Jinja East voters to choose legislator tomorrow

PIC: This will be the fifth time Paul Mwiru faces off with Nathan Igeme Nabeta. (Credit: Jackie Nambogga)

POLITICS

JINJA - Voters in Jinja east constituency will vote their legislator tomorrow.

A total of 29,973 registered voters from 47 polling stations will decide among the eight contestants vying for the seat that fell vacant after the ouster of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) card-bearer, Nathan Igeme Nabeta.

Nabeta was on January 13, 2017 thrown out of Parliament after the Court of Appeal nullified his victory.

Court said his 2016 election into Parliament was marred with vote rigging at Danida A-D polling stations in Walukuba/Masese division.

This was after establishing that results of from the said polling stations were inflated, which affected the general results of the constituency.

Nabeta's ouster called for a byeelection that attracted six new contenders in a race that had initially been dominated by two people, NRM's Nabeta and Paul Mwiru of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

This will be the fifth time both Mwiru and Nabeta face off since 2006.
Nabeta won in 2006, 2011 and 2016, while Mwiru won in a byeelection of February 2012.

Meanwhile, the new entrants include one female, Monica Abuze and Richard Nyanzi, both FDC leaning.

Others are Nabeta's former political assistant Faisal Mayemba, Eng. Francis Wakabi, Hatim Isabirye Mugendi, all on the independent ticket and Paul Mugaya of the Peoples Progressive Party.

However, the race again seems to be between NRM and FDC.

Campaigns concluded on Tuesday, where big wigs from opposition parties rallied their support for Mwiru.

Among those who campaigned for Mwiru was Nabeta's half-brother, Moses Hannington Kyemba.

Kyemba accuses Nabeta of allegedly branding his mother a prostitute.

"I was hurt when Nabeta accused my mother of being a prostitute, yet she is among the widows survived by our late father, Samson Nabeta," Kyemba told a rally at Busoga Square on Tuesday.

Also, Kyemba warned that if they continued voting for Nabeta, court battles would not end as he lacks the prerequisite academic papers.

"If I left my brother in support of Mwiru for such a sensitive position, what are you still waiting for," Kyemba asked the residents.