Hoima mayor blames loss on in-fighting within NRM

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Incumbent Hoima city mayor and National Resistance Movement (NRM) flag-bearer Brian Kaboyo has blamed his defeat in the recent mayoral elections on party leaders whom he accuses of fighting him. 

The results declared by Hoima city returning officer Obra Atamba showed that Hoima city speaker Edward Isingoma, an independent candidate, won the elections. Isingoma garnered 11,709 votes, beating Kaboyo, who scored 9,252 votes. 

Speaking to the media at HB Hotel in Hoima city on January 28, Kaboyo protested the results, saying the election was not free and fair. He alleged that the election was marred by a lot of irregularities, such as ballot stuffing, intimidation and arrest of his agents, voter bribery and voting by non-residents. Kaboyo said his team was still compiling and documenting evidence that would inform his next course of action. 

“At polling stations such as Kalongo, Bujura and Sir Tito Winyi, my agents were chased and intimidated. We are currently documenting all the irregularities,” he said. 

Kaboyo said NRM leaders colluded with the independent candidate to deprive him of victory. He called on the NRM secretariat to intervene and investigate the party leaders working against flag-bearers. However, New Vision Online could not independently verify Kaboyo's claims. 

“NRM should ensure that all leaders support the party candidates instead of working with the opposition to fight flag-bearers,” he said. 

Kaboyo rubbished claims that he lost the election due to poor service delivery, adding that as mayor, he lobbied his friends and constructed water sources worth over shillings 200 million. 

He noted that the city is facing funding challenges, as it is still operating on a municipal budget, lacks road equipment and garbage dumping sites. Gabiel Dema, the Hoima East division NRM chairperson, acknowledged that the party flag-bearer in Hoima city lost the election due to infighting among party leaders, adding that there is a need to have reconciliation to address these challenges. 

“When the state minister for public service, Grace Mugasa, lost the mayoral election to Brian Kaboyo in 2021, NRM top leaders did not have any reconciliation for the two. So, they have kept their differences up to now, and those differences were also transferred in this election, and this affected the outcome,” Dema said. 

He also claimed that some politicians ferried people outside the city during the voter verification exercise and registered them as voters, which disadvantaged the NRM candidate. NRM suffered a heavy loss in Hoima district after all the party flag-bearers lost the election to either opposition members or independent candidates. 

Donald Bategeka lost the Hoima West division parliamentary seat to Ismail Kasule of Alliance for National Transformation; NRM’s Diana Mugenyi lost the Hoima city woman parliamentary seat to Asinasi Nyakato of People’s Front for Freedom, while NRM’s Jona Byakutaga lost the Hoima East parliamentary seat to Patrick Isingoma Mwesigwa, an independent.