Ugandans watch Mamdani’s mayoral run with pride

In the Ugandan newsroom where he appeared one day as an intern, Zohran Mamdani looked shy and unassuming.

- By Ropney MunuMvuzA

NEW YORK mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, center, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Uganda.

(STEPHANIE KEITH Getty Images)

His father had arranged forhim to spend time at the Daily Monitor newspaper with hope that the teenager would show more interest in current affairs.

“He told me himself: He had to go every evening and have a conversation with his dad about the current affairs of the day,” recalled Angelo Izama, the journalist who was tasked with mentoring Mamdani in 2007 in Kampala, the capital of his native Uganda.

Mamdani wanted to bea “top reporter,” which is how Izama recalled saving the young man’s number in his cellphone. Although sports were the teen’s passion, he also “had insatiable curiosity about the world” around him.

“He was very, very curious as a young person,” said Izama, who remained in touch with Mamdani for years after his months-long experience as a journalist. “This is something that will stay with him forever.”

Now the 34-year-old Mamdani, who has kept his Ugandan citizenship, could become New York City’s first Muslim mayor and the first of Indian descent. Tuesday is the final day of voting as he faces Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent.