Busia voters give conditions for backing Movement party
“If it means voting for NRM to get proper service delivery, we are ready to do it,” they yelled.
Julius Maganda interacting with Voters at Neborola. (Photos by Egessa Hajusu)
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As parliamentary campaigns for the 2026 General Elections heat up, candidates have started feeling the plight of voters go through in connecting with poor service delivery in Busia district.
Richard Wanyama Hamala and Julius Maganda, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party flag-bearers for Samia Bugwe Central and Samia Bugwe South, respectively, shook their heads in disbelief as voters in Bulwenge and Dadira parishes in Central and South recounted their plight concerning access to clean water.
Hamala was campaigning in Bujwanga and Buma villages in Buhehe sub-county, while Maganda was campaigning in Neborola and Bukobe village Lumino sub-county.
As if the voters had planned, they appealed for clean water, saying they had only one on-and-off borehole in their villages where residents spend the whole day fighting for water.
In Bukobe, the voters stated that the only borehole was sunk in 1964, while in Bujwanga, the voters noted that their only borehole was provided by the Hope for Kids Foundation.
Richard Wanyama Hamala, the NRM flag-bearer Samia Bugwe Central.
Scovia Auma said it takes about 45 minutes to pump and fill a five-litre jerrycan at the old borehole, noting most residents opt to go and fetch water from River Sio bordering Kenya.
The voters expressed disappointment that efforts to plead with incumbent MPs to lobby for boreholes have been fruitless after the district authorities failed to allocate boreholes in the densely populated villages lying at the border with Kenya.
“If it means voting for NRM to get proper service delivery, we are ready to do it,” they yelled.
The two constituencies are represented by independent MPs Dennis Nyangweso and Godfrey Odero , respectively.
Requesting voters to send him back, Maganda, the former East African Market Affairs state minister, who was dropped in 2021, attributed the voters' plight to dropping him.
He said all the plans he had put in place stalled when he was sacked by the voters. He promised to start from where he stopped, noting he understands the problems of Samia Bugwe South.
On his part, Hamala noted that voting for the right people who belong to the system is the only way of benefiting from the national cake.
He said all voters' challenges, ranging from infrastructure, unemployment, and clean water, which is only a few kilometres from some communities, can be fixed when there is the right leadership in place.
Hamala is facing off with Nyangweso (Independent), Deogratius Ngabwe of the PFF, Bernard Ouma Kenyatta (NUP), among others, while Maganda is fighting against Fredy Egessa Achoka NUP, Odero (Independent) and Justus Okumu (FDC), among others.