NRM takes Padyere seat in by-election

Apr 21, 2010

THE ruling NRM flag-bearer on Tuesday won the Padyere county parliamentary byelection. Pascal Odoch polled 14,816 votes to wade off competition from four contestants.

By Frank Mugabi

THE ruling NRM flag-bearer on Tuesday won the Padyere county parliamentary byelection. Pascal Odoch polled 14,816 votes to wade off competition from four contestants.

The runner-up Joshua Anywarach, an NRM independent and a presenter with Radio Paidha, got 10,036 votes, Marious Okwir-Amula (FDC) garnered 4,025 votes, Charles Ulangi Mba (UPC) had 2,818 votes and Kiziti Ngabirombo (independent) trailed with 300 votes.

The seat fell vacant following the death of opposition MP David Ringe-Chan (UPC) in February. The seat had been held for many years by NRM’s Okumu Ringa but he lost it to Ringe Chan in the 2006.

Speaking before the final results, Stephen Ongaria, the Electoral Commissioner for West Nile, said the exercise was “smooth.

The returning officer, Kenneth Kayabwe, said no major complaints had been registered apart from people who said they had voter’s cards but were not on the register. Okwir-Amula said the Police intimidated voters.

Why the NRM candidate won

The byelection is probably one of the hard fought battles by the NRM. The party launched an aggressive campaign, sending six bigwigs, including four ministers, to campaign.
Minister without portfolio and NRM deputy secretary general Dorothy Hyuha led the team.

Other ministers were Simon Ejua (transport), Fred Omach (finance) and Simon D’Ujanga (energy). Also on the campaign trail was Uganda’s representative to the East African Legislative Assembly, Nusura Tiperu, and Nebbi Woman MP Catherine Mavenjina.

Arua resident district commissioner Ibrahim Abiriga was also on duty.
Hyuha combed Erussi sub-county, the most populated area, while Tiperu covered Nebbi town and the youth.

Omach and Vincent Okaba, the NRM business entrepreneur’s league chairman, covered Parombo, while Ejua was in Akworo, an opposition stronghold.

Mavenjina and Abiriga were in Nyaravur, while D’Ujanga was allocated Nebbi sub-county.

The district party chairman, Kermundu George Adubango, covered Kucwiny sub-county. At the peak of the campaigns, President Yoweri Museveni also hit the vote hunting trail.

Despite having candidates from FDC and UPC, it was the youngest man in the contest, Anywarach, who turned it into a tight race.

Polling 10,036 votes was no mean achievement for the councillor cum radio presenter. Analysis of the figures for Odoch and Anywarach shows that NRM is still the most popular party in the area.

UPC’s support dropped from the 17,422 votes that Ringe-Chan got in 2006 to the 2,818 Ulangi Mba scored in the byelection.

The FDC impact was not much felt despite intervention of bigwigs like party president Kizza Besigye, Salaamu Musumba and Kassiano Wadri.

Who is Pascal Odoch?

Odoch hails from Mbaro Akwaro village in Padyere county. The third-born in a family of 10, Odoch holds a PhD in community economic development.

He started his education at Nyaravur Primary School in Nebbi, after which he joined St. Aloysious College, Nyapea for O’level.

Odoch went to Busoga College Mwiri for A’level after which he joined Makerere University where he graduated in social sciences in 1986.

Odoch joined the Public Service and Cabinet Affairs at the headquarters in Entebbe. Thereafter, he pursued a post-graduate diploma in community economic development from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. He later got a masters and PhD in Canada in 1999.

Upon his return from Canada in 2002, Odoch supported the Nebbi university students’ associations and served as the Alur Kingdom spokesman from 2007-2008 and the Minister of Economic Planning and Rural Development.

In November 2008, he was appointed by President Museveni as a board director of the National Planning Authority.

He has also been a director in the National Enterprise Corporation. He says he wants to sort out the political contradictions in the constituency.

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