{UAH} SHOCKING SECRETS WHY MOHAMED NSEREKO’S BID FOR DEPUTY SPEAKER JOB IS ‘DEAD ON ARRIVAL’

By Mulengera Reporters 

Initially Mohammed Nsereko's bid for the position of Deputy Speaker seemed formidable and very promising but dynamics have since rapidly changed making Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among the clear favorite for the job. Amongi has been reaching out to many MPs-elect in all parts of the country and her candidature has since been endorsed by MPs backing both the Jacob Oulanyah and Rebecca Kadaga camps.

She uses her whatsapp foras to which all the newly elected MPs have been added and she has also been using her palatial home in Ntinda, which looks like a five star hotel, to host MPs-elect whose material needs she has also been actively catering for. The very charming Among has also all of sudden become very accessible and a generous contributor for MPs-elect with financial problems.

"Don't be surprised when she carries the day," one of the MPs-elect who has been assigned a key role in her camp says of Among who during the 2016 Deputy Speaker race headed Nsereko's campaigns. They polled over 100 votes, something which naturally must have frightened President Museveni who personally had to come to Parliament to ensure MPs don't betray his man Jacob Oulanyah.

NSEREKO'S WOES

Yet there is nothing that has cost and deflated Nsereko as failure to galvanize the Buganda vote which is his home turf. With NUP controlling more than 85% of the MPs-elect in Buganda, any opposition-leaning contender for Speakership would naturally be expected to have easy sail turning Buganda into a block vote. But this, unfortunately, is not something Nsereko can leverage upon to strengthen his bid. Why? His vote rigging-related wars with Bobi Wine's very influential brother Fred Nyanzi Sentamu, who many perceive to be the kingmaker and a political commissar of sorts in the Kyagulanyi party, have alienated him from many of the MPs-elect implying none of them can risk publicly fraternizing with him without getting misunderstood by voters who love Nyanzi just like they love Bobi.

Anger against Nsereko amongst members of the incoming Buganda Caucus (which essentially is the same as the NUP caucus for the 11^th Parliament) has even escalated after majority NUP MPs-elect got reports that his camp is plotting to hide behind Mengo Chief Magistrate's court costs to get Chairman Nyanzi rot in Luzira or even possibly die there under mysterious circumstances. To many of the newly elected NUP MPs, seeking to get Nyanzi languish in Luzira or Kitalya prison simply because he exercised his constitutional right to protest what he considered a stolen victory for the Kampala Central MP Seat by challenging the same in court, will be a red line for Mohammed Nsereko to cross.

Many of the NUP MPs, who essentially comprise the Buganda Caucus for 11^th Parliament, consider Nyanzi's claims of election rigging and malpractices against Nsereko credible and don't expect somebody who wants to become Deputy Speaker of Parliament to react with such vindictiveness. They are wondering why Nsereko, innocent as he claims, would be uncomfortable with having court inquire into his win. "The best way to have your win authenticated, indeed if you are sure of it, is by having the same conclusively inquired into by courts of law and that is the path Chairman Nyanzi took-and we didn't expect Nsereko to react in such a very vindictive way to the extent of plotting to send him to Luzira because in Buganda we take it that whoever wishes you jail wishes you nothing else but death," says one of the MPs-elects for NUP from Buganda region.

Such MPs' fears are not totally unfounded about Nyanzi's impending incarceration in Luzira or Kitalya for failing to pay Nsereko's costs. Indeed, Mohamed Nsereko, whose reelection Nyanzi is already challenging in the High Court through an election petition, has since teamed up with the EC and they are demanding Shs65m from Fred Nyanzi as costs. That this is the total aggregation of the expenses and costs they incurred to defend themselves against Fred Nyanzi's application seeking the recount of the Kampala Central votes from the Thursday 14^th January 2021. Part of Nsereko and EC's costs' claim, being pursued by NRM diehard supporter Simon Peter Kinobe's law firm where even ex-Minister Kabakumba Matsiko works, indicates that each of the lawyers who participated in fighting off Nyanzi's application was hired at a rate of Shs300,000 per hour.

The Shs65m costs' claim is being disputed by many court pundits as unusual and unnecessarily punitive because Nyanzi's bid for vote recount was a simple application which took lawyers less than one day to argue away. The same is also perceived as anomalous and capable of leading to unjust enrichment because public policy considerations, when court is adjudicating such matters, is guided by the fact election disputes are public interest matters at whose conclusion court shouldn't award very high costs because whoever goes to court seeking to have perceived irregularities inquired into is presumed to be acting in public interest to serve the greater public good-which is deepening democratization in the country.

And to her credit, Magistrate Nansambu has allowed Nyanzi some two weeks to put in his response disputing Nsereko and EC's joint costs' claim of hs65m in case he considers it outrageous and unfair to him. It's then, after hearing out both parties and considering the arguments, that the senior Magistrate from Manafwa will proclaim her last word on the matter.

But strategists in NUP and the ordinary Kampala Central electors who voted for Nyanzi in their thousands are justifiably nervous that should the Magistrate grant his wish to slap Nyanzi with Shs65m costs, Nsereko, being the mischievous politician they know, will have no problem riding on such an award to herd his opponent Fred Nyanzi to Luzira and have him jailed there for a minimum of 6 months. There are wide spread concerns and fears that such ruthlessness shouldn't be unleashed against an opponent who is supposed to be a colleague or comrade in the anti-Museveni struggle. It's the reason that majority NUP MPs-elect claim to be under pressure from their electors to keep away from Mohammed Nsereko's bid for Deputy Speakership.

The results for Kampala Central MP Seat which Fred Nyanzi unexpectedly came very close to snatching from Nsereko, as declared by the EC, were as follows: Mohammed Nsereko (16,998); NUP's Fred Nyanzi Sentamu (15,975); Cedric Babu Ndirima (10,749); FDC's Harold Kaija Scandrone (1,679) and ANT's Ronald Edward Mukasa Senkubuge (1,653). Nyanzi asserts, and will be tendering evidence to make court see, that much of the votes Nsereko (who beat him with only 1,023 votes) was declared to have scored resulted from ballot stuffing and bribery among other forms of electoral malpractices. 

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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