DP asks FDC to pull out of Kalungu East MP race
Aug 14, 2007
THE stakes in the Kalungu East parliamentary race have reached sky-high. The Democratic Party (DP) yesterday made a last minute appeal to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to step aside if the opposition is to root out the ruling National Resistance Movement from the constituency.
By Vision reporters
THE stakes in the Kalungu East parliamentary race have reached sky-high. The Democratic Party (DP) yesterday made a last minute appeal to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to step aside if the opposition is to root out the ruling National Resistance Movement from the constituency.
The polls, due tomorrow, are meant to replace James Mukiibi Sserunjogi, who lost the seat after court declared him academically unfit. Five people are in the hot race.
Umar Lule Mawiya, was the area MP in the 7th Parliament (2001-06). Mawiya, an NRM candidate, lost to Sserunjogi in 2006. He is now back after winning a court battle.
Fred Mukasa Mbidde, the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) activist, is carrying the DP flag. He has vowed to fight for the rights of thousands of people being evicted from their land.
Geoffrey Kayemba Afaayo, also formerly a UYD activist, is now the FDC candidate. Jameo Juma Kiberu, the only female in the race, also has a UYD background but is standing as an independent. Very little is known about the other independent, Joseph Musoke.
The stakes are so high for Mbidde and Mawiya that DP secretary general Dr. Lulume Bayega yesterday described the FDC move to place a candidate against his party ‘sacrelego’ (a Latin word for spiritually horrible).
According to Bayega, FDC should have reciprocated the support DP gave to Dr Kizza Besigye in the 2001 presidential bid and to Salaam Musumba in the recent Kamuli LC5 polls.
President Yoweri Museveni was in the constituency over the weekend to drum up support for Mawiya. Besigye was also in the constituency to prop-up Kayemba. Mbidde attracted DP president general Ssebaana Kizito, Kampala Mayor Nasser Ntege Sebaggala (Seya), Gulu LC5 chairman Norbert Mao, party spokesperson Betty Nambooze and former Rubaga South MP Ken Lukyamuzi.
Sebaggala has a DP background but stood for mayorship as an independent, replacing Ssebaana Kizito.
Accusations about helping Sebaggala handle dubious businesses in the city have dogged Mbidde, who said he works for the Mbidde Foundation, a charity with its main offices in Tokyo, Japan.
“Seya is my personal friend but I have many other friends in the city council. I frequent the place but not because of dubious deals,†Mbidde explained. “But I also frequent Parliament. Nobody has accused me of carrying out dubious deals in Parliament,†he defended himself.
Mbidde has also been accused of being a city kid, who only went to Kalungu for votes. He, however, said he was born in Kalungu, where his father was a teacher in many different schools.
“When I was admitted in Makerere University, I had to leave my village. But I still have a house in Lukaya,†he said.
Jameo too is from Lukaya. She is a daughter of Hajji Juma, one of the founders of Lukaya town.
DP is in a dilemma. Michael Mabikke, a former UYD and now independent Makindye East MP, best expressed the underlying unease.
“I have opted to keep away from Kalungu. I know each of those candidates personally, except Mawiya. They are all my people. Who should I support and who should I leave out?†asked Mabikke, who was in the 7th Parliament with Mawiya.
Until recently, Jameo was his classmate at the law school. Both Mbidde and Mabikke have been aides to Sebaggala. But Mabikke condemned the presence of Sebaggala in Kalungu.
“I have not fallen out with Seya. I have only differed with him on matters of principle. His presence in Kalungu has transferred the debate on the failures of Kampala city council to the countryside,†said Mabikke.
“Does it not strike you as odd that both Seya and Ssebaana are now rallying for a common cause?†he queried.
At a rally in Lusango on Monday, Besigye said he was not fighting DP as a party or its leadership but its system and methods, which do not care for the electorate. He blamed DP for rejecting a co-operation and forming cocoons that benefit only a few individuals.
He said DP’s ceaseless thirst for money and wealth was responsible for Mbidde’s travel from Kampala aboard a Fuso truck full of queen dancers to seek votes in Kalungu.
“We are not fighting an individual but an oppressive system that has been responsible for selling markets in DP-controlled Kampala city,†Besigye said.
“The war is not for me, Besigye as an individual, to access power and amass wealth because I can sustain myself within and outside Uganda. Even if you gave me power and you saw that I was misusing it, you should not wait for the term (of office) to end,†he added.
Besigye advised the people of Kalungu to vote for Kayemba, saying he was their own son who had a home in the area and was ready to suffer and serve them diligently.
Museveni’s word, on the other hand, was loud and clear. NRM members and sympathisers did not need to like Mawiya as a person. They should vote for their party into power, to strengthen its ability to deliver as a Government.
That was precisely what DP was also saying: that the opposition had to strengthen itself in Parliament in order to deliver, and that the FDC was doing the opposition great harm by campaigning against Mbidde. Tomorrow will tell.
Compiled by Geresom Musamali, Joshua Kato, Eddie Ssejoba and Ssenabulya Baagalayina
THE stakes in the Kalungu East parliamentary race have reached sky-high. The Democratic Party (DP) yesterday made a last minute appeal to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to step aside if the opposition is to root out the ruling National Resistance Movement from the constituency.
The polls, due tomorrow, are meant to replace James Mukiibi Sserunjogi, who lost the seat after court declared him academically unfit. Five people are in the hot race.
Umar Lule Mawiya, was the area MP in the 7th Parliament (2001-06). Mawiya, an NRM candidate, lost to Sserunjogi in 2006. He is now back after winning a court battle.
Fred Mukasa Mbidde, the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) activist, is carrying the DP flag. He has vowed to fight for the rights of thousands of people being evicted from their land.
Geoffrey Kayemba Afaayo, also formerly a UYD activist, is now the FDC candidate. Jameo Juma Kiberu, the only female in the race, also has a UYD background but is standing as an independent. Very little is known about the other independent, Joseph Musoke.
The stakes are so high for Mbidde and Mawiya that DP secretary general Dr. Lulume Bayega yesterday described the FDC move to place a candidate against his party ‘sacrelego’ (a Latin word for spiritually horrible).
According to Bayega, FDC should have reciprocated the support DP gave to Dr Kizza Besigye in the 2001 presidential bid and to Salaam Musumba in the recent Kamuli LC5 polls.
President Yoweri Museveni was in the constituency over the weekend to drum up support for Mawiya. Besigye was also in the constituency to prop-up Kayemba. Mbidde attracted DP president general Ssebaana Kizito, Kampala Mayor Nasser Ntege Sebaggala (Seya), Gulu LC5 chairman Norbert Mao, party spokesperson Betty Nambooze and former Rubaga South MP Ken Lukyamuzi.
Sebaggala has a DP background but stood for mayorship as an independent, replacing Ssebaana Kizito.
Accusations about helping Sebaggala handle dubious businesses in the city have dogged Mbidde, who said he works for the Mbidde Foundation, a charity with its main offices in Tokyo, Japan.
“Seya is my personal friend but I have many other friends in the city council. I frequent the place but not because of dubious deals,†Mbidde explained. “But I also frequent Parliament. Nobody has accused me of carrying out dubious deals in Parliament,†he defended himself.
Mbidde has also been accused of being a city kid, who only went to Kalungu for votes. He, however, said he was born in Kalungu, where his father was a teacher in many different schools.
“When I was admitted in Makerere University, I had to leave my village. But I still have a house in Lukaya,†he said.
Jameo too is from Lukaya. She is a daughter of Hajji Juma, one of the founders of Lukaya town.
DP is in a dilemma. Michael Mabikke, a former UYD and now independent Makindye East MP, best expressed the underlying unease.
“I have opted to keep away from Kalungu. I know each of those candidates personally, except Mawiya. They are all my people. Who should I support and who should I leave out?†asked Mabikke, who was in the 7th Parliament with Mawiya.
Until recently, Jameo was his classmate at the law school. Both Mbidde and Mabikke have been aides to Sebaggala. But Mabikke condemned the presence of Sebaggala in Kalungu.
“I have not fallen out with Seya. I have only differed with him on matters of principle. His presence in Kalungu has transferred the debate on the failures of Kampala city council to the countryside,†said Mabikke.
“Does it not strike you as odd that both Seya and Ssebaana are now rallying for a common cause?†he queried.
At a rally in Lusango on Monday, Besigye said he was not fighting DP as a party or its leadership but its system and methods, which do not care for the electorate. He blamed DP for rejecting a co-operation and forming cocoons that benefit only a few individuals.
He said DP’s ceaseless thirst for money and wealth was responsible for Mbidde’s travel from Kampala aboard a Fuso truck full of queen dancers to seek votes in Kalungu.
“We are not fighting an individual but an oppressive system that has been responsible for selling markets in DP-controlled Kampala city,†Besigye said.
“The war is not for me, Besigye as an individual, to access power and amass wealth because I can sustain myself within and outside Uganda. Even if you gave me power and you saw that I was misusing it, you should not wait for the term (of office) to end,†he added.
Besigye advised the people of Kalungu to vote for Kayemba, saying he was their own son who had a home in the area and was ready to suffer and serve them diligently.
Museveni’s word, on the other hand, was loud and clear. NRM members and sympathisers did not need to like Mawiya as a person. They should vote for their party into power, to strengthen its ability to deliver as a Government.
That was precisely what DP was also saying: that the opposition had to strengthen itself in Parliament in order to deliver, and that the FDC was doing the opposition great harm by campaigning against Mbidde. Tomorrow will tell.
Compiled by Geresom Musamali, Joshua Kato, Eddie Ssejoba and Ssenabulya Baagalayina