I disagree about cow dung and stomach voting in Mbale town

Talk Back I read the article "Sakwa welcome to try my seat" The New Vision Friday 29, December, 2000, with a smile and later broke into a hearty laugh. I was amused, but not surprised, because the utterances came from James Wapakhabulo, one considered to be a mature politician. Since I had not made any declaration of my intention to contest the Mbale Municipality seat, I can only assume that you, Wapakhabulo, were reacting to the Political Gossip page, which appeared in The Sunday Vision, December 24, 2000. There is only one statement of truth in your article, and that is the fact that the candidate I supported during the 1996 presidential elections, lost elections in Mbale and the Elgon region as a whole. The rest of your utterances are falsehoods. I will first deal with the falsehoods and then discuss your political agenda. Cow dung and stomach voting When you realised that Paul Ssemwogerere had strong support among the people of Mbale and Teso during the presidential election campaigns of 1996, you passed word through the local council (LC) system that Museveni had promised you the post of Vice President. You therefore encouraged the Bagisu through this empty scheme to vote against Ssemwogerere in order to strengthen your position and show that you were strong enough to be vice president. The Bagisu voted for Museveni, not because they did not like Sakwa or Ssemwogerere, but because they believed the story. A day after the voting, I left my house with my driver, brother and eldest son, each in a different vehicle, and headed for Mbale town. I was to deliver the results of my local area to the regional office at Clock Tower, receive reports from other parts of the country and proceed to Kampala. I left my wife and the rest of the family at my residence in the village. I did not stop anywhere between my house and Mbale and I did not address anybody outside the campaign office in Mbale. I left Mbale for Kampala and again I did not stop anywhere on my way to Kampala. While it is true that I expressed disappointment with the voters, never did I refer to the people of Bungokho South, or indeed Bugisu, as cow dung. The truth of the matter is that after the presidential elections, the people of Bungokho South still insisted that I contest the parliamentary seat and represent them in Parliament. When Werikhe realised this, he and his agent then, one Michael Womulibu, with whom they have since parted company, fabricated the cow dung story to try and infuriate voters in case I offered to contest. A delegation from Bungokho South spent three days at my house in Kyambogo, Kampala, urging me to go for nomination but I turned the request down. What Werikhe and company forgot is that I personally told Werikhe in my office at Plot 3 Parliament Avenue, Kampala, on Wednesday December 13, 1995, that I would only contest for Parliament in 1996 if a multiparty candidate won the presidential election. I challenge him to deny coming to my office on that date and discussing elections in Bungokho South. It is also common knowledge that even after I refused to contest, the people of Bungokho South vowed to vote for Mawumbe-Mukhwana rather than Werikhe. Maumbe-Mukhwana was disqualified from standing. Your friend Werikhe was, therefore, like yourself returned unopposed. I challenge both of you to deny this. I challenge you to state the date, time, place and the people to whom I made the utterances you are now peddling. Indeed, from your writing, you have been praying that I keep out of politics. Sterling performance You imply in your article that Hon. Werikhe has done so well that I am scared of facing him. As a Mungokho, these are some of the major achievements of your star performer in the constituency. l Grading every "panya road", including paths that serve no purpose l Extending single-phase power from someone's compound to Nabumali Corner, a commercial centre, and attaching a light which burns day and night. As an electrical engineer, I would like to tell you that this is pure deception. The single-phase domestic power line will neither support commercial activity nor sustain a few more domestic connections around the centre. It is also incapable of being extended further. l Distributing cement and spades during the Christmas/Idi holiday. My record on development projects in Bungokho while I was in Constituent Assembly (CA) for one and a half years, and without using government resources, are well recorded. They stretch from upgrading more that 80 schools, building/ improving, health centres, churches and mosques to protecting over 47 wells. I will leave the matter of performance to the voters next May. Christmas and Idi Prayers for Sakwa You close your writing by stating that the people of Mbale prayed that God should assist me to remain steadfast in my decision to offer myself for the Municipality seat. I am not in the habit of using prayer houses for politics. However, I thank the voters in Mbale for their prayers. I interpret their wish as clear signal that if I do not change my mind, this time round, there will be a candidate you can neither intimidate nor bribe to pave the way for being returned unopposed. On the matter of Idi prayers, I think you should have been honest enough to tell the public what happened to you when you tried to address Moslems during Idi prayers at Sheik Kaali's Mosque. Your political agenda. In 1989, during the expansion of the National Resistance Council (NRC), you convinced the people of Mbale that if you were elected to the NRC, you would use your influence with the head of state to bring benefits to the people of Mbale. Two prominent Bagisu, whose names I will not mention since they are not part of your problem, stood down in your favour. You were returned to the NRC unopposed. The only benefits the people of Mbale got were the gazetting of parts of Mount Elgon into a forest reserve, with the resulting displacement of many families, and the shifting of the Coca Cola factory to Mbarara after you proudly confirmed that Bagisu are smugglers. One wonders what the anti smuggling unit is doing in Mbale and why Uganda-made Coca Cola continues to sell in high volumes in Mbale. In 1994, you contested for the CA and you lost although the election was nullified and a re-run ordered. In the re-run, the same person who defeated you defeated the candidate you supported. You never became the Vice President. Instead, your position as the Speaker of Parliament, and number three in order of precedence in the country, was quickly withdrawn from you and you were relegated to a non-constitutional office, whose precedence is unknown. You had no guts to protest this demotion despite protestation from the people you represent in Parliament. I am glad you say I disagreed with my boss in UPC to contest for elections. This is a sign that I am a strong and independent-minded politician with a backbone of my own. In the recent referendum on the so-called political system, your constituency polled a miserable 20% voter turn up. You will recall how your colleagues in the Movement expressed dissatisfaction with your results. Now 2001 has come and you have started selling hot air again. You want us to support your candidate so that come 2006, the candidate will help an Easterner or Muganda to become president. What an insult to the intelligence of the people you purport to lead! For your own part, you seem so scared of impending competition. When you invited me to "your seat", I thought you were going to tell the voters how strong you are and what you have done for the people of Mbale Municipality since 1989. Instead you are telling us how strong Werikhe is and how I cannot face him. For your part, you talk of a beautiful town called Mbale. If your definition of a beautiful town is one with three quarters of the roads impassable, overflowing sewers next to the main market, pools of water in the middle of the town whenever it rains, rotten buildings, no street lights etc, then I ask all the other municipalities to invite you to show them how to create a beautiful town. Another strength you may wish to market to other members of Parliament is that of creating an acting MP by way of a spouse. Finally, it is not true that UPC has asked me to contest Mbale Municipality. It is a contradiction for you to state that I am in disagreement with the UPC boss and at the same time I am sent by UPC to contest Mbale Municipality. It is the Bangokho who have asked me to rescue the once cleanest town in East Africa from continued decline amid empty promises. A glowing Mbale is glory for all the Bamasaba and residents of Mbale and Sironko districts. Indeed, if it were not for the law, their wish would be for me to contest both Bungokho South and Mbale Municipality. The people of Bungokho South have made arrangements to have both constituencies effectively represented come 2001. So my brother, do not panic, wait for nomination day. Darlington Sakwa