By Daniel Edyegu

A total of five candidates have been nominated to contest for the Butaleja district Woman parliamentary seat.

Three candidates – Betty Hamba (Independent), Felista Namwihiri (FDC) and Perusi Munaba (Independent) – were nominated on Monday to contest in the by-elections scheduled for February 11.

Two more candidates, Florence Nebanda Andiru (NRM) and Sarah Annet Logose (Independent), were nominated on Tuesday.

Logose’s nomination was delayed for an hour after she produced fewer voters to the Electoral Commission to endorse her nomination.

Logose, a former lecturer at Kampala University, had recently been announced as the Democratic Party candidate in the race.

However, she dismissed this as falsehood intended to dent her opportunities in the race.

Three other aspirants, including Allen Wegulo, Hadija Yenga and Wilfred Mulera, who had picked up nomination forms, never turned up.

Wegulo, a former NRM candidate in the party primaries, disputed the outcome of the polls won by Nebanda.

However, Prof. Elijah Mushemeza, the NRM electoral commission chairman, met all the six former party candidates at Busolwe town council and resolved the dispute.

After her nomination on Monday, Hamba’s supporters streamed through Butaleja town council in a convoy of trucks, small cars, commuter vehicles and buses, bringing business to a standstill.

As the convoy snaked through the town, wild supporters danced to loud music blaring out from speakers mounted on the truck.

Joseph Biribonwa, the deputy Electoral Commission chairperson, said the commission plans to meet the candidates to harmonise their campaign programme. The campaigns will run until February 9.

“We completed the update of the voters’ register. The current register has 92,922 people. It’s now up to the electorate to vet this register and ensure that all the people therein are eligible voters,” Biribonwa said.