Muhanga pulls out of MP race
Feb 18, 2011
THE Kabarole district woman Member of Parliament Margret Muhanga has pulled of the race at the last minute.
By Hope Mafaranga
THE Kabarole district woman Member of Parliament Margret Muhanga has pulled of the race at the last minute.
Muhanga lost to Victoria Rusoke in the NRM primaries in September last year and was later in November nominated as an independent candidate.
The Kabarole district returning officer Suleiman Kato said Muhanga wrote to the Electoral Commission officially that she has pulled out of the race, adding Muhanga notified the EC late when the ballot papers were already printed.
When the New Vision visited most of the polling station, a notice was put in every venue notifying people that Muhanga is out of the race and therefore they should not vote for her.
“Muhanga is not in the race, she wrote to Electoral Commission officially saying that she has pulled out. However it was after we have printed the ballot paper, we had to put posters in every polling station to inform people that she is no longer in the race,†Kato told the New Vision on Friday.
Efforts to get a comment from Muhanga were futile as her mobile phones were off air.
These leaves Rusoke (NRM), Elizabeth Birungi (FDC) and Sylvia Kabatambuzi ( independent) in the Kabarole woman race.
In from Kalambi and Busoro sub-counties, Burahya County most did not vote after and their names were not missing in the register.
“Most people did not come to cross check on the display to confirm if their names were there. That’s where the problem came from,†Kato said.
In Fort Portal, passengers who were traveling to Kampala, Kasese and Bwera were left stranded as most bus companies were packed. Kalita and Link buses did not work and this prompted the taxi to increase the fee from sh 15,000 to sh 20,000 and from sh 8,000 to sh 13,000.
Business was also paralyzed as most shops in town remained closed and the town was deserted.
In Mwenge north, Kyenjojo district, the FDC candidate Patrick Sissa claimed that in Kanyinya, in Butunduzi sub-county, his agents were chased away and their registers taken away from them.
He however said that the registered were given back to them three hours later after the Kyenjojo district returning officer Fred Muwaya intervened.
“They were given back you back after three hour and whatever happened in three hours God knows,†Sisa said.
In Mbale, Bufunjo, Sissa said that his agents were bribed and pulled out of the exercise and efforts to replace was unsuccessfully because the polling assistances could not let him do so.
Muwaya said that in Mabira in Nyakwanzi sub-county, presiding officials disagreed with Sissa’s agents because they did not know that the agents were suppose to have their own register.
“ The presiding officers did not know that the agents were suppose to have their own register and he ordered the security personnel to remove the register from them but we later solved the problem and exercise went on well,†he said.
THE Kabarole district woman Member of Parliament Margret Muhanga has pulled of the race at the last minute.
Muhanga lost to Victoria Rusoke in the NRM primaries in September last year and was later in November nominated as an independent candidate.
The Kabarole district returning officer Suleiman Kato said Muhanga wrote to the Electoral Commission officially that she has pulled out of the race, adding Muhanga notified the EC late when the ballot papers were already printed.
When the New Vision visited most of the polling station, a notice was put in every venue notifying people that Muhanga is out of the race and therefore they should not vote for her.
“Muhanga is not in the race, she wrote to Electoral Commission officially saying that she has pulled out. However it was after we have printed the ballot paper, we had to put posters in every polling station to inform people that she is no longer in the race,†Kato told the New Vision on Friday.
Efforts to get a comment from Muhanga were futile as her mobile phones were off air.
These leaves Rusoke (NRM), Elizabeth Birungi (FDC) and Sylvia Kabatambuzi ( independent) in the Kabarole woman race.
In from Kalambi and Busoro sub-counties, Burahya County most did not vote after and their names were not missing in the register.
“Most people did not come to cross check on the display to confirm if their names were there. That’s where the problem came from,†Kato said.
In Fort Portal, passengers who were traveling to Kampala, Kasese and Bwera were left stranded as most bus companies were packed. Kalita and Link buses did not work and this prompted the taxi to increase the fee from sh 15,000 to sh 20,000 and from sh 8,000 to sh 13,000.
Business was also paralyzed as most shops in town remained closed and the town was deserted.
In Mwenge north, Kyenjojo district, the FDC candidate Patrick Sissa claimed that in Kanyinya, in Butunduzi sub-county, his agents were chased away and their registers taken away from them.
He however said that the registered were given back to them three hours later after the Kyenjojo district returning officer Fred Muwaya intervened.
“They were given back you back after three hour and whatever happened in three hours God knows,†Sisa said.
In Mbale, Bufunjo, Sissa said that his agents were bribed and pulled out of the exercise and efforts to replace was unsuccessfully because the polling assistances could not let him do so.
Muwaya said that in Mabira in Nyakwanzi sub-county, presiding officials disagreed with Sissa’s agents because they did not know that the agents were suppose to have their own register.
“ The presiding officers did not know that the agents were suppose to have their own register and he ordered the security personnel to remove the register from them but we later solved the problem and exercise went on well,†he said.