▶️ Tears in Kamuli, Iganga districts over Kadaga loss

May 26, 2021

“Kadaga’s defeat hit Kamuli and Busoga region like lightning. Our only eye has been closed.”

Kadaga leaves Kololo on Monday

NewVision Reporter
Journalist @NewVision

 

For the people of Kamuli district and Busoga sub-region, the news of Kadaga’s defeat by Jacob Oulanyah was received with tears and shock. 
On the streets of Kamuli town, many could not hold their tears. 

At the former Speaker’s Century Hotel on Kadaga Road in Kamuli town, silence reigned as the clients glued their eyes on TV screens as they followed the vote counting. 

The business community lost interest in the vote counting as Kadaga’s last votes showed she was trailing. Kadaga had never been defeated since she joined politics in 1989. 

“This is the first time Kadaga has lost an election,” an elderly man who runs a hardware shop on Adam’s Road, said. 
“Kadaga’s defeat hit Kamuli and Busoga region like lightning. Our only eye has been closed,” Scovia Monica Nakholi, who runs a grocery store in Kamuli Central Market, said. 

Prince Isabalangira Mitala Woira, a senior chief in Bugabula, the Kyabazinga’s birthplace in Kamuli district, said: “Kadaga’s defeat is a big blow, not only to the Basoga, but also Obwakyabazinga bwa Busoga. 

“She has been a patron and mouthpiece of the kingdom. In case the kingdom had challenges, Kadaga would use her position to engage the respective authorities such as State House for intervention,” Woira said. 

Godfrey Biriwaali, the chairperson of Busoga Sugracane Growers Co-operative Union, said Kamuli and Busoga have lost a lobbyist, who always used her post to source for development projects. 

“She lobbied the Government to inject sh300b into bailing out the sugarcane farmers who were stuck with the crop for five years. The money is used to transport cane from Busoga to Atiak in Amuru district,” Biriwaali said. 

 

WHAT MADE KADAGA POPULAR 
Felix Isabirye, a resident of Kamuli, said Kadaga is still Busoga’s darling because she is a brilliant and hardworking woman who loves her people. 

Residents attribute a number of schools, health centres and boreholes to her effort.
She set up the Kadaga Foundation, which gives scholarships to needy children, Robinah Namabiro, a local leader in Kasoigo ward, Kamuli municipality, said. 
Kadaga played a big role in the enthronement of the Kyabazinga of Busoga, Gabula Nadiope 1V. 

In Iganga, most residents followed the live TV and radio broadcast of the voting at Kololo Independence Grounds. 

At Iganga Central Market, vendors abandoned their stalls to watch the live TV broadcast in the adjacent shops. Whenever Kadaga’s name would be mentioned during the counting, there would be ululation from a section of them. Bamu Lulenzi, the Iganga mayor, said Kadaga had taken the right decision to contest as an independent candidate. 

Abdullah Balunywa, the former Bulamagi LC3 chairperson, said the NRM Central Executive Committee decision to choose Oulanyah as party candidate had been a big blow to Busoga. 

“Maama Kadaga has been so instrumental in the development of Busoga. This decision takes us back to square one,” Balunywa said. 

Gregory Kafeero, a bodaboda rider at Iganga Hospital stage, said Kadaga’s fall was inevitable after President Yoweri Museveni’s dismal performance in Busoga. 
According to Kafeero, this was the first time NRM did poorly in Busoga.

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