Ochora joins race, as Bakaluba abandons Mukono North

Feb 12, 2010

THE election year, 2011, is around the corner. Incumbents will struggle to retain their seats while many others will vie to replace them. The contests will cut across; from president, parliamentary constituencies to local government. As the temperatures begin to rise, <i>Saturday Vision</i> puts a b

THE election year, 2011, is around the corner. Incumbents will struggle to retain their seats while many others will vie to replace them. The contests will cut across; from president, parliamentary constituencies to local government. As the temperatures begin to rise, Saturday Vision puts a barometer on the political climate; analysing the aspirants and the issues that are likely to influence voter choices.

Bukoto South, MASAKA DISTRICT 
THE incumbent, Matthias Nsubuga, has had sleepless nights ever since the highly educated, connected and wealthy NRM mobiliser, Hajji Muyanja Mbabali, declared his intention to contest for the seat.
Mbabali has used his huge purse to fulfil pledges Nsubuga made during his term in Parliament.
Mbabali set up small scale industries, sank boreholes, established maize flour mills and distributed seeds to help people fight poverty.

Recently, he pushed for the establishment of Police posts to fight crime, particularly deadly robberies that had taken root in the area.

Local fundraisers at churches and schools have benefited from him. Mbabali told SaturdayVision : “Our people need to be helped live a meaningful life irrespective of our political party affiliations. I am geared towards development.”
The management consultant, who owns businesses in the region and worldwide, says sending delegations from Masaka, a former food basket, to learn about farming from other districts, was an indicator that the district lacked developmental leaders.

Mbabali also pointed out that parliament needed to be saved from “job seekers without developmental ideas, broke MPs who issue bounced cheques and are grabbed by court brokers and murder suspects”.

He added: “We don’t need representatives who join parliament to look for money to build a house and pay school fees. Those won’t help us.”

Former area MP, Dr. Herbert Lwanga and district councillor David Bbaale are also aspiring to represent the constituency on the NRM ticket.
Lwanga introduced the issue of creating Bukoto district to break away from Masaka. President Museveni picked interest in the matter and so have the sub-counties of Kissekka, Malongo, Lwengo and Kyazanga. However, NRM strategists want the matter delayed until after the 2011 elections because they think many elections will create many NRM losers and divisions.

the Democratic Party (DP’s) Nsubuga is still popular. But his term has been rocked by poor health and indebtedness, which could have crippled his development programmes. His international connections, Catholic vote and friendly attitude could lift him to another term. His party is sharply divided and many accuse him and DP leader Ssebaana Kizito of being responsible for the mayhem in the country’s oldest party. 

GULU MUNICIPALITY

 THE competition for the Gulu Municipality parliamentary seat is going to be tougher than ever before. Retired Col. Walter Ochora, the Resident District Commissioner, is the most recent aspirant to make his intentions known. He was the district chairman for two terms but lost the seat to Norbert Mao in 2006.

Now he wants to try his luck in Parliament. He is prepared to resign from his position as RDC 90 days before elections as the law requires. He hopes the end of the war in northern Uganda will strengthen his candidature as a representative of the ruling National Resistance Movement party. He wants to change the perception that the current leaders in the north want to create a rift between the people and the Government, which is not good for development.

On the other hand, the incumbent David Alex Oceng Penytoo, is determined to fight for his seat. He has used the constituency development fund to give grants to women for income-generating activities. Penytoo is praised for distributing educational materials like text books, past examination papers and sample exam questions published in newspapers.

But members of his own party, FDC, described him as a silent man even in parliament. Penytoo won the seat with a very narrow margin in 2006 and some people believe he was given a sympathy vote. He had just been released from prison on charges of treason. Within his own party, Penytoo will have a tough battle in the primaries. The mayor of Gulu, Christopher Achire, is said to be eyeing parliament.

Achire, an FDC member, runs a microfinance organisation, Urib Wunu Mon, which has made him popular, especially among women and boda boda cyclists. He has been mobilising support from them. He has expanded his microfinance institution to cover Apac, Oyam, Amuru and Pader, among others.

Another politician interested in the seat is the speaker of Gulu district, Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the district FDC spokesman.

Ojara boasts of lobbying for scholarships for disadvantaged children, 45 of whom are pursuing vocational courses and about 80 are in secondary schools. He says he is making efforts to twin Gulu municipality with cities in USA, Germany and the UK.

He initiated the ‘The Gulu Promise Initiative’ to raise funds to buy mattresses and others scholastic materials for S.1 students who passed in Division One in municipality schools. He also gave out seedlings to schools and households to plant trees and keep the municipality green. He has embarked on plans to develop a website for Gulu municipality for easier communication with the outside world.

Ojara boasts that he was among the Acholi leaders who travelled with the Invisible Children to the USA in 2007, where they raised more than sh2.3b to support the education of children in northern Uganda.

Meanwhile, the Uganda People’s congress (UPC) is plotting new strategies in the municipality. Denis Fred Okema, a member of party presidential hopeful Olara Otunnu’s campaign task force, has warned Penytoo to prepare for the mother of all battles. He has worked with grassroots people to form 47 village saving and loan association groups. He is also working out a scholarship scheme to be called Acholi Education Trust, to cater for orphans and vulnerable children. He says he has contacted friends in America to raise funds to pay school fees and buy uniforms for needy children at Unifat primary school.

 Another loser in the 2006 elections, Emmanuel Mwaka Lutukumoi, (DP), is preparing a dramatic come-back. Apart from offering scholarships to some children, he supported social clubs for the youth. In addition, he gave study loans to students and helped business people travel to Japan. In the past he set up shelters in Gulu town for people displaced by war. He has also set up a vocational centre where youth learn how to make handbags, aprons and other products which are exported to Japan. He raised the money from Japan.

KAMULI WOMAN
 
THE Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga (NRM), hopes to retain the seat she has been occupying since 1996.
But even though she shows no sign of retiring soon, FDC’s Prossy Naikoba seems bent on unseating her.

 In 2006, it was a tight race between the two and it only turned in Kadaga’s favour as a result of the rural vote that was overwhelmingly in support of the ruling party.
 Kadaga has been instrumental in several developmental projects, like working with NGOs like Plan International to improve school buildings.  She also takes care of school children.

 According to constituents, some children have been named Kadaga (and use it as a ) middle name, in order to qualify for sponsorship.
 A sizeable number of these children have gone through Iganga Boys Boarding Primary School and then Kiira College Butiki for secondary education.

 However, some have scoffed at the practice which they associate with a European man who used to hand over piglets in exchange for acquisition of his controversial name, Hornsleth.

 Kadaga also attends funerals, which has earned her the approval of the elders.  When 13 traders died on the spot last month after the truck they were travelling in overturned in Budiope county, Kadaga was among the first people on the scene and cried with the bereaved.
 Such deeds could fetch Kadaga votes as she may appear kind and helpful.  But Naikoba has decided to attack Kadaga on a personal level.
 The vocal member of FDC’s National Executive Committee mocked Kadaga on radio over her lack of a husband and children.
Naikoba is youthful, articulate and a crowd puller, especially in the urban centres, where FDC enjoys relative support.

 With a team of her party’s women league members, Naikoba traversed Kamuli with party president Dr. Kizza Besigye recently in what appeared to be preparation for the forthcoming polls.
However, some voters find her attack on Kadaga’s personal life offensive and would prefer that she reveals her plans to develop the area instead.

Mukono North

The race for the Mukono North seat is between the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the Democratic Party (DP).

Betty Nambooze Bakireke, the DP spokesperson and NRM’s Lillian Nakawesi, the district female councillor representing Mukono Town Council, have shown interest in the seat currently occupied by the embattled Rev. Peter Bakaluba Mukasa. Mukono North is one of the constituencies where the NRM and the Opposition have gone neck to neck in previous parliamentary and presidential elections.

In 2006, the NRM’s Bakaluba Mukasa defeated DP’s Nambooze by less than 500 votes. Nambooze challenged the results in the High Court, on the grounds that Bakaluba rigged the election.

Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Nambooze, prompting Bakaluba to appeal in the Supreme Court, which is yet to give its verdict.

But Bakaluba has now shifted his attention to Mukono South, where he intends to replace Janat Mukwaya, a senior minister who announced recently that she was quitting elective politics.

But before the shift, Bakaluba told his supporters in Mukono North that he had left behind Nakawesi to replace him and she has since been doing kakuyege (groundwork) in the constituency.

Both Nambooze and Nakawesi are popular among the electorate and are bound to put up a spirited fight.
Nambooze’s popularity stems from factors like being a regular radio political talk show guest who has always supported the views of the Mengo (Buganda) government.

Allegiance to the Mengo will be a big factor in the 2011 elections in Mukono. Nambooze is also gifted with the talent of making convincing and moving speeches, a skill she applied against Bakaluba in 2006.

However, she has some weaknesses, like not being down to earth, which has regularly made her conflict with her own party members in the district.

Nakawesi, who is a second year student of Social Work and Social Administration (SWSA) at Uganda Christian University, Mukono, gets along with the local people and has been actively creating networks in the communities.

She has particularly invested in creating links with women and youth groups. She served as the youth district councillor and she is a renowned Christian in Mukono Diocese. She has used her position as the youth councillor to market herself before the youth. One of the things she is remembered for is finding employment opportunities for the youth.

The constituency covers Mukono town council as well as Nama and Kyampisi sub-counties. The Opposition enjoys more support in the town council, while the NRM is stronger in the rural areas.
The town council is more densely populated than the rural areas.

Reporting by: George Bita, John Semakula, Chris Ocowun and Dismus buregyeya

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