Lord Mayor Race: NRM backs Kizito, NUP Balimwezo, to end Lukwago’s 15-year dominance

Kampala, Uganda: The battle for Kampala’s top political seat is heating up with the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) expected to front Nakawa East MP Ronald Balimwezo as its candidate for Lord Mayor in 2026, while the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) is expected to back party diehard Kizito Moses Nsubuga in order to reclaim control of the capital from opposition grip.

The trio, alongside candidates expected from other political parties and those who may contest as independents, are aiming to dethrone the incumbent, AlHajj Erias Lukwago of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), formerly affiliated with the Democratic Party and now a key opposition figure aligned to Dr. Kizza Besigye’s political machinery.

Balimwezo’s endorsement, though not officially confirmed by the NUP, is said to have been finalized during closed-door strategy meetings held this week at the party headquarters in Makerere Kavule, where sources confirmed that party leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine, personally backed the outspoken engineer and urban planner for the Lord Mayor race.

Balimwezo, a former mayor of Nakawa Division, is seen as a charismatic mobilizer with a deep understanding of Kampala’s governance challenges as NUP continues to grow its dominance in the country’s capital and epicentre of the central Buganda region.

Meanwhile, sources at the NRM secretariat say Kizito, who is currently the Office of the NRM National Chairman Coordinator for Kampala Subregion, has since steadily climbed the ruling party’s urban mobilization ranks and is seen as a bridge between the power ranks and the Ghetto livelihoods around the city.

This week, Kizito officially picked interest forms to confirm his candidature for the Lord Mayor race, and his bid gained an advanced boost when two of his rivals for the party flag, Mahad Kaweesa and Kintu William, withdrew from the race and backed him to represent the ruling party.

The ONC Coordinator is expected to benefit from NRM’s renewed push to regain political relevance in the capital, especially under President Museveni’s wealth creation, bazzukulu empowerment, and service delivery campaign strategy targeting urban voters.

Meanwhile, the incumbent Erias Lukwago, who has served as Kampala’s Lord Mayor since 2011, remains a formidable force to shake despite cracks in the broader opposition alliance.

While Lukwago has yet to formally declare his bid for a fourth term, his allies within PFF say he remains focused on urban justice, public transport reform, and resisting what he calls the regime’s “militarized urbanism.”

The 2026 Lord Mayor race is now shaping into a high-stakes contest between NUP’s youthful progressive base, NRM’s state-backed machinery, and Lukwago’s legacy-driven platform of rights-based urban governance.