NUP, NRM trounced in chaotic Wandegeya LC1 vote
Voting at Wandegeya Mosque was marked by tension, with both the NUP and NRM candidates alleging irregularities in the exercise and threatening to challenge the outcome.
Simon Sentamu Kirabo on independent ticket lining up with his supporters shortly before he was declared the winner. (Credit: Isaac Nuwagaba)
KAMPALA - The National Unity Platform (NUP) and National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidates in the Local Council One (LC1) election for Katale Zone, Wandegeya, were left disappointed after a relatively little-known independent candidate secured a convincing victory.
Voting at Wandegeya Mosque was marked by tension, with both the NUP and NRM candidates alleging irregularities in the exercise and threatening to challenge the outcome.
NUP candidate Shamim Lule Lugoloobi arrived at the polling station at around midday dressed in red overalls and was welcomed by her supporters.
However, she said she later realised that many of her supporters had already entered the venue while the area presiding officer, Simon Dickens Amandi, was reading out voters' names from the official register, a process she questioned.
“I appeared here at around midday, but I became perplexed when I noticed suspicious youthful voters from Kasokoso coming to vote from here,” Lugoloobi, who polled seven votes, said.
“I cannot accept these results because my agents told me that they started reading out names in the register from 9 am, but it reached 2:30 pm when they had not finished, under the watch of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers, military police and plain-clothed security officers intimidating my supporters,” Lugoloobi added.
She claimed many of her supporters who had turned up early to vote were intimidated after a large deployment of security personnel and vehicles surrounded the polling station following reports of possible chaos.
NRM flag bearer disputes results
NRM flag bearer Salimon Ssozi, who was accompanied by supporters of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) dressed in yellow T-shirts, mobilised his supporters before voting began.
With supporters playing music and chanting his name, Ssozi said he was confident he would defeat the long-serving LC1 chairperson, Sadiq Kasozi.
Salimon Ssozi, the NRM flagbearer who appeared with the PLU political pressure group supporters lining up with his supporters before he was defeated. (Credit: Isaac Nuwagaba)
“I told you, officers, that the man had hired goons from Kasokoso to come and vote for him, but you kept a deaf ear to my complaints. I will drag you and the Electoral Commission officials to Court for presiding over a sham election,” Ssozi claimed.
Ssozi received 259 votes, outgoing chairperson Sadiq Kasozi polled six votes, Alex Andrew (Independent) received no votes, while Lugoloobi secured seven votes.
“I cannot accept these results because this is not the register that was compiled for this exercise,” Ssozi emphasised.
Ssozi accused the Electoral Commission and the Government of using security personnel to intimidate voters, allowing non-bona fide voters to access the polling station and ignoring complaints raised by candidates.
Kirabo pledges to support PDM, Emyooga
The newly elected LC1 chairperson, Simon Sentamu Kirabo, pledged to support government initiatives such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga, saying he would ensure more residents benefit from the programmes.
“I won’t disappoint my supporters. Many people were not accessing PDM, yet we had Chairman Kasozi, who had spent 30 years here. I will work out a mechanism for my people to benefit,” he promised.
Kirabo also pledged to continue mobilising communities, promote sanitation and environmental protection, and maintain peace and security.
In Kampala, where Wandegeya is located, the PDM has already disbursed sh19.257b to 98 parishes, benefiting 19,257 individuals. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has emphasised the importance of grassroots development and economic inclusion through the programme.