{UAH} THIS IS THE REAL PROBLEM WITH ACHOLIS

Friends

 

There is no one preaching hate here, there is no one bullying Acholis here, but there is something fundamentally wrong we need to understand about Acholis. Do you see this photograph? That is Norbert Mao’s brother with Yoweri Museveni singing Kumbaya. Explain that if you so can for I simply cannot understand how Norbert Mao’s family starts by the wife working in state house, and now the brother is campaigning with Museveni.

 

The question then becomes who exactly is Norbert Mao and how far is he from campaigning with Museveni?

 

Why Opposition defeated NRM in Amuru Woman by-election

 

President Museveni (R) with Mao’s brother Dusman Okee campaign for NRM candidate in Olwal village, Amuru District on Tuesday. COURTESY PHOTO 

By CISSY MAKUMBI, JULUIS OCUNGI & BRENDA KINYERA

Posted  Sunday, November 23  2014 at  02:00

Amuru.
No doubt the joint candidature gave Opposition a huge advantage in the Amuru District Woman MP by-election conducted on Thursday.

Although the contest had five candidates, the real race was between NRM’s Jane Frances Amongin Okili and the joint Opposition’s Lucy Akello, the eventual winner. Ms Akello garnered 7,420 votes against Ms Okili’s 6,701 out of the 15,342 total votes cast.

Other contestants Acan Pauline (Ind) got 775 votes, Suzan Adokorach Bwot (Conservative Party) 300 votes while Caroline Aber received 146.

The by-election followed the resignation of Ms Betty Bigombe who took up a World Bank job last month.
Both NRM and the Opposition gurus poured into Amuru to drum up support for their respective candidates.
With the abundant resources at their disposal, how did NRM lose the Amuru District Woman MP by-election? Party supporters claim the Opposition used propaganda to mislead and sway the voters in their favour.

Others blame the Electoral Commission (EC) for the loss, saying the body did not tally votes from one of the polling stations. But the ballot box for Otong Primary School polling station in Pabbo had 300 votes, which if all of them belonged to Ms Akili, they would not give her victory.

“As the NRM party chairman in the district, I want to challenge the results released by EC and demand that the election results be nullified, so that a fair by-election be carried out,” Mr Juma Labongo said.

“Opposition politicians are the ones who have delayed investments in the area. We feel they have failed not only to develop the area, but they have also denied locals job opportunities,” Mr Labongo added.

However, he admitted the strength of the Opposition team which comprised DP president Norbert Mao, FDC’s Mugisha Muntu and Kizza Besigye, UPC’s Olara Otunnu, leader of Opposition in Parliament Wafula Oguttu and several MPs from the north who camped in Amuru from the start of the by-election campaign.

The NRM team comprised mainly Resident District Commissioners who had lost elections in 2011, meaning they had no strong base at the grassroots. They were not of significant help to the NRM compared, for example, to Mr Mao who is born in Amuru and has a strong influence in the area.

And President Museveni’s booster came a little too late. The President went to the district a few days to the polling day. At this time of the campaign, it was hard to undo the damage the Opposition had already inflicted.

A member of President Museveni’s intervention team in Amuru, Mr Dusman Okee, a brother to Mr Mao, conceded that by the time they reached the district, the Opposition had by far and long “poisoned” the voters’ minds with propaganda that if they voted the NRM candidate, they would have nobody to defend their land from being given away to Madhvani for sugarcane growing.

 

This is a contentious issue that touches the hearts and souls of the local community. Without a prompt and satisfactory counter-explanation from the government team, the residents were likely to believe the claim.

Mr Okee says the President intervention neutralised a lot of propaganda the Opposition had planted among the voters but admitted that due to the time limitations it was not enough to reverse the situation.

He said if the President’s team had more days in Amuru, the result would have been different. However, he maintained that NRM remains strong in the district despite the Opposition victory, which he said was earned on misinformation.

However, the Opposition politicians knew very well the residents’ grievances and schemed how to play them up against the NRM.

The local people and politicians have been accusing the government of trying to grab their land to give it away to investors for sugarcane growing. Government has not made a satisfactory counter to this theory.

The proposed land giveaway to Madhvani Group of Companies for sugarcane growing cannot be underestimated in swinging the Amuru by-election.
For the last five years, the government has not agreed with local leaders on the land giveaway for investment, which the latter demand that the investors negotiate directly with land owners and not government.

 

Marginalised
Residents also accused the NRM of not giving enough as far as the recovery programme for the north is concerned. Even when the NRM cited the electricity connection from Gulu to Amuru, the area politicians easily countered that by claiming the power line was made because Mr Museveni intended to establish a farm in Amuru.

There were also wild reports that Ms Bigombe had resigned her parliamentary seat because she was put under pressure to sign away Amuru land for sugarcane growing but refused and that the World Bank job was just an escape route for her. As wild as they sound, the reports had an influence on the uninformed voters who believed them.

Uganda Peoples Congress president Olara Otunnu speaks to residents of Amuru District ahead of the by-election. Left is Opposition joint candidate Lucy Akello, the winner of the by-election. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OKELLO

In 2012, Uganda Wildlife Authority evicted 6,000 people in Apaa area in Pabbo Sub-county in the district on account that East Madi game reserve is not fit for human settlement. The residents still carry that grievance.

 

It is such grievances and perceptions that the Opposition politicians capitalised on to woo the locals to their side.

Besides, Amuru is a strong Opposition area and it would take a strong counter to dig it out.
While campaigning in the district early this month, the FDC chairperson for Amuru, Mr Michael Lakony, said Amuru is known for voting Opposition leaders.

“Amuru has been an Opposition stronghold over the years and it’s on record,” Mr Lakony said.

The first District Woman MP in 2006 was Ms Concy Aciro of the FDC after Amuru was carved out of Gulu.
Kilak County MP Michael Ocula was Opposition candidate and was replaced by Mr Gilbert Olanya, who contested as independent but of FDC leaning.

Although Amuru LC5 chairperson Anthony Omach is NRM, he did not have an easy run against FDC’s Lakony in 2011. Omach won a tight race.

Whether the NRM can pick lessons from the defeat and bounce back in 2016 general elections is the question.

Similar case
In June, a similar scenario happened in the Luweero District Woman MP by-election when the Opposition fielded a joint candidate Brenda Nabukenya of the Democratic Party and won it. President and the ruling NRM hierarchy too poured into Luweero to drum up support for the party candidate Rebecca Nalwanga but finally lost to the joint Opposition.

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
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