By Agaba Johnson
KAYUNGA:The Electoral Commission has on Friday morning declared the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Andrew Muwonge the winner of the Kayunga LCV by-election.
Muwonge was declared the winner by the Kayunga District Returning officer Jennifer Kyobutungi after collecting 31,830 votes against his archrival – National Unity Platform (NUP)’s Harriet Nakweede Kafeero who got 31, 380 votes. There was a delay in declaring the final results amid accusations of rigging by the leading parties -NRM and NUP.
There were six candidates that contested for the seat but the other four got just about 2,000 votes among themselves . Independent Majid Nyanzi – came in 3rd with just 1,287 votes.
There were Jubilations in the NRM party camp as their candidate Andrew Muwonge wins the Kayunga LCV Chairman tight race . Muwonge has been declared the winner of the Kayunga LC 5 by-election by the Uganda Electoral Commission.
This is the first major win for the NRM’s new SG Richard Towdong -the chief NRM party mobilise who rallied the long-forgotten grassroots before President Yoweri Museveni came in to galvanize the party base- two days before the elections held under tight security .
Ida Nantaba -a hitherto NRM diehard who campaigned for independent candidates -this time round didn’t have a chance with the NRM supporters voting overwhelmingly for Muwonge. Museveni told the last campaign rally that the opposition would not win it even if they “danced for 20 hours.”
According to sources from the NRM who spoke to The Homeland Newspaper, after Kayunga the focus will be on the Mityana woman parliament seat -by elections -another hotly contested election which will pit -the NRM’s Hon. Judith Nabakooba and her nemesis Joyce Bagala.
Both women are established journalists but Nabakooba a senior retried police officer too- who was defeated in the January general elections but successfully challenged the results which were overturned by the High Court in Mubende for voter bribery and other malpractices .
Political commentators have noted that NRM should go back and engage the grassroots if they are to win over the Buganda vote which largely went to the NUP camp during the January general elections. With new young blood in Richard Todwong as Secretary General – who has hit the road running – to mobilise the grassroots it is hopped that by 2026 the NRM Party might be in a better position.
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