Anite says mafias stole her victory

Investment state minister Evelyn Anite has conceded defeat after losing in the just concluded National Resistance Movement primaries for the 2021 parliamentary flag-bearers.

The 35-year-old minister lost the contest for the Koboko Municipality NRM ticket to the son of the former Speaker of Parliament, the late Francis Ayume.

Dr Charles Ayume, who worked with State House Health Monitoring Unit for over 15 years before wading into politics in July, won by a margin of 768 votes.

"To the mafias and haters, I concede. You have won the battle by stealing my victory, but the war rages on," the minister, who in 2014 moved a motion in the NRM parliamentary caucus, endorsing President Yoweri Museveni as the party's sole presidential candidate for the 2016 polls, tweeted on Saturday.

Ayume's legacy

On Saturday, Charles dropped a hint on social media that he tapped into the legacy of his late father as a campaign tool.

"Family, friends, and supporters, all good things come from God. Today is a great day! Thank you for believing in me and the legacy of my father," he tweeted.

His father was Attorney General at the time of death in May 2004, in a car crash at Kyankonwa on the Kampala- Gulu highway. The spot is renowned for fatal accidents.

His death came hardly two months after that of foreign affairs minister James Wapakhabulo from whom he took over as Speaker of the Sixth Parliament.

Ayume was also state minister in the President's Office in 1998, lands and housing and physical planning minister from 1996-1998, general manager Fourways Group (1991-1994) and secretary of the Electoral Commission in 1985.

Other portfolios included secretary in President's Office (1985), permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister (1983-1985) and Solicitor General (1977- 1981).