Bakoko wrong on voting pattern

Mar 13, 2006

The Minister of Labour, Gender and Social Development, Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, made statements on Radio One’s Spectrum talk-show last week which I think should not pass unchallenged.

By Doreen Akankwasa
The Minister of Labour, Gender and Social Development, Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, made statements on Radio One’s Spectrum talk-show last week which I think should not pass unchallenged.

The gist of Bakoko’s presentation was that the people of West Nile, northern and eastern Uganda made a grave mistake in the recent general elections when they voted out government ministers and other NRM candidates in preference for FDC candidates. According to her, this part of the country will not get a minister and will also not get social services because the FDC President, Col. Kizza Besigye, and the MPs-elect who got most votes from there have no powers over the national resource envelope and therefore they are not in position to develop the region.

I think Bakoko was wrong. Firstly, a party that wins elections and forms the next government is duty bound to work for the entire country, not only those areas where it got majority votes. The ruling party will have presented a manifesto during campaigns and it is expected to implement it. I am sure the NRM manifesto did not focus only on the central, south and western regions where the party got majority votes.

Secondly, Bakoko should not be bitter that she was voted out. The outcome of the elections was like a no-confidence vote in her, her colleagues and the entire NRM leadership. It showed that the leaders had not performed to the people’s expectations in the previous five years and therefore the voters were within their right to kick them out. Thirdly, if West Nile, north and east did not benefit from the fact that they had their daughters and sons in Cabinet, what guarantee was there that the benefits would come if the same individuals were voted again and retained as MPs? For example, in 2001 Bakoko defeated a member of the opposition, Dick Nyai. It is possible that the voters did not see a difference between Nyai’s and her tenure.

Fourth, we should remember that the President has powers under the Constitution to appoint ministers from outside Parliament. He can still re-appoint Bakoko, Moses Ali or any other person from the north, east or West Nile who was not voted into the Eighth Parliament.

I hope President Museveni will not follow Bakoko’s line and refuse to work for the areas that did not vote him. This would only help to undermine NRM’s fortunes further and would probably kill the party.
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