By Frank Kamuntu
Following yesterday’s letter from the National Resistance Movement’s, General Secretary Ms Kasule Lumumba that they will not endorse any candidate on their ticket for the position of Member of Parliament for Mawogola North constituency in Sembabule district ahead of 2021 general elections, the duo are to face off again after being nominated as independents.
The development comes after the party’s tribunal established that Sodo was not rightly elected as the party flag bearer in the primaries and declared that since the tribunal has not got enough time to review the petitions from both parties, they are not going to front any candidate on this post.
”In the circumstances that CEC cannot convene in the few hours left to the close of nominations timetable as set by the national electoral commission, I have therefore taken the considered decision that NRM will not endorse any candidate to contest as its flag bearer for the position of Member of Parliament for Mawogola North Sembabule district, ” reads the letter signed by Kasule Lumumba.
Since both candidates were left in hanging mode, they had no other option rather than contesting as independents. According to Shartis Kutesa, her decision to contest as an independent is due to dissatisfaction doubting that she had sincerely lost to Sodo as NRM Electoral Commission had declared after the party’s primary elections.
However, Sodo who accused NRM party executives of fearing to say the truth since it would annoy “Party’s GOD father” Sam Kuteesa, said, “There was nothing I could do about it because it was too late to challenge the decision of the tribunal. I, therefore, decided to come as an independent.”
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It should be noted that the duo held a chaotic election that led several party seniors to convene before suspending the election for weeks.
Later after, a couple of security meetings were held led by Uganda Police top chiefs including deputy IGP Maj.Gen.Muzeeyi Sabiiti, CID Director, AIGP Grace Akullo and other several leaders that later drawn possibilities of holding fair and violence-free elections and on election day heavy security deployments were seen and it is said that they scared some citizens from voting.
At the end of elections, it was declared that Mr Kaguta who seemed to be not so hot in this race ended up trouncing his closest rival after polling 17,343 votes (46 per cent) while Shartis Musherure Kutesa polled 16,104 votes and the third contender Salim Kisekka polled 4,272 votes (11.3 per cent).
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It was against that background that the NRM district registrar George William Katokoozi, announced, “I, therefore, declare Aine, who has polled the highest number of votes, the flag bearer for the Mawogola constituency.”
