Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemwogerere, a former president of the Democratic Party was on Sunday evening admitted to Rubaga Hospital in a very critical condition.
Sources close to his family disclosed that he could be suffering from a long term illness in one of his internal organs. Dr Kawanga Ssemwogerere was the leader of the Democratic Party in Uganda for 25 years and one of the main players in Ugandan politics until his retirement in 2005.
In 1961–62 Ssemogerere was Elected Member of the Uganda Legislative Council and afterwards of the National Assembly of Uganda as MP for North Mengo Constituency. In 1972, he replaced Benedicto Kiwanuka as the leader of the Democratic Party, having previously served as his Parliamentary Secretary. Following the 1971 coup, Ssemogerere was in exile until 1979, when he returned as Minister of Labour.
Ssemogerere was the Presidential Candidate in the disputed 1980 General elections which were won by Milton Obote’s Uganda People’s Congress. Ssemogerere then became the leader of the parliamentary opposition from 1981–85. He was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs during the Presidency of Tito Okello (1985–86).
After Yoweri Museveni became president in January 1986 following a coup, Ssemogerere was consecutively Minister of Internal Affairs (1986–88), Foreign Affairs (1988–94) and Public Service (1994–95) and at the same time held the post of Deputy Prime Minister in Museveni’s National Resistance Movement government (from 1986). He resigned from his government posts in June 1995 because he was the Presidential Candidate for the mainstream opposition, but he lost the 1996 Presidential elections to Museveni.
Ssemogerere has also been a delegate to the Organisation for African Unity (OAU), and was Chairman of the OAU Council of Ministers from 1993 to 1994.
After his retirement from politics in November 2005, he was succeeded as party president by John Ssebaana Kizito, the Mayor of Kampala.
