Friday (the 4th September) 2020, is one day to watch as different smoke could be seen billowing from chimneys of Arua, Sembabule, Tororo, and Sheema where there will be hot contests in the National Resistance Movement primaries.
Shartsi Musherure, the daughter of Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa goes head to head with Godfrey Aine Kaguta, President Museveni’s younger brother for the Mawogolo North County seat.
Still in Sembabule long serving Lwemiyaga MP, Theodore Ssekikubo will take on Joy Kabatsi, the minister of state for Transport, two former allies that have since become rivals.
Police had to swing into action and arrest three people over an incident in which the Woman MP Hanifa Kawooya and one of her supporters were reportedly assaulted during the campaigns for NRM primaries.
NRM national vice-chairperson Hajji Moses Kigongo has been called on duty in Sembabule which has become a hotspot again, as has always been in the previous primaries.
“I do not want to hear of chaos and misuse of guns in Sembabule, stop shaming our party,” Kigongo told a meeting of aspirants.
Meanwhile in Tororo, the people have petitioned President Museveni to stay elections in the area over tribal tensions and anticipated turmoil between the Japhadhola and Ateso.
In Busoga, campaigns have been smooth until the arrest of Kintu Alex Brandon who is accused of leading an illegal procession.
In Sheema, supporters of Dickson Kateshumbwa and Elioda Tumwesigye are embroiled in physical fights and hurling insults at each other, while the camp of the third contestant Patrick Mutabwire has not been left out of the chaos.
“They (Elioda’s camp) have procured sticks to beat up people and cause violence during elections,” Kateshumbwa reported.
“They (Kateshumbwa’s camp) have hired goons, people sitting in Premios in army uniforms, they are the ones who want to cause chaos. They are taking registers from registrars,” Elioda countered.
The problems in Sheema are the same as those elsewhere in NRM primaries; the party register!
However, the mouthwatering race remains between Minister of Privatisation and Investment Evelyne Anite and Dr. Charles Ayume.
For quite some time, people on social media assumed that Anite was related to former Attorney General Francis Ayume, who died in a gruesome accident along Gulu- Kampala highway in 2004.
Alas, the real relative of Ayume has come to claim the fame in Dr Charles Ayume, who has forced Anite into the stiff competition, following years of the minister enjoying a walkover in Koboko.
Francis Ayume was a favourite son of West Nile and particularly Koboko and whoever comes in his name is most likely to have enough clout. On the other hand, Ayume’s name has remained in the limelight even after his death after President Museveni appointed his wife Elizabeth Ayume an RDC in the same district.
Dr Charles Ayume, the son of the Ayume’s was brought up under Museveni’s hand and given a job in State House which he resigned recently in a bid to tackle Anite out of Koboko.
To him, Koboko now needs a new dimension, a change in the livelihoods of the people and service delivery, rather than useless politicking.
“I have been encouraged by the desire of the people of Koboko Municipality to transform their livelihood. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light,” he says.
“Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls; books not weapons; ethics, not corruption,” Ayume says.
Anite claims Ayume is a candidate of the opposition and it is them that are reinforcing his support and polishing his fingers with financial grease.
Anite maintained she is the self-made politician unlike Ayume who was born with a silver spoon.
“I am a self-made politician who came from humble beginnings and rose by the sheer dint of hard work,” she claimed.
Anite has also insisted on using President Museveni as a silent endorser of her candidature by posting pictures with President Museveni at every opportunity.
To make the matter sink in, Anite has also hired the services of comedian Herbert Mendo Museveni whom she walks within Koboko to represent Museveni. Mendo has mastered the art of mimicking the President with perfection.
Is the election a tight one to call? Anite claims not even near tough.
“Did you say “tough”? then the word “tough” has lost meaning. Watch this space, we shall see! Come 4th September, do send your reporters and cameramen just to prove how wrong you were,” she claims.
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