At 75 years, NRM flag bearer seeks fifth term for Buwenge LC3 chairperson

_________________

Aged 75-years, Hassan Isabirye Kinosa is among the 11 candidates vying for Buwenge town council LC3 chairperson in Jinja district.

Kinosa is seeking a fifth term in a race that has drawn his former vice chairperson, Christine Kyangwa, who is contesting as an independent.

After declaring her bid for the slot, Kinosa made a reshuffle in which he dropped Kyangwa, replacing her with Sharif Mpooya Pepe, the current outgoing youth councilor who in the district polls won the race for a district councilor representing Buwenge town council.

Kinosa is the first inaugural mayor of Buwenge town council since 1997.

He served for two terms until 2006, when he was ousted by Stephen Mwesigye Ngobi, who also served for two terms up to 2016.

Again, Kinosa would return to reclaim his seat, which he had occupied until now on the NRM card.

Local reports indicate that the race had been a two-man race until 2021, when more contenders came on board.

“We have been seeing a two-man race between Kinosa and Mwesigye since the creation of our town council. It wasn't until 2021 that we saw more new faces,” said a reporter on condition of anonymity.

However, the trend had since changed with many more intending to end Kinosa’s era.

They include Ismail Ozanya, his archrival, whom he defeated in the NRM primaries and opted to contest as an independent.

Jinja district comprises 2 sub-counties, Busede and Butagaya, with 5 town councils such as Buyengo, Kakira, Namagera, Kagoma, and Buwenge.

However, Buwenge and Kakira town councils remained the hotspots based on the NRM party primaries, where lives were lost, with the majority sustaining injuries.

However, there were low turnouts at some polling stations, such as Masigid Jamia in Buwenge town council, where 100 voters had turned up by 3:30PM out of the 400 registered voters.

Amina Wotali, who presided over polls at Good Hope Nursery and Primary school, said out of the 592 voters at A-MUK polling station, 188 had voted by 3:00PM.

Wotali said the turnout at their specific station was much better compared to that of the LC5 elections.

“The turnout here was much better than the previous; we were almost rendered idle, especially for the rest of the afternoon,” she said.

Violence

The Jinja resident district commissioner, Ahmed Musazi Katerega, said they recorded two cases of violence in Kakira town council as a result of two factions clashing.

He said one of the incidents occurred on Tuesday night when Charles Sande Kabule, the incumbent LC3 chairperson, was attacked and cut by sharp objects.

Katerega said Kabule was first rushed to Kakira health centre III before he was referred at the Jinja regional hospital.

Kabule contested in the NRM parliamentary primaries for the Butembe constituency but lost to Jacob Kabondo.

He would return as an independent in the general election together with Shaban Okumu who also lost in the primaries.

Katerega added that another case of violence was reported at Wairaka church, where machines were destroyed.