Dokolo byelection: NUP gets potential flag-bearer after month-long search
Feb 19, 2024
The development has also come at a time when NUP had struggled in vain for a month to get a woman to the front as its flag-bearer for the byelection.
Harriet Ageno Nenidiro, NUP potential flag-bearer for Dokolo Woman MP byelection. (Photos by Joseph Ekol)
Joseph Ekol
Journalist @New Vision
_____________________ NUP Secretary General Rubongoya, Jogo and Ageno adressing the media at Dokolo Hotel on Satarday NUP officials pose for a photo with Ageno after receiving her in the party on Satarday
One of the 11 women who had expressed interest in running in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primaries to hold the flag for Dokolo Woman MP byelection has offered herself to the National Unity Platform (NUP).
Harriet Ageno aka Nenidiro presented herself to NUP on Saturday, February 17, 2024, at Dokolo Hotel in Dokolo district and was officially received by NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya and other party officials.
Ageno's surprise move came just a few days after the NRM announced that it would not conduct the primaries for a flag-bearer but that it would front the 2021 flag-bearer, Janet Adongo, to contest for the Dokolo Woman MP byelection as provided for by the party constitution.
The development has also come at a time when NUP had struggled in vain for a month to get a woman to the front as its flag-bearer for the byelection.
Ageno, who has a master's degree in public health, said while in NRM, she observed that the party manifesto was only in black and white and always not implemented, which made her think she was misplaced.
"I had been an NRM and while there, I saw the party's core values and observed that their manifesto is only on paper but they are not implemented. I feel my new place in NUP will allow me to express myself and explore my potential as a rights activist and a vocal voice for the voiceless," Ageno said.
Dokolo Woman Member of Parliament position became vacant following the death of the former MP Cecilia Barbara Atim Ogwal on January 18, 2024. The Electoral Commission, therefore, last week announced February 21, 2024, as the date for the elections to fill the position.
Only one woman showed interest
Rubongoya said when they put out a call for the expression of interest in the flag, only Ageno showed interest but that the door is still open for any other interested woman.
If no other aspirant presents herself by next week, Rubongoya said NUP will have no option but to unveil Ageno at their headquarters in Kampala ahead of the byelection.
According to him, Dokolo needs someone who is vocal and who is ready to advocate for the improvement of education, agriculture, health service delivery, and poverty eradication, warning the voters to resist bribery during this byelection.
Ageno was born in the Adok sub-county (the same as that of fallen MP Ogwal) and married in Dokolo South.
Asega Jogo, the deputy secretary of mobilisation in charge of northern Uganda, said their past members who had been deployed on the ground to mobilise for the Dokolo candidate have been receiving threats from some of the individual security personnel in the district.
He noted that “fronting a candidate in the Dokolo byelection is not a crime and the person we are mobilising for is a member of the community, not a stranger’’.
Nyanzi Fred Sentamu, the chief mobilisation secretary, said they have inducted their team members to go and mobilise for the candidate and ensure they come out with excellent results in the byelection.
Moses Mawa, the NUP regional chairperson for Lango, said Ageno is very experienced in politics and resilient to pressure therefore she can be the best replacement for Cecilia Ogwal compared to candidates fronted by both FDC, NRM, and UPC.
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