They roared and protested loudly each time their party NRM strayed politically. They spent years fiercely opposing the NRM way of doing things.
But surprisingly the NRM MPs "rebellion" collapsed suddenly last week without warning. The capitulation of 17 of the 27 NRM rebel MPs was announced on July 17 by President Yoweri Museveni on his official Facebook page.
"I met with our NRM members of parliament who have previously opposed certain party positions, hence being named "rebel MPs." They called on me at State House to seek forgiveness. Subsequently, I made their case before the party's central executive committee yesterday, which resolved that for the party's cohesion and discipline, we interact further and guide these MPs," the president wrote.
Interviewed for a comment, the opposition FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, the presidential flag bearer for the opposition Alliance for National Transformation [ANT], said capitulation of the rebel MPs was a firm betrayal of the change movement but not totally surprising.
Matter of time
NRM loyalists Capt Mike Mukula and Justine Kasule Lumumba, the party secretary general, said they always knew the rebels would cave in and return to the fold. It was just a matter of time, they said.
According to the presidential facebook post, he met MPs; Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West), Mbwatekamwa Gaffa (Kasambya), Muyanja Ssenyonga (Mukono South), Kibalya Maurice (Bugabula South), Sylvia Rwabwogo (Kabarole Woman), Sam Lyomoki (Workers), Michael Timuzigu (Kajara), Moses Adome (Jie), Susan Amero (Amuria Woman), James Kaberuka (Kinkizi West), Monicah Amoding [Kumi] Robert Migadde (Buvuma), Sarah Nakawunde (Mpigi Woman), Evelyn Chemutai (Bukwo Woman), Dennis Sabiiti (Rubanda) and Anthony Semuli (Mubende Municipality).
"We are here as your sons and daughters. We request you to forgive us and we move on," a humbled Amoding, reportedly told President Museveni.
Ssekibubo allegedly said the group was ready to support and work with President Museveni.
"When duty calls, we are here and ready for deployment."
Tinkasiimire thanked Lumumba for organising the meeting and said they wanted the NRM party to recognize them so they can in return work for it. He commended President Museveni for being a father figure and a great leader.
Rwabwogo reiterated the MPs' commitment to working with President Museveni while Lyomoki said their presence in parliament was due to the NRM revolution.
"Without your revolution, we wouldn't be in that parliament; so, thank you for this opportunity and please forgive us," Lyomoki said.
However, in separate interviews after the State House meeting, Ssekikubo and Tinkasiimire tried to walk back their capitulation. Ssekikubo said they met President Museveni on July 16 because they wanted to know their standing in the party ahead of 2021 general election.
Ssekikubo said whereas people may look at them as turncoats, they have never discarded their opposition to certain party positions on a number of issues.
"What we stand for is for the party to be inclusive whether we have divergent views, whether we have beliefs that are not in line with the party position," he said.
"The bottom line should be.. We may disagree on one point but should that stop us from engaging in party activities? You don't abandon the struggle. You don't run away, you don't get lost, you continue engaging and hopefully it is the best way," he said.
Tinkasiimire said he is still part of the change movement and will not vote for President Museveni. But speaking to reporters at the NRM secretariat, Justine Kasule Lumumba, the secretary general, said the party's Central Executive Committee resolved that to readmit the MPs, they have to write down in detail all their transgressions and promise never to repeat them.
"In the spirit of cohesion and in the spirit of holding discipline in the party, we decided to start a process that will see these people back to the party. They apologized to the party chairman and you know in politics the person with the highest number is the winner," Lumumba said.
But why would NRM, which commands a super majority in parliament reach out to the 17 rebellious members? Captain Mike Mukula, the NRM vice chairman for Eastern Uganda, said the answer is in the Bible.
"A good shepherd like Jesus left 99 sheep and went after the one that had got lost. That's why NRM is still one party. We try to clean the party because we need everybody," Mukula said.
But Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, the opposition chief whip, said it's a disgrace that the rebels swallowed their pride and went back to the same man who unleashed terror on them when the Special Forces Command invaded parliament in 2017.
"They gave us an impression that they were fighting for good governance. I'm now shocked that the same people who were brutalized are now going to say sorry to Museveni," Ssemujju said in an interview.
He said he thought they were fighting to end President Museveni's grip on power beyond 75 years of age. The rebel MPs were kingpins in the fight against the constitutional amendment, which removed the lower and upper age limits for presidential candidates.
"President Museveni was about 73 [years of age] when we had a fight in parliament, he's now 75 [years of age] and they want him to stay in power until he's 80-something years. The opportunistic conduct of many of us is going to make politics very useless in this country. That, as long as your personal pursuit can be served you can do anything," Ssemujju said.
The fight in parliament is a reference to the 2017 raid on Parliament by the Special Forces Command soldiers who forcefully removed MPs, who tried to block debate on the controversial amendment.
Why go back to NRM now?
Mugisha Muntu, a former FDC president, said he thought the rebels were courageous in opposing the age-limit amendment despite the intimidation, harassment and attempt to bribe them.
"What I don't understand fully is why they would buckle now. It completely beats my understanding. They had brought hope in a hopeless situation. You know people had lost hope in politicians; they tell you one thing today and do something completely different tomorrow," Muntu said.
The answer to the question lies in winning re-election. Many of the 17 MPs come from constituencies that are predominantly NRM. So, the only way to survive politically is by crawling back to NRM. But according to Ssemujju, that is very bad politics. Ssemujju said that before and after the constitutional amendments, they held a number of meetings with the rebel MPs to try and woo them to the opposition side. But by the look of things, they failed.
Ssemujju said he is sure they have gone back to plead with Museveni not because they believe a life presidency is a good thing but because they are trying to survive politically.
"Both they and Museveni know that they don't support him but they don't want him to unleash the state machinery onto them during campaigns; that's why they have gone back to plead. They are a shame; you don't do that, they should never have pretended in the first place. The first day Museveni said he should die in office, they should have cheered him up. If you disagree with a leader dying in office, you disagree in eternity except if now you believe it's a good thing to do. As a leader you must have a spine; if you say, I'm not going to do this, don't do it," Ssemujju said.
Muntu takes a more balanced approach. He says if some of the rebels are going back to NRM because they believe what is going on in the party is good for the country, then he has no problem.
"But if anyone goes back when they know that there is rot inside, then it will be definitely disappointing. We hope down the road, they will gain courage again and redeem themselves," Muntu said. The former army commander believes that some of the MPs would still have retained their seats with or without the NRM support.
"My reading is different; I think many of them would win if they went back as independents or in other parties. Some of them would have read the situation differently looking at it through the lenses of fear. People are afraid to lose because of the state machinery against them but that is part of life," Muntu said.
Past cases
Ever since Uganda returned to multiparty politics in 2005, NRM has had many rebels who return to the fold especially during elections. Leading this pack is Ssekikubo. In 2005, it was Ssekikubo who blew the whistle on the Shs 5 million bribe paid to MPs to vote for the lifting of presidential term limits.
Ssekikubo fought a tumultuous primary to get the NRM flag in the 2006 election. In the subsequent elections of 2011, and 2016, Ssekikubo would still fight hard to retain the party card. In 2013, together with Barnabas Tinkasiimire, Muhammad Nsereko [Kampala Central] and Wilfred Niwagaba of Ndorwa East, they were expelled from the party for opposing President Museveni's sole candidature.
The party even engineered a court process that saw them thrown out of parliament. This decision was only reversed by the Supreme court, which ruled that losing party membership doesn't necessarily result into losing your political position. The four were later pardoned by the party and Tinkasiimire and Ssekikubo contested on the party ticket in the 2016 elections. Niwagaba and Nsereko chose to come as independents.
In the past, the party covertly or openly has ousted some MPs like Vincent Kyamadidi, the former MP for Rwampara and Henry Banyenzaki, Miria Matembe, Henry Musasizi of Rubanda East, among others.
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