By MOSES
SSERWANGA
There is
heavy deployment of the police and army across the country especially in the 15
hotspots as NRM party members go to the polls to decide who will be their flag
bearers for the scientific 2021 general
elections.
There has
also been heavy spending of money by the various candidates as they woe voters
in the hotly contested NRM primaries
with at least two major races in Sembabule district suspended by the
Party Chairman , President Yoweri Museveni due to violence and intimidation of
voters.
Museveni -the endorsed NRM chairman and the
party’s sole presidential candidate has also directed that all known NRM members/supporters should be allowed to vote in tomorrow’s polls
following complaints that in some villages- in the flagged hotspots -the NRM
party voters register had been tampered with in futile efforts to rig the vote.
Now,
Museveni is emphatic that all NRM
party members whether registered or not should be given an opportunity to cast
their votes by adding their names on the voters register after verification by
the village committees. The exercise of registering voters will go on until the
polling day , Museveni stated in a communication to all national NM branch
(village) executive committees.
An
estimated 2,600 candidates are vying for posts in the NRM mass party with an estimated 1,600 candidates standing to get
the direct Member of Parliament NRM flag, some
200 women contesting for the
woman MP flag . Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga got an endorsement
from the Busoga Kingdom Prime Minister Joseph Muvawala who said the region can
not afford not to have Kadaga in both local and national politics and that she
should retain all her positions. Else where, Judith Nabakooba was predicted to
get the NRM flag for the Mityana woman MP and Lydia Wanyoto was also reported
to be ahead of rival in Mbale.
The
flagged hotspots
Police and
the army conducted night patrols and
have today morning deployed heavily in the hotspots as voters head to the polling centers where
they will vote by lining behind their preferred candidates . The hotspots
include Rakai Ssembabule, Kassanda, Kazo, Bundibugyo, Sironko, Sheema, Mbale,
Hoima, Koboko, Adjumani, Kashongi, Kampala, Wakiso and Hoima.
In
Ssebambule where the voting has been suspended , the incumbent Lwemiya MP
Theodore Ssekikuubo was battling State Minister for transport Joyce Kabatsi
while President Yoweri Museveni’s relative Godfrey Aine is facing off with
Shartis Musherure Nayebare, a daughter to foreign affairs Minister Sam Kutesa
for the Mawogola North constituency.
An Interesting profile
of the race for Mawogola North shows that Shartsi Musherule, one of the
contenders is daughter to Sam Kuteesa and twin sister to the first Son Gen. Muhoozi’s wife Charllote. Her rival
is her father-in-law Sodo Aine Kaguta, younger brother to President Museveni and
therefore an uncle to Muhoozi.
In Shema , Dr. Elioda
Tumwesigye a veteran politician who has been MP for 20 years and minister for
Science technology and Innovation , (MosTI) is in a race of his life- facing
off with a political novice but who is filthy rich -Dickson Kateshumbwa
aka(Kaesh)- who was recently sacked from URA by President Museveni. This
particular race is hotly contested that police and army have had to storm hotels
and lodges in Sheema and rounded up over
50 “kanyamas” who were ferried from
Kampala by the two camps to allegedly
intimidate voters.
The army and police
have now been deployed in all the villages of Sheema to ensure that no violence
erupts during and after the elections.
Koboko is another hot one , with the incumbent
Evelyn Anite being given a run for her money by another fresh political
entrant Dr. Charles Ayume . Already
cases of violence and hooliganism have been reported in Koboko forcing the
police to summon the two arch rivals to record statements .
But why the do or die NRM primaries
Political pundits have told the trusted and
topical Ugandaupdatenews.com publication that commercialization
of Uganda’s politics where an MP earns
well over Ug.shs.35M a month- candidates are even selling their houses to buy
votes and go to parliament . Civil society actors monitoring the campaign financing in Uganda
now believe that for one to be elected an MP they should have spent on average
Ug.shs.300M.
In the NRM primaries some candidates are said
to be spending well over Ug.shs.500m- meaning that by the time they are done
with the general elections next year they would have spent in the upward of a
billion shillings . In western Uganda a vote was reported to be going for as
much as ug.Shs.300,000 depending on one’s burgaining power and influence in the
villages .
And here is the math. It is estimated that an
MP would have earned at least 2bn official money in salaries and allowances
over a five year period when they are in parliament which is a motivating
factor for candidates to invest as much as Ug.shs.500m for campaigns and make a ‘profit’ of ug.shs.1.5bn when they
are elected MPs.
“ That’s why candidates will do everything
within their means to be elected as MPs. And when one wins the primaries they
are at 70% mark to become MPs. And the voters want to have a piece of the cake
too -since for some, this is the first and last time they will interact with
these politicians. Many don’t return to their electorates once they are elected
,” John Bagonza a political scholar stated .
The same views have since been echoed by Ugandan scholars- Ramathan Ggoobi and
Prof. Mwambutsya who noted that you
cannot have free and fair elections when the majority of the voters are poor
and when those who commercialise politics are rewarded with government
positions .
Past hotly contested races
So the question is then posed ;is this the
first time families are contesting against each other. The answer is no.
During the race to the Constituent Assembly
(CA) in 1994 Prof. Adonia Tiberondwa contested against Major Amanya Mushega in
Bushenyi yet their wives were blood sisters. The CA involved joint campaigns
referred to as Joint Candidates Meetings. Tiberondwa was a former UPC minister
and Mushega was a serving NRM minister. Although the law prohibited campaigning
along party lines, Bushenyi was still strongly UPC and, naturally a contest
between the then NRM values and those of
UPC often became heated.
The candidates would haul insults at each
other on the campaign platforms to fire up the peasants then withdraw to any of
their homes and share a meal and some pleasantries as the peasants
continued with the bitter rivalry throughout the night.
Another case is Bunyaruguru. where Hon. Bart
Katurebe ( now retired Chief justice )
and Hon. Twarebireho contested
against each other yet they are first cousins. During elections, Twarebireho
lost his mother. The family eulogy was given by Bart Katurebe
who went ahead to win the election .
In the 1980 elections in Mbale Central
Constituency (now Bududa District and part of Manafwa District) two UPC
diehards who had at different times
married or at least produced a child with the same woman contested for the same
position . One was Abner Nangwale, a British trained chartered engineer and the
other was Seth Mungati, an equally British trained chartered surveyor.
Floodgates to many Independents
The bitter rivalry in the NRM primaries will open
the floodgates to many independent candidates since the losers are likely to
contest the general elections as independents. According to political commentators all this
will increase the cost of elections in Uganda -even when the 2021 polls are
likely to be conducted in a scientific manner to stem the spread of the global
-novel- Covid-19 pandemic.
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