Babu defies NRM, blasts Mbabazi

Nov 10, 2010

THE NRM vice-chairman for Kampala region, Francis Babu, was nominated yesterday as an independent candidate for the mayor’s seat.

By Vision Reporters 
 
THE NRM vice-chairman for Kampala region, Francis Babu, was nominated yesterday as an independent candidate for the mayor’s seat.

Soon after the nomination, Babu accused the party’s secretary general, Amama Mbabazi, of hypocrisy and creating cliques within the party.

With a number of supporters, the tough- talking Babu said Mbabazi and NRM electoral commission vice-chairman Prof. Elijah Mushemeza had sidelined him in the process of choosing the party’s flag- bearer for the mayor’s chair.

This year, NRM abandoned electoral colleges for adult suffrage in choosing flag-bearers to keep the party vote intact.

Babu wanted to compete on the NRM ticket but the party’s executive fronted Rubaga Division chairman Peter Ssematimba, who also was nominated yesterday.

Babu accused Mbabazi and Mushemeza of being too busy to answer his calls and warned that their attempt to “lock some members out of the party” would create so many problems.

“When the Kampala takeover Bill was passed, I decided to talk to Mbabazi and Mushemeza about my mayoral candidature. I called them on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but they were not willing to take my calls or even respond to my phone messages,” he lamented during a press conference at midday soon after he was nominated.

“That’s how they behave when they want to sideline someone; they don’t reply, they just ignore you. But I am a political animal; they can’t stop me from standing.”

Reacting to New Vision’s lead story on Monday, where Mbabazi disowned his mayoral candidature, Babu said: “If Mbabazi doesn’t know Captain Babu, then he also doesn’t understand himself.”

Other candidates who were nominated for the mayoral seat in the four-day exercise include the Kampala Central MP Erias Lukwago, Makindye East MP and president of SDP Michael Mabikke, and little known Sandra Katebalirwe, an independent. The sixth is Emanuel Tumusiime, the president of the Forum for Integrity in Leadership.

Babu amused crowds when he said Sematimba should pull out of the race because he was the weaker candidate.
Babu arrived at the KCC offices at 1:15pm, a few minutes after Sematimba’s convoy had left the premises.

Unlike other candidates, he did not carry a public address system.

He received a brief ovation from his supporters before heading to the nominations desk.

Babu vowed to fight corruption, which he described as the worst enemy to Kampala’s development.

He pledged to make the city conducive for investors, tourists and the local people, so as to spur industrialisation, especially through the recycling of garbage.

Babu accused the NRM of having cliques, which want to sideline him.
“They rigged my votes in 2006 when I stood in the primaries for the Kampala Central Member of Parliament seat. When I complain, they don’t want to listen to me,” he said.

Asked whether he had quit the NRM, Babu said: “The party is good but there are a few cliques we need to get rid of. These cliques want to lock some supporters out. I have come as a sacrifice to help other discontented members.”

Babu is the latest among hundreds of NRM members, mainly those who lost in the primaries, to contest as an independent.

Party president Yoweri Museveni warned losers against standing as independents.

Over the weekend, Mbabazi said the central executive committee would discuss the fate of those who have decided to run as independents.
After his nomination, Semnatimba expressed optimism that he would win the elections even if Babu remained in the race.

“Babu’s candidature won’t create division in the party. I know people support me and I am not worried. The leaders of the party selected me,” he stated.

Sematimba was escorted to KCC by members of the Uganda Voluntary Mobilisers Association, who stormed the area on boda bodas.

He promised to rid Kampala of filth and potholes if he is elected. Sematimba said he would ensure that all main roads in the city have sidewalks for pedestrians.

Meanwhile, yesterday DP withdrew its candidate, John Baptist Kakooza, blaming the newly-passed Kampala takeover Bill, which they said “fundamentally reduces the power of the people to elect an executive mayor.
Efforts to get Kakooza’s comment were futile.

DP spokesperson Kenneth Kakande told a press conference at the party’s head offices at City House that they would back any other opposition candidate, whose agenda rhymes with theirs.

Parliament last week passed the Kampala City Takeover Bill, which maintained that the Kampala mayor be elected through adult suffrage instead of an electoral college as had been proposed.

More than 200 other candidates were also nominated to contest as LC5 councillors in the five divisions of the city.

Compiled by Francis Kagolo, Juliet Waiswa, Andrew Ssenyonga and Brian Mayanja

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