Busia by-election crucial for 2016 - Lukwago

By Nicholas Wassajja

KAMPALA - Embatlled Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has said that the Busia district LC5 by-elections are very significant to the opposition to front a single candidate in the 2016 presidential elections.

Speaking to journalists at the Justice Forum offices in Mengo shortly before heading for Busia, Lukwago said that the by-election may make or break opposition efforts to have a joint candidate for the 2016 polls.

“Losing this by-election will be very detrimental to having opposition cooperation but winning it is also significant being that this might be the last by-election. We would thus have beaten the NRM as united opposition thrice and that will speak volumes ahead of the general elections,” Lukwago said.

Following the seat falling vacant after court found previous chairman Adea Ouma guilty of soliciting bribes and abuse of office and ordered government to kick him out of office, opposition political parties agreed to front DP’s Deo Hasubi Njoki as their joint candidate for the by-election.

Lukwago noted he was optimistic victory in Busia was for the opposition despite the challenges faced in trying to take on the NRM.

He said, “The ground in Busia is not levelled because the NRM is deploying money and state machinery against us. But for the time I have pitched camp in the area, the people of Busia are ready for change and they will give us a landslide victory.”

Lukwago said much as NRM has done everything to garner support for its candidate Stephen Wanyama Oundo, they are going to trounce the ruling party like they did in the Luweero and Amuru by-elections.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (DP) has petitioned the Electoral Commission (EC) seeking attention over alleged irregularities in the electoral process ahead of the Busia polls.

Speaking at a press conference at the DP headquarters over the weekend, the party secretary general and Bukoto South MP Mathias Nsubuga told journalists that they have written to the EC chairman and Busia District returning officer Sam Agaba seeking intervention on the matter.

“We have written to the returning officer contesting the decision of the EC chairman to issue guidelines creating polling stations and TVLS because we saw no ground for such a directive,” Nsubuga said.

Nsubuga said, “We agreed with the EC on the campaign program for conducting rallies but now we are being forced out of areas we are supposed to campaign because the NRM chairman will be campaigning for his candidate."

However, the EC spokesperson Jotham Taremwa told New Vision that, “there have been no new polling stations added to the existing 220 in the district but the TVLS were issued to guide voters on where they should vote from.”

Taremwa also explained that, “in the meeting to schedule the campaign program, opposition were told in advance that the NRM chairman will be coming to campaign for his candidate and as protocol stipulates, whenever the president comes in an area, programs are changed and these people are aware of this.”