Betty Bigombe, Semakula, Salaamu make comeback

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.


GULU WOMAN
Whereas the NRM has gained ground in northern Uganda since the end of war, the region is still an opposition stronghold.
Several NRM politicians are trying to turn the tide, including former minister Betty Bigombe, who is eyeing the Gulu Woman MP seat.
The incumbent, Betty Aol Ocan (FDC), has been praised by some for using her constituency development fund to secure oxen and ox-ploughs for women’s groups in each of the 11 sub-counties in the district.
 
According to Santa Oketta, the Gulu district secretary for community services, Aol also supported women’s groups in the four divisions in Gulu town with cash for income generating activities to fight poverty at household level.

 “Aol regularly visits people returning to their villages to find out how they are coping with the problems of water, education and health services,” Oketta noted.

 Some women, however, criticised Aol for giving the oxen and ox ploughs to specific groups of women rather than doing something that benefits the general population.
Aol is also blamed for not sponsoring children from poor families to go to school, like women MPs in other districts.

Others still accuse Aol of going overboard in her campaign for women’s emancipation. Men and some women were unhappy when she advised that women should stop kneeling for their husbands.

Bigombe, a former minister of state for the pacification of northern Uganda, was also a chief negotiator in the 1994 and 2005 peace talks between the Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
 She was named Uganda’s woman of the year in 1993 for her efforts, even though the talks flopped. In 1996, after failing to win the Gulu municipality parliamentary seat, Bigombe took a fellowship at the Harvard Institute for International Development.

 She created the Betty-Bigombe Children of War Foundation, which has a vivid presence on the worldwide web. Through it, she highlights the plight of children and women in the war ravaged north.

Bigombe says: “I have been approached by a number of people from Gulu and Amuru districts to come back and contest in the 2011 elections. I appreciate this offer, which shows the confidence the people have in me. I cannot say no or yes at the moment. I still need to consider the pros and cons of doing it.”

Lucy Larubi, the Secretary General of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, has also come up to join the race for Gulu woman MP. Larubi who recently defected to the NRM party from UPC, has embarked on education people about their rights on radio.

 She supports a number of women groups at sub-county level in agricultural and other income-generating activities. “I am a mature politician; a community social worker. I have lived with the people since 1990,” she says.

 Larubi is hopeful that the Acholi will this time vote according to what a leader is able to deliver and not along party lines.

 Grace Atim, a renowned artiste in Gulu commonly known as Oleyo-Wiya, has also declared her interest to run for the seat as an Independent candidate.

 “Many party officials have contacted me but I have not yet decided which one to join,” she said.
 Atim stated that she is consulting women, youth and the business community about her intention to run. “I am trying to set up a team before I can start serious work on the ground,” she says. “I was born a leader. right from school I was a leader. I feel that I can be a better voice for our people in parliament.” She explained that her popularity lay in her songs.

The assistant chief administrative officer of Amuru district, Christine Atimango, also wants to contest for the seat as an Independent.

Atimango, who lost to Norbert Mao in the 2001 parliamentary elections for Gulu municipality, says: “I am not new to the voters. I was born in Gulu, studied in Gulu and I work in Gulu and Amuru districts.”  

Atimango explained that she has seen all the suffering the people in Acholi have gone through, especially during the LRA insurgency.  “I am not the type of leader who initiates projects for votes only.”

 She promised to set up programmes to help people as they return to their homes, saying her focus will be on education.

 “Whatever policy is passed in Parliament should protect and develop the people. Leaders should demonstrate to people how to develop using whatever resources they have,” Atimango added.

 She stated that it was disappointing to see that out of the 40 pioneer medicine students who graduated recently from Gulu University, only two were Acholi.

 Atimango said she would urge leaders to join hands with educationists to improve the standard of education in the rural schools.
 Meanwhile, Gulu female youth councillor Joyce Reeni Alima (NRM) says: “I have started consultations with the youth, women, elders and other voters in Koro, Bungatira, Odek, Awach and Paicho sub-counties ahead of 2011. The response is encouraging.

“The communities are abandoned by the MPs after voting. MPs do not support needy children and elders who have been left in the camps by their relatives who have returned to their villages.”

 Alima added that the biggest challenge was fighting the commercialisation of politics, where voters expect money from aspirants.
 
BUGABULA, KAMULI DISTRICT
Salaamu Musumba is a fiery government critic. In 2007, when she chose to vie for the district LC5 chair, President Yoweri Museveni had to camp in Kamuli to sway the voters in NRM’s favour.

She served as Bugabula South MP for two consecutive terms until she was trounced in 2006 by lands state minister Asuman Kiyingi. The mostly rural constituents were won over by promises that if they sent Kiyingi to parliament, he would be rewarded with a ministerial job.
But some wonder whether Kiyingi’s ministerial status has benefited them at all.

And as 2011 approaches, Musumba is laying strategies to recapture the seat. “I have been studying the situation and will definitely compete again,” she asserts.
Kiyingi has been aggressive in consolidating his position at the grassroots with constituency tours, attending fundraisings and soliciting for NRM votes especially in by-elections.

 Phiona Kyazike, a constituent argues that Kiyingi should have used much of the energy applied in seeking for NRM votes in by-elections elsewhere, to develop his area. “He seems to be everywhere, fighting FDC in Budiope or Mbale municipality, while neglecting the people who sent him to parliament,” Kyazike says.

 Some constituents claim that they do not know what their legislator looks like.

 Musumba was MP of Bugabula South from 1996 to 2006. Prior to that, she was a senior programme officer with Uganda Red Cross. She was also an advocate for better services for expectant mothers.

 According to the voters, when Musumba contested for the LC5 seat in 2007, she was such a big threat that the NRM was forced to do much more for the constituents like improving electricity supply.

Musumba claims her constituents have been given a raw deal and would gladly vote her as their representative in a free and fair poll.
 But some voters are not comfortable with the way she talks, describing it as ‘abusive.’

 FDC, her party, is part of the Inter Party Coalition and Musumba will have to go through a joint selection process to qualify for the contest.
 Kiyingi also must first win the NRM primaries. And, of course, there will also be other contestants who make the race more meaningful.

Mwenge South, Kyenjojo district
The former district LC5 chairman, William Kaija, has declared his intention to run against the incumbent, Aston Kajara, the state minister for investment.

Five other people have also shown interest in the seat namely: Gilbert Rubaihayo, Dick Katenta both businessmen, James Mugenyi, a police officer, Rogers Kasami of Uganda Revenue Authority and James Karija of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.

Kaija, the Kumi resident district commissioner endured a hot 2006 race against his cousin, James Byamukama. Kaija won the NRM primaries but Byamukama contested as an Independent candidate and won the seat. Kaija supported Kajara in the 2006 election and people were shocked to discover that he intends to stand against him.

MITYANA NORTH
In Mityana North, three people are lining up to unseat the incumbent, NRM’s Dr. Gordon Ssematiko Katende.

These include former minister Ssemakula Kiwanuka, the Kaabong Resident District Commissioner, Godfrey Kiwanda Suubi and Independent Ssemudu Kabugo, who worked for CBS radio.

Ssematiko is a medical doctor who has worked with many organisations, in Africa, Asia and Europe. He is currently a consultant for pharmaceutical companies world wide and non-governmental organisations fighting HIV/AIDS. He is commended for lobbying for funds for the construction of the roads in the area, especially the Kigalama– Kalangaalo and Kalangaalo-Kyamusisi roads. Using his own money and contributions, Ssematiko has also constructed five health centres, in Kiyoganyi, Nakawere and Kiteredde, among others and equipped them with drugs. He has also recruited nurses. The district commends Ssematiko for introducing Mildmay services to the area.

People with HIV/AIDS are currently accessing free services at Mityana hospital and at Kyantungo in his constituency, where they receive free anti-retroviral drugs. Some have nicknamed him Omusibi wa Yingini, meaning the one who repaired the engines of their lives. He often attends district council meetings and has good a working relationship with district leaders.

Meanwhile, former minister Ssemakula Kiwanuka has spent the last two years mobilising grassroot support. He always attends functions and donates generously when there is need.

Meanwhile, Kiwanda, who lost the seat to Ssematiko, frequently makes trips back home to touch base with the constituents, even though he works in Karamoja. He socialises with people and always attends burials, weddings and religious functions. He bought a pick-up truck for the district and who ever wants to use it buys fuel. Kabugo, however, is little-known.

nakaseke north
TWO people are warming up to stand against finance ministrer Syda Bbumba in the proposed Nakaseke North constituency.

In what is turning out to be a battle of ethnicities, a cross-section of the predominantly cattle-keeping residents are seeking to be represented by one of their own.
President Yoweri Museveni last December promised that a second constituency would be carved out of the vast Nakaseke, which is being represented by Bbumba.

The creation of the new constituency would deprive Bbumba of her populous stronghold of Semuto and Kapeeka sub-counties, leaving her with only Kikamulo, her home area.
Two have expressed their intention to stand against Bbumba. David Barugahayo Kididi, a 30-year-old businessman and Godfrey Mwesigwa, an employee of NSSF are both from the cattle-keeping north, which has the bigger number of voters.

Barugahayo, who comes from a wealthy family in Ngoma sub-county, says he will ensure more effective representation of his cattle keeping community. His family boasts of being pioneer supporters of the liberation struggle, who donated 100 head of cattle to the NRA guerrilla fighters.

Barugahayo, who has distributed calendars bearing his portrait, accuses Bbumba of not having done much to improve the social infrastructure in the cattle corridor.
But the influential minister has an edge over her less affluent junior rivals, who are also novices in the political game.

However, Bbumba, who has always trounced her challengers with ease in previous elections, may face an uphill task of endearing herself to the cattle–keeping electorate, some of whom may prefer representation by one of their own.
 
Compiled by: CHRIS OCOWUN, GEORGE BITA, HOPE MAFARANGA, LUKE KAGIRI AND FREDERICK KIWANUKA