Who is Louis Gaffa Mbwatekamwa? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, relationship with Atuhiire Dona, the late Jolly Gaffa, President Museveni, Igara West county, Bushenyi District, early life and education of the current Igara West county Member of Parliament in Uganda.
Louis Gaffa Mbwatekamwa is an educationist, health worker, pan-Africanist and politician from Uganda. He is the Igara West county Member of Parliament in Bushenyi District in the 11th Parliament.
He previously represented Kasambya County in Mubende District in the 10th Parliament before deciding to return home to Igara.
Gaffa Mbwatekamwa is a National Resistance Movement die-hard with a confessed love for the NUP ideology.
Early life and Education
Louis Gaffa Mbwatekamwa was born on 3rd May 1978 and raised in Gongo village in Igara, Bushenyi District. He is the fifth of Kihurankuba Rwachumika and the late Jolly Gaffa’s six children; three boys and three girls. He is married to Atuhiire Dona, and together they have four children.
Mbwatekamwa went to St. Michael High School for both ordinary and advanced levels of secondary studies.
He went on to enroll for a diploma in Secondary Education at Nkozi University, Mitala Maria campus and a Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy from Kyambogo University. Gaffa also did a postgraduate diploma in Human Resources.
He went on to receive a Master in Management Studies from Kyambogo University in 2013. In August 2022, Mbwatekamwa enrolled at King Ceasor University to study law.
Louis Gaffa was his birth name and he was baptized in the Catholic Church. He led a protest at St. Michael High School in Bushenyi, western Uganda, against a headmaster who made an attempt to start a sexual relationship with a student.
Due to the strike, 43 students would later be suspended and arrested. He rode from school to the police station to secure the release of his teammates.
However, the station’s personnel subtly requested a bribe in order to release the accused. He claims that because he was strapped for cash, he called a prominent local figure who eventually issued an order for the students’ release with the Ushs.200 he had on him.
Even yet, the cops demanded a bribe notwithstanding the “instruction from above.” He reminded them in frustration that “You cannot milk a dog,” or “mbwatekamwa” in the local tongue.
After learning about the incident, his classmates gave him the nickname Mbwatekamwa, and it has stuck ever since.
Mbwatekamwa proved to be the best name, even when he started hosting a political talk programme on radio in the Mubende district. He claims that his nickname was more frequently used by listeners than his true name.
As a result, he began the process of altering his name to Mbwatekamwa Gaffa, which required him to delete Louis.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Gaffa Mbwatekamwa claims that he was first uninterested in politics because he was worried about being swayed by the choices of any party or other person from his experience as a district councillor.
However, he backed his predecessor, whom he claimed had broken his pledges when he moved from Bushenyi to the Mubende district.
Mbwatekamwa opted to fight for the parliamentary seat representing Kasambya County in the 2016 elections, and he was successful.
He worked as a teacher at St. Mary’s Vocational School in Kitende, as well as at the Baylor College of Medicine in Mulago, the Ahmadia Moslem School in Wandegeya, and the Mubende Regional Referral Hospital.
Additionally, he worked as a presenter for Greater African Radio in Mbarara, Tropical FM in Mubende, and Greater Africa TV. Gaffa also worked as a taxi conductor while at Kyambogo University in 2005.
In the NRM Primary election for Igara West Member of Parliament, Gaffa Mbwatekamwa defeated a number of opponents, including Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, Horace Muhabuzi, Dr Karuhanga, and Adam Kyakuwa.
He garnered 24,508 votes and won the general 2021 elections for Igara West constituency representative in Parliament.
Achievements and Awards
Louis Gaffa Mbwatekamwa is currently engaged in dog breeding and exporting to Europe and the Middle East, a business he is so passionate about due to his love of dogs.
He is the founder of several primary schools named Answered Prayer in Kyegwega, Mubende and Ibanda. He also owns the Mubende Answered Prayer School of Nursing and Midwifery.
In the EAC Inter-Parliamentary games in Arusha held in December 2021, Gaffa registered a win in the arduous 1,500m race making the Uganda team win first place ahead of Kenya and Tanzania.
Controversies
Louis Gaffa Mbwatekamwa is one of the nine members of parliament from the ruling party who publicly opposed the constitutional change that removed the 75-year age restriction in 2017 so that President Yoweri Museveni could run for office.
In July 2020, Mbwatekamwa was one of the 16 rebel members of parliament that formally apologised to H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the leader of the NRM Party.
However, the outspoken Gaffa stated that despite returning to his party, he still had a love for the People Power movement. He stated on CBS FM that rejoining his party did not mean he had changed his mind about dealing with corruption and transferring power to the next generation.
Louis Gafa Mbwatekamwa relocated his political base from Kasambya County in Mubende district to Igara County West in Bushenyi district for the 2021 general elections.
“Mbwatekamwa is not welcome”, according to Niwesura Katuraha, a resident of Butaare, because he left his hometown in order to find political support in Mubende. “The action”, continues Katuraha, “also portrays him as a political nomad whose words cannot be relied upon.”
According to Katuraha, Mbwatekamwa had previously declared that he would not get back into politics until President Museveni had vacated office and he had just contradicted himself by declaring to contest for the Igara West county representative position.
After being discovered walking with a group of people immediately after donating an ambulance to Kakanju Health Center III in Bushenyi, Mbwatekamwa was arrested and charged with negligence and intending to spread an infectious disease.
Mbatekamwa claimed ignorance as to why he was arrested except that he was picked up as he left the health centre.
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