Sheema Municipality race puts PFF, ANT alliance to test

SHEEMA - On Saturday, October 4, 2025, New Vision Online reported that leaders of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) in Ankole, led by regional co-ordinator Stanley Katembeya, had resolved to back Muntu following a consultative meeting.

“I am the governor of this region, which comprises 13 districts. We decided to support General Muntu in this cause. That is why you are seeing me with his team,” Katembeya told New Vision Online.

“Mugume is the ANT co-ordinator in Sheema, but he is contesting for the Sheema Municipality seat, and there is another comrade who previously contested for the same seat, Virginia Plan of the PFF,” Muntu assured Kitagata town council residents on Sunday. (All Photos by Stuart Yiga)

It should be noted that in early July this year, the Katonga-based PFF, led by Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and ANT, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The agreement, inked at Hotel Africana in Kampala city, included the possibility of fielding joint candidates at all levels. A plan that was to be studied by the Common Ground Council.

However, the elasticity of this partnership is already being tested on the ground, where in some constituencies, both the PFF and Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu’s Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) have fielded candidates.

A case in point is the Sheema Municipality seat, where Katonga Road’s Virginia Plan Mugyenyi is up against Joseph Mugisha Maisho, a veterinary doctor aligned with ANT.

For context, Virginia Plan Mugyenyi, while still a member of the Najjanankumbi-based Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), went toe to toe with National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) Dr Elioda Tumwesigye in the 2018 Sheema Municipality by-election.

Losing with 11,489 votes against Tumwesigye’s 13,590.

However, with Tumwesigye clinching the NRM flag for Sheema North in the recent party primaries, a constituency he previously represented before resigning to contest in the 2018 byelection, analysts contend that Virginia might see herself as the most formidable Opposition contender to challenge incumbent Member of Parliament Dickson Kateshumbwa (NRM).

“Mugume is the ANT co-ordinator in Sheema, but he is contesting for the Sheema Municipality seat, and there is another comrade who previously contested for the same seat, Virginia Plan of the PFF,” Muntu assured Kitagata town council residents on Sunday.

“We want one candidate in each electoral area. We will sit down before nominations and ask God to have mercy on us to make this easy. We zero in on one person to contest for the municipality. So that those who say the opposition cannot set foot in the municipality are beaten with a technical knockout,” he added.