Kampala City, Uganda: Ssalongo Ronald Balimwezo Nsubuga is a Ugandan civil engineer, academic, community organiser, and politician whose election as Lord Mayor has capped nearly two decades of steady rise through Kampala’s urban governance structures, blending technical expertise with grassroots mobilisation.
Born on November 28, 1972, Balimwezo is a product of Nakawa Division, where he was raised and educated. His formative years in one of Kampala’s most socially diverse areas exposed him early to the city’s infrastructural gaps, service delivery challenges, and urban inequalities, experiences that would later shape his public agenda.
As a youth, he was active in sports including boxing, football, lawn tennis, and running, cultivating discipline and competitiveness that later defined his leadership style.
Balimwezo pursued higher education at Makerere University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and later a Master of Science in the same discipline.
He further expanded his technical portfolio with additional diplomas in construction, architecture, and waste management, fields directly tied to urban development. His academic credentials positioned him as both a practitioner and a policy-minded professional.
Experience, Civil Work
Beyond practice, Balimwezo spent over a decade as a lecturer at Kyambogo University, training engineers, technicians, and artisans. His work in academia placed him at the centre of capacity-building in Uganda’s infrastructure sector, mentoring a generation of professionals now active in construction, public works, and engineering services across the country.
Professionally, Balimwezo worked as a design and project management engineer before transitioning fully into public leadership.
Parallel to his technical career, he founded the Balimwezo Community Foundation, which focused on pro-poor empowerment, community development, and skills-building initiatives in Nakawa and wider Kampala. His community work earned him regional and international exposure, including participation in leadership programmes and environmental and civic engagement initiatives.
Joining Politics
Balimwezo entered elective politics in 2006 when he won a councillor seat in Nakawa Division. His ascent continued in 2011 when he was elected Mayor of Nakawa Division, a position he held for two consecutive terms until 2021. During this period, he built a reputation around infrastructure advocacy, environmental protection, urban planning, and accountability in city administration.
In the 2021 general elections, he moved to national politics, winning the Nakawa East parliamentary seat on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket. In Parliament, he served on the Physical Infrastructure Committee, aligning legislative oversight with his engineering background.
His influence in city affairs deepened further in 2023 when he was elected Chairperson of the Kampala City Roads Committee, overseeing road rehabilitation funding and infrastructure accountability in the capital.
A defining chapter in Balimwezo’s public life followed a serious road accident that led to the loss of one of his legs—an incident he has directly linked to poor road conditions and weak urban safety systems in Kampala.
Rather than retreat from public life, he incorporated the experience into his advocacy, amplifying calls for safer roads, improved emergency response, and better city planning. The accident became a central reference point in his later political messaging, particularly during his Lord Mayoral campaign.
In 2025, Balimwezo announced he would not seek re-election to Parliament, instead declaring his bid for the Kampala Lord Mayoral seat in the 2026 local government elections. He was nominated as the NUP flag bearer in September 2025 and ran on a platform centred on infrastructure renewal, waste management reform, service delivery efficiency, and accountable city governance.
The race became one of the most competitive urban contests in recent history, culminating in his decisive victory.
Balimwezo is married to Rachel Balimwezo. In November 2025, the couple welcomed twins, a boy and a girl, earning him the Buganda cultural title Ssaalongo. Known for maintaining a strong family profile, he has consistently projected values of resilience, faith, youth mentorship, and community wellbeing alongside his political career.
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