Common Man’s Party (CMP) presidential candidate Munyagwa Mubarak has opened up about why his father, Hajj Serunga Buruhan, appeared at President Yoweri Museveni’s recent campaign rally in Kitagwenda sparking mixed reactions across the country.
Ugandans were surprised when Hajj Buruhan took the microphone at an NRM rally and urged voters in Kitagwenda and nationwide to support President Museveni’s re-election, despite his own son running for president.
Speaking in an interview, Munyagwa said there was nothing strange or forced about it.“
My father has supported Museveni since the 1970s. To him, Museveni and his group are ‘saviors’ because of what he went through during the Amin regime,” Munyagwa explained.
He revealed that his father’s loyalty stretches back to the UPM days, rooted in a painful incident during the Idi Amin era. Hajj Buruhan was nearly killed after being arrested for trading banned coffee an experience that made him admire anyone who stood up to oppressive governments.
Munyagwa said his political disagreements with his father started around the year 2000 when he joined the DP’s UYD wing. His father questioned why DP “never went to the bush” during the tough Amin and Obote years.
He added that his brother, Eng. Ssebaggala Isaac, also doesn’t support his political path, saying both men strongly back the NRM. The only person in his immediate family who supports him is his mother.
Munyagwa also recalled the scary 2019 COVID-19 wave when his father almost died. The family spent more than UGX 70 million on treatment, and he says the NRM government never offered any help. Still, Hajj Buruhan defended Museveni, insisting that any failures came from people around the President not Museveni himself.
Despite their sharp political differences, Munyagwa says he has no anger toward his father.
He believes many elderly Ugandans, especially those in their 80s, remain loyal to President Museveni because of the history they lived through and the hardships they survived.
