NRM, FDC Battle for Abiriga's Arua Municipality Seat

As the clock ticks to the 19th July, 2018 nominations for the Arua municipality parliamentary race, the constituency has seen unprecedented crossover of candidates from other constituencies into the municipality.

Though the race has attracted a considerable number of candidates who have cut their political teeth in the area, the bulk of the bigwigs are candidates who were defeated in different constituencies across the region

KASIANO WADRI

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) strong man served as  Member of Parliament for Terego county for fifteen years on the FDC ticket before he lost the seat in the 2016 general elections to Moses Angundru with President Yoweri Museveni chest thumping that he had waited for too long to see Wadri out of parliament

He defends his decision to cross over into a constituency insisting he is not a reject in Terego but a victim of what he calls president Museveni’s political ruthlessness

His party FDC will however stick to its flag bearer in the general elections Bruce Musema as Wadri runs as an independent candidate

His entry means the FDC in the race will be split between the two aspirants.

NUSURA TIPERU

The former woman Member of Parliament for Yumbe who served for ten years as one of Uganda’s representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly will also be trying her luck in the Arua municipality race

For her it’s a case of political mobility as it will be the third constituency she will be contesting in.

After her first term as woman MP for Yumbe district, she was floored in the general elections only to find political refuge in the East African legislative assembly for ten years

In the 2016 polls she contested in Koboko North county where she lost to the official NRM candidate

She says her decision to cross to the municipality is a response to the voice of the people who she says have asked her to come continue with the development projects initiated by the slain Col Ibrahim Abiriga.

She will be facing off with 7 other candidates in the NRM primaries as the party moves to pick a flag bearer.

She prides in her relationship with the head of state, insisting she wants to be a link between her people and the president

SIMON EJUA

Ejua served as Vura County legislator for ten years, serving in cabinet as state minister for works

In the 2011 general elections , he lost his seat to Dr Sam Okuonzi and was trounced again by Gabriel Aridru who abandoned his Arua municipality seat to dash back to his home county. He also joins the long list of candidates seeking the NRM flag

LEMATIA JOHN

The Arua based businessman carried the ruling National Resistance Movement flag in the 2016 elections in the neighboring Ayivu County only to be trounced by independent candidate Bernard Atiku

He says he has been called by the people of the municipality to represent them and will be facing off as well with the scores of other candidates in the NRM primaries

The constituency has had a repeated case of electing representatives hailing from other parts of Arua district

The immediate former MP Ibrahim Abiriga hailed from Madi Okollo, he replaced Eng Gabriel Aridru who hailed from Vura county, a constituency he represents in the tenth parliament.

The constituency was previously also represented by Hussein Akbar Godi and Nasur Okuti who hailed from Yumbe district.