NRM loses Jinja district female workers' councillor seat in re-run

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A re-run for the Jinja district female workers councillor seat election, which pitted the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate against an Independent candidate, has seen the ruling party lose the poll.

Incumbent Ruth Mubeezi, on February 17, 2026, failed to secure a second term after being defeated by Lillian Alum.

Ruth Mubeezi, the NRM flag bearer who lost her second bid for the Jinja district female workers seat during the Tuesday re-run to Lillian Alum, the independent contender. (Credit: Jackie Nambogga)

Alum, a first timer in politics, polled 125 votes, while the incumbent got 72 during the exercise presided over by Alex Mukwanga at the Kagoma town council offices in Jinja district.

The two returned to the ballot boxes after the initial January 21, 2026, exercise saw each of them get 68 votes. The only vote that would have determined the winner was announced invalid after a voter ticked both candidates.

However, Mukwanga noted an increment in the voter turnout in this exercise from the initial 157 to 197 out of the 276 registered voters.

He said the additional 40 was quite a big number, which he attributed to good mobilisation by the candidates.

The Electoral Commission had first scheduled the re-run for February 3, 2026, only to be extended by 14 days, which Alum said gave her time to solicit for votes compared to the January exercise, where they accessed the voters' register a day before the polls.

This, she said, frustrated her efforts to reach out to the many voters for support.

“I never knew many voters in the register, which frustrated our initial win. Even though the postponement drained us while soliciting for support, we reached out to many who made a statement in the ballot box,” she said.

Donned in a royal green dress with neat dreadlocks on her head, Mubeezi kept moving around the polling station, and at one point, she would relax on a stationary motorcycle.

Similarly, Alum, clad in a flowered brown, pink and white dress with a headgear, would also move from the main road to the polling station while monitoring the process.

As the voting exercise concluded, Mubeezi got herself a plastic yellow chair, positioning herself and other stakeholders observed the arrangement of their ballot papers.

As the vote counting was underway, Mubeezi realised that she was losing only to stealthily sneak away, but her son, whose details couldn’t be established, occupied it shortly before he also disappeared.

A resident of Buyengo town council, the now outgoing councillor, was seen holding her craft handbag as she walked by the roadside towards Buwenge town, where she had previously spent a night.

Speaking to journalists, Alum pledged to prioritise service delivery by advocating for the workers’ rights, welfare, such as fair pay, treatment and hearing, as well as being accountable to them.

According to the councillor-elect, she would be forwarding all the workers’ labour-related issues through their union structures by working closely with their union leaders for harmonisation.

On the meagre salaries and pay, Alum said this requires tightening their negotiations once they have what she termed as clear collective bargaining agreements on how they would be adjusted.

“I feel one of those key issues would be resolved if we are together. I am not an angel to know what is on the ground; we have to work as a team to handle people’s challenges as leaders, and I need the media’s support to highlight the workers’ plights,” she said.

Alum commended the voters, unions from different professions, for their support and the LC5 chairperson, Moses Batwala, for welcoming her to contest in the race.

“Elections are done, let us unite and work together for the betterment of our workers and Jinja district local government,” she concluded.