By Patrick Nshekanabo
In the heart of Kazo, where loyalty to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) stands taller than the ancient acacias, the people have seen through the cunning facade of Kemirembe Ronah Ruranga’s latest ploy. Like a fox crying wolf, Ronah, yet to be nominated as an independent candidate for the Kazo District Woman MP seat, has spun a web of lies, claiming Hon. Molly Nawe Kamukama, the NRM’s duly elected flag bearer, offered her UGX 500 million to abandon her political ambitions. The truth cuts sharper than a panga: it was Ronah who demanded this staggering sum to step aside before nominations, a desperate attempt to extort funds.Kazo needs progress.Molly Kamukama, rejected this shameless demand. “This is total madness!” Hon. Molly was quoted as saying. “Why bribe Ronah with such an exorbitant amount when it could fund boreholes, roads, and SACCOs for my people?”
As the 2026 elections draw near, Kazo’s wise voters, guided by the Runyankole proverb “A liar’s tongue burns hotter than his lies,” stand united behind Molly Kamukama, dismissing Ronah’s deceitful antics and her betrayal of NRM values. Ronah’s audacity knows no bounds. With no evidence-be it documents, recordings, or credible witnesses-she accuses Molly of bribery, a claim as hollow as a drum in a deserted kraal. Insiders from Kamukama’s camp reveal that Ronah, sensing her political irrelevance in an NRM stronghold, demanded UGX 500 million to halt her candidacy before it even begins. When Kamukama refused to entertain such greed, Ronah resorted to mudslinging, weaving tales as fantastical as a child’s bedtime story.Ronah claims President Yoweri Museveni sponsored her postgraduate studies at Harvard Business School, yet sources confirm she was scraping by in the U.S., working “kyeyo” in an elderly care home after selling part of her ancestral land in Kazo to fund her misadventures. Her visa expired, leading to a two-month jail stint for illegally staying in the States, followed by a humiliating deportation to Entebbe. “We sold part of our family land for her selfish dreams, and now she lies about Harvard,” lamented an anonymous relative from Burunga, her voice heavy with shame. “Ronah’s dragging us into her mess again. She’s a disgrace.”Why does Ronah spin such falsehoods now? Is it bitterness from her deportation, a casualty of the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants?
Her lies extend to dragging First Lady Janet Museveni into her quagmire, alleging the First Lady paid her UGX 2 billion to challenge Kamukama. “Who has such money to squander on a political nobody?”scoffed a Kazo elder, his words echoing the constituency’s disbelief. The First Lady, a symbol of unity, has no hand in Ronah’s divisive schemes. Equally absurd is Ronah’s claim that Hon. Minister Alice Kaboyo handed her UGX 100 million to run as an independent. “Is Ronah Kazo’s darling now? Does Kaboyo dictate our will” asked a local NRM mobilizer. Kazo’s heart beats for President Museveni and the NRM, not for a charlatan who shunned the party’s primaries. Why dodge the NRM’s democratic process if Ronah truly believed in her cause? Her return after deportation, wielding lies instead of a vision, betrays her disconnect from Kazo’s soul.Ronah’s stunts don’t end with blackmail. She has staged fake dramas, alleging kidnapping fears to paint herself as a victim, only for the police to dismiss these as baseless. A senior officer, privy to her antics, revealed past complaints from Kazo residents accusing Ronah of scamming them before her “exile.” “If we pursue her, it’s for those swindles, not her fabricated tales,” the officer declared, urging calm. Her so-called rallies in Kanoni, Engari, and Nkungu were met with empty streets, her “crowds” a mirage of non-voters and hired hands. “She thought she could dazzle us with foreign tales and crocodile tears,” said a Kazo voter from Keicumu. “But we’re wiser than that.”
Ronah’s absence, chasing greener pastures abroad, has left her a stranger to Kazo’s struggles, her blackmail a last-ditch effort to extort funds before nominations. As the saying goes, “A thief shouts loudest to distract from his crime.”Ronah’s noise is no match for Kazo’s clarity. Contrast this with Molly Kamukama, a leader as steady as the Rwizi River’s flow. In the July 2025 NRM primaries, she swept every parish in Kazo, trouncing incumbent Hon. Jenipher Muheesi with a commanding 67% of the vote. This landslide victory sent a resounding message: Kazo is tired of tricksters and ready for transformation.With her 14-year tenure at the Uganda Electoral Commission, her role as Principal Private Secretary to President Museveni, and her service as a minister, Kamukama reflects unwavering commitment to governance. Her vision—clean water, good roads, women’s and youth SACCOs, power lines, and agricultural growth—is a roadmap to prosperity. “UGX 500 million could bring water to our villages or empower our youth,”said a resident from Kanoni. “Molly chose Kazo over Ronah’s greed.”Kazo’s voters, as discerning as elders under the village tree, see through Ronah’s charade. Her lies about defections from Kamukama’s camp are as empty as a gourd after a feast, with thousands flocking to Kamukama’s camp, a testament to her unbreakable bond with the people. The NRM’s grip on Kazo is as firm as a blacksmith’s hammer, and Ronah’s un-nominated bid stands no chance against this tide of loyalty. “Kazo is an NRM stronghold,” declared a community leader from Kyampangara. “Let Ronah try her luck, and the ballot will teach her a lesson.”Her family in Burunga, still reeling from her land-selling fiasco, mourns her return as a stain on their name. “We’re shocked she’s dragging us into another mess,” the relative added. As the 2026 elections loom, Kazo stands tall, unswayed by Ronah’s blackmail. Like a hyena whose stench betrays its presence, her lies-about Harvard, the First Lady, and Minister Kaboyo-have exposed her true colors. Kamukama, a shepherd guiding her flock with purpose, leads Kazo toward progress, not division.As Nelson Mandela wisely said, “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger.” Kamukama unites, while Ronah divides. Kazo’s verdict is clear: no room for blackmail, only space for development. Let Ronah face the ballot, and the people will put her in her place. In the words of St. Augustine, “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”
In Kazo, the truth roars, and Molly Kamukama is the people’s choice.
The writer is a resident of Bukiiro Village, Kyengando Parish, Engari Sub-county, Kazo District.
