Why Ssemujju Nganda is too good for our ping pong politics

A few weeks ago Ssemujju Nganda announced his bid for the speakership race joining the incumbent Rebecca Kadaga and Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah. Ssemujju of course needs no introduction in our politics.

His regular and scintillating appearances in Parliament, on radio and TV have decorated our political commentary at a time when political debate has been punctuated more by mediocrity and inferiority than common sense, wit and revolutionary wisdom.

His views and opinions have become unsettling and uncomfortable to those who get served. He has consistently displayed the sort of indiscriminate rage that has made him a sensation and one of the most feared commentators on mainstream media.

He has breathed an aura of life into our lacklustre and often boring political commentary which has populated our TV and Radio for sometime now.

And in those bite-sized words lie a sort of mission statement, unwritten rule: speaking truth to power and standing up to those who wield it whenever an opportunity presents itself without fear or favour.

He has enjoyed a garlanded and thrilling political career. The sort of raw, unbridled authenticity that makes him one of the most compelling commentators on Prime TV and radio audience.

He has filled the void at a time when our mainstream media is struggling to get pundits to help us understand the current affairs better.

He has made us forget the mediocrity of what our TV and Radio have become, dishing out well informed and impassioned analysis. The sort of commentary and a riotously good journalism our media has been deprived of.

After many years of our toxic, silly and sometimes stupid political debates, there has been a feeling out there that quality of debate in Parliament has degenerated to lowest ebb.

Of course, the house with it's many challenges, has always been sprinkled with smart and articulate legislators.

For Ssemujju, this is a role into which he was originally made for– and with hindsight, it is not surprising that he has done it with breath taking flair and finesse.

It is a role that was honed and fine tuned when he was still in a newsroom at Daily Monitor and The Observer and it was a matter of time to be a wise sage he is today.

There is now a curiously quaint view gaining extraordinary consensus that debate and politics in general has gone to the dogs.

For some time, the arc of political commentary and debate has drifted from deeper insight, more immersive analysis to entertainment and showbiz.

Ssemujju has singlehandedly driven engagement, stirred debate, prickled emotions which have been condensed into in shareable bite-sized social media segments making his TV performances an instant hit and waspishly courting a large audience across the political divide.

Those who have been around for some time agree that Ssemujju represents the golden yesteryears of our once respected August house.

Days when accomplished legislators like Norbert Mao,  Elly Karuhanga, Eriya Kategaya, Winnie Byanyima, Francis Ayume and Wapakabulo to mention but a few occupied that Parliament. Seeing him debate one can't help but reminisce such days with nostalgia.

Ssemujju is seeking the office of the speaker when Parliament is a shadow of it's past. His moral and reputation is too big to command popular support in a house where wheeling and dealing have become common place.

It is unlikely that he will overcome interests that have made and are determined to maintain that house as a rubber stamp: an institution vulnerable to the whims and sometimes sinister motives of the executive.

It's also going to be difficult for him to circumvent many roadblocks in the race for speakership but that is not surprising at a time when we are now building a parliamentary complex, the size of Wembley Stadium.