Gerald Karuhanga fights to retain Ntungamo seat

The race for the Ntungamo Municipality parliamentary seat is likely to be hotter than ever before.

Previously, cut-throat competion has always been between Gerald Karuhanga, previously an independent and now under Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) and Yona Musinguzi of the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

The other candidates in the race are Perez Rumanzi of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Beyendeza Edward Bekunda (independent), Bishanga Moses Kafumba (independent) and Hilary Ampereza (independent).

Karuhanga, who sits on the parliamentary budget committee and formerly worked as the chairperson of African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC), says he will win because the electorate like him for the good things he has done in his first term of office.

He says he has fulfilled most of what he promised in 2016 — street lights, poverty alleviation and lobbying for the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) projects.

He says given another term of office, he will lobby the Government and non-governmental organisations to ensure that the town becomes a model municipality and later becomes a city.

He says people vote him as Karuhanga and not as a member of ANT or FDC because of his hard work.

In the 2016 elections, there were violent scenes, which Karuhanga says will not happen again. He appealed to security teams in the district to ensure that Ntungamo municipality does not see a repeat of 2016.

Rumanzi, a former journalist, says it is high time journalists and artistes joined active politics. He says once he joins the 11th Parliament, he will table a motion to restore term and age limit in the Constitution.

Rumanzi, who has been in the media for 16 years, says he chose to run on the FDC ticket because the one they voted for in 2016 ‘betrayed' the party and defected to Mugisha Muntu's ANT. He adds that FDC is a focused party that is likely to lead Uganda after the NRM regime.

Bekunda says he is running as an independent candidate because the NRM primaries were not free and fair as it was rigged in favour of his rival, Musinguzi.

"The electorate asked me to contest as an independent because they were not satisfied with the way the party primaries were conducted," he says.

Kafumba promised to help people in acquiring land titles because he is a land surveyor. He also promised to improve life in the municipality and promote self-help projects.

Musinguzi says the violence of 2016 will not happen again. He asked people to forgive him for any mistake that he could have made during the previous elections.

Musinguzi is still battling a case in the High Court, which was filed by Bekunda. He accused him of having joined active politics without resigning from public service within 90 days as the law requires.

Musinguzi promised to develop the municipality and sensitise people, especially the youth, on how they can create their own jobs. He also promised to attract investors who will build factories that will employ many people.

Ampereza Hillary (an independent candidate), a bodaboda cyclist, says he decided to join politics to show the world that even bodaboda cyclists can make it to Parliament. He promised to represent his people in the municipality and ensure that the majority who are unemployed, get jobs.