“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” Walter Elliot (1888–1958), the Scottish Unionist politician, physician, and writer who represented several constituencies, wrote a line that fits everywhere.
It certainly fitted Sunday at MM Wairaka College playground, where Bishop of Busoga Diocese Rt Rev Prof Dr Grace Lubaale watched Hon Grace Paddy Kirya Wanzala end a 20-year, five-election marathon and called him “a rare type of leader.”
The bishop described newly elected Butembe Constituency MP Hon Grace Paddy Kirya Wanzala as “a rare type of leader” during a thanksgiving service held Sunday at the playground of MM Wairaka College, capping a 20-year, five-election journey to Parliament.
“Few politicians contest five times without turning bitter,” Lubaale told congregants. “He lost four elections, often by small margins, yet remained positive, avoided violence, and refused to bribe voters. He focused on his manifesto. Wanzala is a rare type of person, leader and politician who should be celebrated.”
The service was the second of two, the first was held Saturday at Busedde Seed Secondary School, where retired Bishop of Busoga Diocese Rt Rev Samson Moses Naimanhe Mukembo presided.
In an address to the Busedde Seed School congregation, Bishop Naimanhe asked Wanzala to always remember the kindness and faithfulness of God who has kept him alive and changed his title to an honorable MP.
He urged the MP to seek God’s guidance so that the task ahead is handled with prudence and dignity to serve better the constituents.
Five points of thanksgiving.
Bishop Lubaale, accompanied by about a dozen of clergymen anchored his sermon on five reasons for Hon Wanzala’s thanksgiving, each drawn from the MP’s lived journey:
Recognize he came from far.
Bishop Lubaale traced Wanzala’s humble beginnings to a childhood without modern amenities. He saw electricity and flush toilets for the first time in secondary school while visiting a relative in what is now Jinja City.
Family accounts say the young Wanzala once tried to blow out an electric bulb with his mouth, as one does with the once-popular tadooba wax lamp.
At another time, he wanted to trap vehicles with nylon strings and ropes, thinking saloon cars were antelopes, lorries were buffalos, and buses were elephants. Relatives, “while dying with laughter,” explained what vehicles were and taught him brands like Ford, Toyota, Benz, Peugeot, and Nissan.
Today, the former Busedde sub county councilor, international procurement consultant drives a white 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser TX hybrid. While some other new entrant MPs are anxiously thirsting for the more than 300M/- usually given to MPs to acquire new four-wheel drives, Hon Wanzala is already consulting on where to invest the money in the constituency.
To show that God has been with him in his life’s journey, the bishop said Wanzala should not depart from God’s ways but continue recognizing and trusting His faithfulness.
God has been present in his life.
The bishop compared Wanzala to King David. When the prophet Samuel came to anoint a king in 1 Samuel 16, Jesse presented seven sons but left David in the bush tending sheep.
Only when Samuel insisted did the father reluctantly call him. David later became king and “a man after God’s own heart,” (Acts 13:22), notwithstanding the scandals that befell him. Likewise, Wanzala lost four election cycles, always by a small margin and “more often he was openly rigged out,” yet he remained alive and is now an MP.
The former senior don at Kyambogo University noted that Uganda’s politics from nomination to declaration are “full of scandals and violence.” Some people win but the second or third candidate is declared, and courts are subdued by “shameless and corrupt elements.”
For Wanzala to win as an opposition FDC candidate and be declared and gazette and sworn in, Lubaale said, “shows God has been with him.”
Serve humanity with humility.
Now that he is Hon. MP, Bishop Lubaale who is only six months in the Bugembe office urged Wanzala not to forget God’s hand and begin bragging to the very people who voted him.
“Go to Parliament and always take the correct views from the electorate, not personal interests,” he said. Service, the Bishop stressed, must remain people-centered.
Uphold the position using knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
Some MPs, the bishop warned, “spend more time and energy on chasing and clicking deals as opposed to representing his people.”
Without mentioning names, the bishop said some MPs have in the past been linked to lose sexual immorality, theft and scandal and fraud among others.
“We would not be happy to learn or hear that Wanzala is being implicated or involved in some dubious deals which undermines his integrity as a distinguished leader and person in society”, the bishop cautioned
This message comes after the homes of the former Speaker Rt Hon Annette Anita Among were raided by security agencies, while some like former minister/MP Hon Agnes Nanduttu is now in jail and others in court.
Trust God for More.
The bishop asked Wanzala to continue trusting God, since He has been faithful over the years. “If He did it after 20 years and four losses, He can do more,” Lubaale said.
The 20-year road to Parliament.
Wanzala first ran in 2006, polling 10,609 votes against then Government Chief Whip Hon Daudi Migereko’s 18,799. In 2011 he lost by 814 votes: 16,833 to 16,019.
Former intelligence officer and Jinja LC5 chairman Lt Hannington Basakana got 2,101 as an Independent. In 2016, NRM’s Nelson Lufafa beat him 26,157 to 23,202. The 2021 race was decided by 99 votes, with Independent David Livingstone Zijjan taking 5,818, NRM’s Jacob Kabondo 5,782, and Wanzala 5,719.
On January 15, 2026, Wanzala won on the FDC ticket with 6,215 votes. NRM’s Jacob Kabondo got 5,799, while NRM-leaning Independent Shaban Okumu polled 4,798.
Constitutional Mandate of an MP.
Under Article 79 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, Parliament’s functions and the core duties of an MP are fourfold:
Legislation an MP is to make laws on any matter for the peace, order, development and good governance of Uganda.
Representation- an MP presents views of constituents and special interest groups in Parliament.
Oversight-the MP monitors government programs and keep the Executive in check. Budget appropriation he or she debates and approves the national budget and taxation.
Wanzala: “I will lead by consultation”
In his speech, Wanzala who was flanked by his wife Jennifer Wanzala, pledged to lead by consultation through regular and frequent meetings with youth, women, the elderly and PWDs.
He said Butembe can only move forward when every voice is heard, and promised to engage headteachers and teachers to handle poor education standards in the predominantly sugarcane-growing constituency, which houses Kakira Sugar Works under the Madhvani Group of Companies – the biggest in Uganda.
“Our children must benefit from the economy around them, not just cut cane.”
On peace and security following decades of election violence among rival supporters, Wanzala said he will work with every stakeholder, including security, to de-escalate tensions. “We cannot develop when campaigns mean fighting.”
Mwiru: ‘Stop treating MPs as ATMs’.
Unease settled over MM Wairaka College grounds when Jinja South East MP Hon Paul Mwiru, the Opposition Chief Whip, took the podium. Standing in for Leader of Opposition Hon Joel Ssenyonyi, Mwiru thanked voters for choosing Wanzala as “the most suitable and best choice,” then dropped the niceties.
He told off residents to give Wanzala time to embark on his four constitutional roles.
Mwiru caused dead silence in a crowd that would ululate when the microphone holder coughed. “Most MPs run away or change phone numbers because in a single day an MP receives close to 500 calls all asking for money for a sick wife, marriage, weddings, parties, associations and groups,” Mwiru said. “Which in real sense is not possible and practical even if an MP was earning 1 billion shillings per month.”
The NUP politician also used the same gathering to send the message to Ugandans at large, saying the practice of treating MPs as their ATMs should stop because it is not only boring but pungent.
He softened a bit, adding that if an MP goes an extra mile and contributes to social welfare it should be appreciated in that context and should not become forceful and mandatory.
“Some voters or even non-registered residents have the guts to say unless you do this for us you will not leave this venue or you will not pass through this road,” Mwiru said.
When he handed the microphone to MC of the day Tonney Wantimba aka Masurubu, an Inspector of Schools who also works at Nathan Igeme Nabeta’s NBS as a side hustle, Mwiru received less than a dozen handclaps.
“The hardest thing in Uganda today is being an MP where everyone expects the MP to solve their personal problems from bundles or airtime to marriage, burials and medical bills to school fees,” he said.
Rival turns up, crowns Wanzala ‘Political Baba’
Former Kakira Town Council chairman Charles Sande Kabule, who contested against Wanzala, stunned attendees by appearing at both services. He urged Butembe people to unite.
Borrowing from a popular saying, Kabule said: “After the death of a husband, the children will always call the new husband got by their mother as Baba.” He added, “Hon. Wanzala is now the new Political Baba of Butembe after our elected MP Hon David Livingstone Zijjan not only disappeared but relocated to Jinja North where he lost in the NRM primary election to Edwin Lufafa, who also lost the main election to radio comedian Hussein Muyonjo aka Swengere.”
What ‘Hon.’ Means.
Hon is short for Honorable, the official courtesy title for Members of Parliament in Uganda and across Commonwealth parliaments. It signals public trust and an expectation of integrity.
The style dates to British parliamentary tradition from the 16th–17th centuries and was inherited at independence in 1962.
What is thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is expressing gratitude to God for mercies or deliverance, through prayer, song, and testimony. Key texts include 1 Thessalonians 5:18_ “Give thanks in all circumstances”; Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving”; and _Colossians 3:17 “Do it all… giving thanks to God the Father.”
Wanzala closed by reaffirming his focus on rural roads, seed school staffing, and market access for farmers. “The people voted for service, not speeches,” he said. “As your Political Baba, I won’t forget where I came from.”
TEU Explainer:
If Uganda’s Parliament is to regain its constitutional spine, other leaders must amplify Mwiru’s unpopular truth and resist the populist sugar rush.
As 18th-century statesman Edmund Burke warned, “your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement, and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion”.
An MP who trades legislation for salt, cash, soap and waragi or enguli has not served, he has bribed. As a citizenry that barters its civic power for petty gifts has auctioned its future.
Plato saw it coming 2,400 years ago:” One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.
But the inverse is also true that when voters reduce Article 79 to a shopping list and leaders pander to it, Parliament fills with merchants of applause, not architects of policy.
Leaders across the aisle should echo Mwiru not for political mileage, but for national survival. As John Adams put it, public business must always be done by somebody, it will be done by somebody or other. If the wise keep financing weddings instead of debating bills, the country pays in hospitals without drugs, schools without teachers and roads that return each rainy season.
The people of Uganda must reclaim their role as citizens, not political clients or customers. The Honorable must earn the title by telling hard truths, not tickling ears.
We are The Exposure Uganda.
We Expose, You Decide.
