By Sadat Baligeya
Former Kampala Capital City Mayor and a leading businessman Al Hajji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala commonly known as Seeya is dead.
Sebaggala, 72, died in the morning hours of Saturday at International Hospital Kampala where he had been admitted after he developed a disorder in his stomach, commonly referred to as intussusception that came when he slipped in his bathroom on September 10 and was rushed to IHK where it was discovered upon examination that he had a stomach disorder. He has been in the hospital’s ICU unit for the last two weeks.
Ntege Sebaggala was born in Kampala on November 15 1947.
Nasser Ntege Ssebagala was Mayor of Kampala from 2006 to 2011. He was an independent presidential candidate in the 2006 general election before dropping out and joining the Kampala mayoral race.
In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran for the post of DP president but lost to Norbert Mao. Shortly after, he formed a political party but later dissolved it and joined NRM as senior presidential advisor.
This year, he announced that he had joined the National Unity Platform and has expressed intention to stand for the mayoral position on the party ticket.
Unfortunately, he slipped in his bathroom on September 10 and was rushed to IHK where it was discovered upon examination that he had a stomach disorder.
Ssebagala’s Political Life
Seya as being referred to as by his friends has been a prominent businessman in Kampala in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, began his political career by running for the position of Mayor of Kampala.
Ssebagala has been a life member of the Democratic Party, Sebaggala won the first direct elections for mayor of Kampala in 1998, beating two government-sponsored candidates.
However, he was arrested in the United States two months later, in June 1998, on eight counts of fraud and lying to U.S. customs officials. In February 1999, he received a 15-month sentence but was paroled in December 1999.
Ssebagala returned to Kampala in February 2000 to a warm welcome and considered a bid in the 2001 presidential elections.
In mid-December 2005, he broke with the Democratic Party (DP), after he came third in the party presidential primaries, which was won by Ssebaana Kizito, and registered himself as an independent.
Mid this year, he announced that he had joined the National Unity Platform and has expressed intention to stand for the mayoral position on the party ticket.
Several leaders and business communities including Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine have commiserated with the family following the death of former Kampala City Mayor Nasser Ntege Ssebagala, who passed on at International Hospital Kampala.
However, Leaders from the opposition and government including leaders of opposition Betty Aol Ochan were also among those who took to social media to eulogize Ssebagala.
“Suddened by the death of the former Kampala Mayor Al Hajj Nasser Ntege Sebaggala (Seya)
My sincere condolences to the family, friends, people of Kampala and Uganda at large,” Ms. Ochan.
Hajji Nasser Ntege Ssebagala passes on….Allah amulamuze kissa— Betty Nambooze, Mukono Municipalty MP.
Rest in peace Haj Ssebagala, Inalilai Inalilai rajuhun.
Kitalo nnyo, kitalo ddala — Bobi Wine
Inallilah wa Inallila ihi illaju_un… Al Haj Nasser Ntege Ssebaggala former Mayor of Kampala City Council dies at IHK — Muhammad Ssegirinya —Lord Councilor.
I am gutted by the death of Al-Hajj Nasser Ntege Ssebaggala, several days after he slipped and fell in his bathroom. I send my thoughts and prayers to his extended family, friends, and relatives. May Hajji’s soul rest in eternal peace, and may Allah forgive him of all that went wrong. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un — Francis Zaake
Very saddened by the passing of Al-Hajj Nasser Ntege Ssebagala, a senior member of the National Unity Platform. Saddened that he has gone without seeing a new Uganda that he so much longed to see.
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un — Lewis Rubongoya & NUP Secretary General
It’s with great sadness that Forum for Democratic Change joins the rest of the Country and World to mourn the passing of Al Hajj Nasser Ntege Sebaggala, a former Kampala City Mayor and seasoned politician who participated in shaping the geopolitical environment that Uganda operates in today
INNALILAHI WAINAILAYHI RAJUAN
May Allah grant him Paradise.