Jinja LC5 contest: Three seek to unseat NRM's Batwala

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Whereas Moses Batwala was unopposed as the Jinja district LC5 chairperson during the 2021 General Election, this is to the contrary in the forthcoming polls. 

Batwala, who is also the district National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson, is facing three contenders, and apart from Abudallah Suuta, who is independent, the rest, Paul Kirunda Kibbedi and Abudrahman Mujoma, belong to key opposition parties.

Kibbedi is of the National Unity Platform (NUP), while Mujoma belongs to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). The trio has put up a spirited fight to end Batwala’s term in office.

Abdurahman Mujoma flashing the FDC sign as he traversed Muguluka trading centre in Jinja district on Tuesday.

Suuta, who is the current Butagaya sub-county LC3 chairperson, lost to Batwala in hotly contested NRM party primaries but chose to return in the general polls. 

Batwala won with 49,515 against 26,696, which Suuta refuted, saying the exercise was held without following the party register.

He claimed that Batwala allowed non-registered voters and those under the age of 18 to back him, hence choosing to go independent. 

Cracks in NRM

Suuta says he wants to ride on unity by restoring leadership that works together with civil servants and area legislators.

He regrets how majority of technocrats were at loggerheads with their chairperson, who turned their workplace into an abusive ground, hence keeping them in parallel.

Also, the lack of unity between the LC5 and area legislators was evident as he openly resorted to fighting them right from the NRM party primaries to the general polls, hence losing their seats.

The two opposition Jinja district LC5 contenders, Paul Kirunda Kibbedi (NUP) and FDC's Abdurahman Mujoma (R) having a light moment.

Whereas Batwala is also the NRM chairperson in Jinja district, Suuta says he supported independent candidates rendering the party losing three of four parliamentary seats in the area.

It was only Peace Tibyaze who won the Woman MP seat, while Alex Brandon Kintu, Fredrick Munyirwa and Jacob Kabondo lost in Kagoma North, Butembe and Kagoma counties, respectively.

According to Jinja Resident District Commissioner Ahmed Musazi Katerega, NRM has an upper hand in Jinja, but the infighting among leaders is costing it.

“Imagine the brothers and sisters fighting each other have not contested on the same positions, but there is a lot of bitterness, we have held dialogues to ensure unity,” he said.

Besides losing the three NRM flag-bearers, the district lost two incumbent legislators, Kintu and Loy Katali, the Woman MP who was defeated in the NRM primaries and contested as an independent.

Kintu was defeated by journalist John Odwori of the National Unity Platform, while Katali lost to NRM's Peace Tibyaze.

Paul Rwecungura, the Kagoma town council NRM chairperson, says Batwala started persecuting Katali from the time he was district speaker, Monic Kamagu declared to vie for the same seat, yet the MP's contributions were immense.

“There is no LC5 who can work in isolation without area MPs because in Uganda, we boast of a chain of leadership which is key in sharing pertinent issues which may require tabling in Parliament and or through different government agencies or departments,” Rwecungura told New Vision Online.

Meanwhile, Mujoma who is the Jinja district youth councillor, promises to let all council entities to be independent as a measure of fostering development.

For job applicants, Mujoma says these would be appointed on merit instead of bribing which was the case under Batwala’s era.

This, he says, undermines the quality of cadres recruited as they end up providing substandard services.

“I will ensure that the service commission remains independent for the district to get qualified workers to serve better and we achieve our goals,” he said.

On the other hand, Kibbedi said his concentration would be on social services by coming up with avenues geared at improving the academic standards in schools.

He said this would be achieved through benchmarks with best performing local governments by involving stakeholders in the education sector including councillors to adopt new approaches.

Also, emphasis will be on monitoring and supervision of government projects like in health units to minimize absenteeism among workers and control drug theft. 

With all heaps of accusations, Batwala, while at Namaganga in Busede sub-county for his final rally on Tuesday, maintained as the best choice saying he had managed to fix the impassable roads, extended clean water and availability of ambulances.

Without naming anyone, he warned residents against returning thieves.