LC5 campaigns intensify tension in Kamuli
Apr 17, 2007
SUPPORTERS of Kamuli LC5 candidate Salaamu Musumba dance Kadodi, a Gishu initiation dance, and sing her praises as they move through the streets of Kamuli town.
By Joshua Kato
SUPPORTERS of Kamuli LC5 candidate Salaamu Musumba dance Kadodi, a Gishu initiation dance, and sing her praises as they move through the streets of Kamuli town.
The blue and white colours of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) are noticeable everywhere. “We want our auntie, we have our auntie,†men, women and school children shout.
A few hours later, another group, carrying Stephen Mubiru’s posters dances through the town. Mubiru’s supporters then board vehicles and drive out of the town for a rally in Nabuwigulu. Musumba’s group heads to Kitayungwa. Paul Lubowa’s rally was due to take place at Butansi on the same day.
These have become daily scenes in Kamuli district, as the heat for the LC5 bye-elections get hotter. Although the race involves three candidates, it is mainly between Musumba and Mubiru.
Though once a Member of Parliament, Lubowa is being dwarfed by the battle between the Movement (Mubiru) and FDC (Musumba) heavy weights. A battle that involves intimate relations deeply divided by politics.
Kamuli profile
The district is one of the five that form Busoga region. It has a population of about 450,000. Kamuli is a heterogeneous district. According to the 2002 census, Basoga are the dominant tribe, making up 76% of the population. There are Iteso (4%), Banyoro-Bagungu (2%) and others, including Baganda (18%).
As the campaign for a new LC5 chairperson heats up, poverty and lack of social services are the main issues on the agenda. According to statistics from the 2002 census, less than 30% of primary school-going children attend school compared to the national average of about 50%.
Poverty levels stand at around 50% compared to the national average of 35%. Key health indicators are also far below the national average. For example, Kamuli has 52% immunisation coverage, compared to the national average of 68%, while access to safe water stands at 55% compared to a national average of 72%.
This deficiency in almost every sector has turned out to be the source of promises for the candidates. “I am going to introduce better health care, better education facilities, better everything,†Musumba promises, adding: “If the district budget is not big enough, I will look for funds from my friends.â€
Mubiru has also made promises: “I am already in contact with the top leaders in the Government to bring you Bonna Baggagawale (prosperity-for-all) funds, so that you become rich.â€
Court decision
The by-election became necessary after court ruled that Ahmed Kawugu Kawooya did not have the required academic qualifications to lead the district.
Kawugu was the chairman between 1996-2001. He did not stand during the 2001 elections, after he was stopped for lacking the required academic qualifications.
The elections were won by Kaloli Isabirye Baligeya. However, Baligeya died in a road accident. In a subsequent Bye-election, Aggrey Fred Bangu won the seat. In 2006, Kawugu stood again as an independent and won over 80% of the votes. After the elections, Bangu filed a petition against Kawugu.
The court decision was seen by some people in the district, including NRM supporters, as another ploy to fight Kawugu. Kawugu is one of the most popular personalities here. He is credited for registering significant development in the district during his reign. “He constructed roads, improved education standards and fought corruption,†says Ismail Mugoya, a resident.
NRM camp
In the 1960s and 1980s, Kamuli was divided between the Democratic Party and the Uganda People’s Congress. However, ever since the NRM government came to power, it has been overwhelmingly NRM.
In terms of backing from home-based personalities, the NRM camp includes Rebecca Kadaga (the Deputy Speaker of Parliament), minister and Buzaya MP Isaac Musumba, who is Salaamu Musumba’s husband and MP Asuman Kiyingi, who defeated Mrs. Musumba for the Bugabula County seat.
Mubiru has been district speaker with three chairmen. He is lauded as a good mobiliser. “His abilities are not doubted. He has been steering us in the council very well,†says one of the councillors.
Like the pattern with NRM, Mubiru’s core supporters are in the villages. This certainly gives him an advantage over Musumba because 98% of the people in Kamuli live in the villages.
However, divisions in the NRM camp might turn out to be their main undoing. Kawugu’s supporters blame Kadaga for causing his fall. They have vowed to punish Kadaga by voting for Musumba.
Nabuwigulu councillor Rehema Watongola says the in-fighting among NRM supporters started in 1993, during the Constituency Assembly (CA) elections. “The problem started from Buzaya where most of the top politicians in the district are born,†she explains.
From Buzaya comes Isaac Musumba, Kadaga who is woman MP, Kawugu, David Kitamirike and Bangu. “During the CA elections, Kadaga, Kawugu and Mr. Musumba contested for the seat,†she says. Since then, Kadaga and Kawugu have been engaged in various battles.
In 1996, Kadaga allegedly supported Kitamirike against Kawugu for the LC5 seat, but Kawugu won. However, in recent times, NRM has tried to solve the in-fighting. President Yoweri Museveni met with Kadaga and Kawugu and reconciled them. NRM supporters in Kamuli believe that there can only be peace after Kawugu has been given a job. It is said that Museveni promised Kawugu a job during the meeting.
Museveni and other high ranking NRM leaders are likely to visit Kamuli and boost Mubiru’s chances. Local government state minister Hope Mwesigye has already urged residents not to vote for Musumba, saying she will only antagonise the relationship between the district and the Government, since she is from the opposition.
“Almost all the councillors are NRM supporters. How will Musumba manage such a council if she wins? Asks one of the councillors. This message is part of the NRM campaign at the moment.
FDC camp
The FDC camp is not light either. Musumba is a veteran politician, an orator and a maverick speaker. Her voice moves the masses. “I am your auntie,†she says. “I am here to save you from people who chased away your father and are now giving you an uncle,†she says.
Musumba says NRM leaders in the district have no reason to impose any body on the people of Kamuli. “The people are tired of being used by opportunistic leaders in the district. These opportunists chased away our leader Kawugu and now they are telling people that they have brought them Mubiru,†she says.
Musumba is using the woes of Kawugu to her advantage. She obviously knows that Kawugu, with his overwhelming support is the real vote decider. Indeed, there are hundreds of Kawugu’s supporters, who despite being NRM supporters, say they will vote for Musumba. “We shall vote for her to teach those opportunistic NRM politicians a lesson,†says Peterson Waiswa.
In reference to statements by Mwesigye and some councillors that Musumba will only fail the district, she says: “Whoever is saying so doesn’t know anything about the Constitution of this country. It is a right for the people of Kamuli to get funding.â€
Musumba gives an example of Gulu, which gets an equal share of funding with other districts even though re-known opposition activist Norbert Mao is its chairman.
Although Musumba has support in Kamuli, she sometimes gets groups of chatting men and women from as far as Jinja, 30 miles away. This is why some of Mubiru’s supporters say that when it comes to the voting day, they will win because Musumba’s supporters from Jinja cannot vote in Kamuli.
As long as NRM remains divided, Musumba might capitalise on the divisions and take the seat. Musumba might win the seat, but where does this leave the work of her party, the FDC?
Experience shows that when members of the opposition take leadership of district seats, their level of opposition reduces. Where as opposition MPs don’t control any budget, thus do not have a full awareness of the reality of handling government resources, LC5 chairmen do.
It is feared that Musumba will lose some of her nerve to fight for FDC, nationally.
SUPPORTERS of Kamuli LC5 candidate Salaamu Musumba dance Kadodi, a Gishu initiation dance, and sing her praises as they move through the streets of Kamuli town.
The blue and white colours of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) are noticeable everywhere. “We want our auntie, we have our auntie,†men, women and school children shout.
A few hours later, another group, carrying Stephen Mubiru’s posters dances through the town. Mubiru’s supporters then board vehicles and drive out of the town for a rally in Nabuwigulu. Musumba’s group heads to Kitayungwa. Paul Lubowa’s rally was due to take place at Butansi on the same day.
These have become daily scenes in Kamuli district, as the heat for the LC5 bye-elections get hotter. Although the race involves three candidates, it is mainly between Musumba and Mubiru.
Though once a Member of Parliament, Lubowa is being dwarfed by the battle between the Movement (Mubiru) and FDC (Musumba) heavy weights. A battle that involves intimate relations deeply divided by politics.
Kamuli profile
The district is one of the five that form Busoga region. It has a population of about 450,000. Kamuli is a heterogeneous district. According to the 2002 census, Basoga are the dominant tribe, making up 76% of the population. There are Iteso (4%), Banyoro-Bagungu (2%) and others, including Baganda (18%).
As the campaign for a new LC5 chairperson heats up, poverty and lack of social services are the main issues on the agenda. According to statistics from the 2002 census, less than 30% of primary school-going children attend school compared to the national average of about 50%.
Poverty levels stand at around 50% compared to the national average of 35%. Key health indicators are also far below the national average. For example, Kamuli has 52% immunisation coverage, compared to the national average of 68%, while access to safe water stands at 55% compared to a national average of 72%.
This deficiency in almost every sector has turned out to be the source of promises for the candidates. “I am going to introduce better health care, better education facilities, better everything,†Musumba promises, adding: “If the district budget is not big enough, I will look for funds from my friends.â€
Mubiru has also made promises: “I am already in contact with the top leaders in the Government to bring you Bonna Baggagawale (prosperity-for-all) funds, so that you become rich.â€
Court decision
The by-election became necessary after court ruled that Ahmed Kawugu Kawooya did not have the required academic qualifications to lead the district.
Kawugu was the chairman between 1996-2001. He did not stand during the 2001 elections, after he was stopped for lacking the required academic qualifications.
The elections were won by Kaloli Isabirye Baligeya. However, Baligeya died in a road accident. In a subsequent Bye-election, Aggrey Fred Bangu won the seat. In 2006, Kawugu stood again as an independent and won over 80% of the votes. After the elections, Bangu filed a petition against Kawugu.
The court decision was seen by some people in the district, including NRM supporters, as another ploy to fight Kawugu. Kawugu is one of the most popular personalities here. He is credited for registering significant development in the district during his reign. “He constructed roads, improved education standards and fought corruption,†says Ismail Mugoya, a resident.
NRM camp
In the 1960s and 1980s, Kamuli was divided between the Democratic Party and the Uganda People’s Congress. However, ever since the NRM government came to power, it has been overwhelmingly NRM.
In terms of backing from home-based personalities, the NRM camp includes Rebecca Kadaga (the Deputy Speaker of Parliament), minister and Buzaya MP Isaac Musumba, who is Salaamu Musumba’s husband and MP Asuman Kiyingi, who defeated Mrs. Musumba for the Bugabula County seat.
Mubiru has been district speaker with three chairmen. He is lauded as a good mobiliser. “His abilities are not doubted. He has been steering us in the council very well,†says one of the councillors.
Like the pattern with NRM, Mubiru’s core supporters are in the villages. This certainly gives him an advantage over Musumba because 98% of the people in Kamuli live in the villages.
However, divisions in the NRM camp might turn out to be their main undoing. Kawugu’s supporters blame Kadaga for causing his fall. They have vowed to punish Kadaga by voting for Musumba.
Nabuwigulu councillor Rehema Watongola says the in-fighting among NRM supporters started in 1993, during the Constituency Assembly (CA) elections. “The problem started from Buzaya where most of the top politicians in the district are born,†she explains.
From Buzaya comes Isaac Musumba, Kadaga who is woman MP, Kawugu, David Kitamirike and Bangu. “During the CA elections, Kadaga, Kawugu and Mr. Musumba contested for the seat,†she says. Since then, Kadaga and Kawugu have been engaged in various battles.
In 1996, Kadaga allegedly supported Kitamirike against Kawugu for the LC5 seat, but Kawugu won. However, in recent times, NRM has tried to solve the in-fighting. President Yoweri Museveni met with Kadaga and Kawugu and reconciled them. NRM supporters in Kamuli believe that there can only be peace after Kawugu has been given a job. It is said that Museveni promised Kawugu a job during the meeting.
Museveni and other high ranking NRM leaders are likely to visit Kamuli and boost Mubiru’s chances. Local government state minister Hope Mwesigye has already urged residents not to vote for Musumba, saying she will only antagonise the relationship between the district and the Government, since she is from the opposition.
“Almost all the councillors are NRM supporters. How will Musumba manage such a council if she wins? Asks one of the councillors. This message is part of the NRM campaign at the moment.
FDC camp
The FDC camp is not light either. Musumba is a veteran politician, an orator and a maverick speaker. Her voice moves the masses. “I am your auntie,†she says. “I am here to save you from people who chased away your father and are now giving you an uncle,†she says.
Musumba says NRM leaders in the district have no reason to impose any body on the people of Kamuli. “The people are tired of being used by opportunistic leaders in the district. These opportunists chased away our leader Kawugu and now they are telling people that they have brought them Mubiru,†she says.
Musumba is using the woes of Kawugu to her advantage. She obviously knows that Kawugu, with his overwhelming support is the real vote decider. Indeed, there are hundreds of Kawugu’s supporters, who despite being NRM supporters, say they will vote for Musumba. “We shall vote for her to teach those opportunistic NRM politicians a lesson,†says Peterson Waiswa.
In reference to statements by Mwesigye and some councillors that Musumba will only fail the district, she says: “Whoever is saying so doesn’t know anything about the Constitution of this country. It is a right for the people of Kamuli to get funding.â€
Musumba gives an example of Gulu, which gets an equal share of funding with other districts even though re-known opposition activist Norbert Mao is its chairman.
Although Musumba has support in Kamuli, she sometimes gets groups of chatting men and women from as far as Jinja, 30 miles away. This is why some of Mubiru’s supporters say that when it comes to the voting day, they will win because Musumba’s supporters from Jinja cannot vote in Kamuli.
As long as NRM remains divided, Musumba might capitalise on the divisions and take the seat. Musumba might win the seat, but where does this leave the work of her party, the FDC?
Experience shows that when members of the opposition take leadership of district seats, their level of opposition reduces. Where as opposition MPs don’t control any budget, thus do not have a full awareness of the reality of handling government resources, LC5 chairmen do.
It is feared that Musumba will lose some of her nerve to fight for FDC, nationally.