Former Kiboga Woman Member of Parliament and current Energy and Mineral Development Minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, has spoken candidly about her 2021 election loss, describing the National Unity Platform (NUP) surge as a moment she believes was divinely timed to mark her exit from elective politics.
Nankabirwa lost the Kiboga Woman MP seat in the 2021 general elections to NUP’s Kaaya Christine Nakimwero, amid a strong opposition wave that swept across much of Buganda and urban Uganda.
Reflecting on the outcome, Nankabirwa said the scale of the political shift caught many leaders unprepared.
“I am a believer, and the wave caught us unaware in the entire country. All the ministers from Buganda here did not come back,” she said.
Rather than viewing the defeat with bitterness, Nankabirwa says she embraced it as a long-prayed-for transition.
“I had always prayed for a moment that God prepared for me to exit from elective politics because I started immediately after school. So I was looking for that time when I would leave,” she noted.
She added that she interpreted the 2021 wave as an opportunity rather than a setback.
“I saw this wave as an opportunity for me to exit, and I happily exited. I said I am not going to go back to elective politics. Let me take another path.”
That path, she says, came with new responsibilities. Nankabirwa was appointed a Canon in the Church of Uganda, while President Yoweri Museveni retained her in Cabinet, entrusting her with the crucial Energy, Petroleum, Gas and Minerals portfolio.
“God bestowed me the responsibility of being a Canon of the Church of Uganda, and President Museveni also bestowed on me the responsibility of continuing to be in his cabinet and I am happy,” she said. “I am making changes in the ministry, and I am happy.”
Commenting on the wider political implications of the 2021 results, particularly in Buganda where opposition candidates dominated, Nankabirwa said governance continued uninterrupted.
“The entire country was yellow and then Buganda was red and then so what? The government continued. The president continued to be the same president.”
She praised President Museveni for maintaining confidence in leaders from the region despite their electoral losses.
“He was like, ‘It’s okay if you don’t see any value in my ministers; I see value in them.’ He continued giving them responsibility,” she said.
Pointing to the strategic importance of her docket, Nankabirwa posed a rhetorical question.
“Who doesn’t know the importance of the ministry of energy, petroleum, gas and minerals?”
She believes the 2021 political wave served as a lesson rather than a rupture.
“Maybe it came as a wake-up call. I think people have woken up, the people of Buganda,” she concluded, reaffirming her loyalty to President Museveni and the ruling party.
“I say again, President Museveni, NRM Uganda.”
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