Museveni

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was born in August 1944 at Kyamate to Mr Amos Kaguta and Ms Esteri Kokundeka.

He is married to Ms Janet Kataha Museveni with whom they have four children

He is the President of the Republic of Uganda and presidential candidate for the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

Museveni went to Mbarara High School and Ntare School for his secondary education.

He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Dar Es Salaam University, Tanzania in 1970

Museveni has been Ugandan President since 26-Jan-1986 to present having led a five-year guerrilla war against the government of Dr Milton Obote and later that of Gen Tito Okello Lutwa.

Ssebaana

The Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate, Mr Ssebaana Kizito, was born in 1934.

The present Kampala mayor is the third party president to contest for national leadership, following Dr Paul Ssemogerere who took over in 1980, filing the vacancy left by Benedict Kiwanuka who was murdered in 1972.

Ssebaana went to Ndejje Junior School for primary education, Kings College Budo for Secondary, and Makerere University where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics.

Ssebaana then proceeded to the University of Oregon where he attained a Masters Degree in Business Economics in 1963, and later the Switzerland Institute of Insurance where he trained in Insurance.

Married

He is married to Christine Kizito with whome they have had six children, four daughters and two sons.

Sebaana joined active politics at the age of 29. He was an East African Assembly MP at the age 30, and also served as Executive Officer - Uganda Development Corporation (1963).

He was the general manager of the Crusader Insurance Company (1964), managing director of the National Insurance Corporation (1965-1980), nd a director in the Central Bank of Uganda (1966-1970). Later in 1980 he established his own Statewide Group of Companies.

When the National Resistance Movement took power in 1986, he was one of the first ministers in its 'broad base' government, having joined the coalition that was based on the so-called 'gentlema's agreement. He served as the Minister of Housing in that first Museveni administration.

From 1989, Ssebaana was an MP in the National Resistance Council (NRC), the interim legislature of the day. He was later to become the Constituent Assembly delegate in 1994 - 95 representing Makindye East.

He has been DP party's national treasurer.

In the independence era politics, Ssebaana was first a member of the Progressive Party, which was later swallowed by Kabaka Yeeka party before joining DP.

Sebaggala

Al-hajji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala will contest for the president's seat as an independent candidate.

He was born to Haji Shaban Sebaggala and the late Hajat Minsi Nabatanzi on November 15, 1947 at Kisaasi in Kampala.

Although little is known about his primary education, Sebaggala acquired a certificate in 'Managing Your Own Business' from an international correspondence school in the United Kingdom in August 1970.

He also attained other certificates from different institutions some of which include certificates of attendance which the Electoral Commission dismissed in the 2001 presidential race for failing to measure up to the required equivalence of A'Level. Sebaggala also picked some certificates from a United States correctional facility where he was imprisoned for uttering fake documents.

Sales manager

Between 1971 to 1972, Sebaggala was the sales manager of the Uganda Dairy Corporation before becoming managing director of several companies like New Fabricano Textiles (1972 - 1979), Ugantico Supermarket (1980 - 1986), Kisaasi Coffee Growers (1986 - 1993) and Kisaasi Forex Bureau (1993 - 1998).

In January 1998, he became the first mayor of Kampala city to be elected by universal adult suffrage.

In October 1980, Sebaggala defeated Ojok Mulozi (RIP) in the DP primaries to stand on the party platform for the parliamentary seat of the then Kampala East Constituency but he stood down for the later to promote regional balance.

On December 4, 1998, Sebaggala was convicted in the USA and imprisoned for 15 months in a Boston for attempting to deposit forged cheques worth $191,000 in a bank in Boston,Masachusettes in the United States.

In August 2001 after coming back to Uganda and campaigning for Kizza Besigye in the presidential race, Sebaggala left for the UK for further studies. He secured partial sponsorship from State House, though he had campaigned bitterly against the occupant, President Yoweri Museveni. He enrolled at a college in Oxford area.

In September, 2004 he formed a militant Youth Brigade.

On December 9, the National Council for Higher Education acquainted three of his academic papers to the level of A' Level.

These were: A certificate of Education from Plata College in Oxford UK, a professional development certificate in Management Studies from Oxford College of Further Education and a General Certificate of Secondary Education from Oxford and Cherlwell - all attained between 2002 and 2003. Sebaggala claims to posses a certificate in management and planning, a postgraduate Diploma from Oxford College, another diploma in Business from the defunct British Totorial College.

Miria Obote

Ms Miria Kalule Obote is the first Ugandan woman to lead a major political party, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC).

She is the presidential candidate of the UPC party in the 2006 elections, making her the first woman ever to enter the race for Uganda's top job.

Miria is the widow of the late former president Apollo Milton Obote, who died on October 10 this year. She has been the country's First Lady twice.

Miria was born on July 16, 1936 to Mr Blasio Kisule Kalule and Ms Malita Kalule of Kawempe, a Kampala suburb.

She went to Gayaza High School from where she joined Makerere University for intermediary studies.

Miria married Apollo Milton Obote on November 11, 1963 in what was described as a State ceremony.

She lived in exile twice when her husband was deposed first from January 1971 to May 1980 and then from July 1985 till she returned to Uganda at the head of the cortege bringing her husband's body from South Africa, via Zambia for burial at his ancestral home in Akokoro in Apac.

In an interview published by Daily Monitor in April this year, Miria said she remained a loyal aide to Obote.

After the death of her husband, there was an outpouring emotion of sympathy for the former president and the bereaved family.

After the speech, the local UPC leadership asked her to lead the party.

Her name was later to gain currency as a candidate of consensus to lead the political party her husband had led till death.

So when UPC held a Delegates Conference to elect new party leaders, it was very likely that she would win.

On November 28, 2005, Miria was elected President of UPC and presidential candidate for the 2006 presidential campaigns.

Miria Obote is expected to get votes in Lango sub region where his late husband was born. Unfortunately, the UPC leadership in northern Uganda is divided. Most UPC leaders in Parliament have been cold-shouldered in favour of new leaders without experience in political mobilisation.