ntungamo leadership conference. She is worried about the new HIV/AIDS infections and calls for fresh fights using new approaches.
To effectively serve Ntungamo District, leaders need a unified platform where they can come together, unite, and combine their efforts. The district is too big to manage alone; it requires collective action from all key stakeholders to drive progress and unlock its full potential. By pooling resources, expertise, and influence, leaders can tackle pressing challenges like infrastructure development, healthcare, education, and economic growth. A united front will enable leaders to speak with one voice, prioritize projects, and implement solutions that benefit every corner of Ntungamo. It’s time to put the people of Ntungamo first and work towards a shared vision of prosperity and growth. Leaders should unite to build a stronger, more resilient Ntungamo!
About the author;
Robert Tumwesigye Political Analyst and Researcher, Political Research Desk News
7th April 2026
Contacts;
Robert Tumwesigye.
Political Research Desk News.
tumwesigye23@gmail.com
+256772509393
