The battle lines have once again been drawn after both Godfrey Aine Kaguta also known as Sodo and Shartsi Kutesa were on Friday successfully nominated to stand to represent in Mawogola North constituency in parliament.
Sodo is a brother to President Museveni whereas Shartsi is a daughter to the incumbent and Foreign Affairs Minister, Sam Kutesa.
On Friday, both candidates were successfully nominated as independents after the ruling NRM tribunal ruled that Sodo was not rightly elected as the party flag bearer in the primaries and declared the party had no candidate in Mawogola North.
Speaking after her nomination, Shartis Kutesa said she had decided to come as an independent following the outcome of the contentious September 30 polls in which she lost to Sodo.
Sodo on the other side said he didn’t agree with the NRM tribunal’s decision but noted the only way out was coming as an independent.
“There was nothing I could do about it because it was too late to challenge the decision of the tribunal. I, therefore, decided to come as an independent,” Sodo said after nomination on Friday.
Following the nomination of both candidates, the battle lines seem to have been drawn once again after the chaotic September 30 polls in NRM primaries in Ssembabule.
The polls had to be postponed twice over ugly scenes of violence between supporters of both Godfrey Aine Kaguta and Shartis Kutesa Musherure who are both close to the First family.
After a number of meetings by security chiefs, it was later decided that the election in the NRM primaries be held on September 4,2020 but under tight security from both the army and police.
Consequently, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj.Gen.Muzeeyi Sabiiti and the CID Director, AIGP Grace Akullo camped in the area to oversee security.
On the other hand, the top NRM electoral commission chiefs led by Dr.Tanga Odoi also personally camped in the area to monitor the situation in the volatile Ssembabule district.
Police mounted several roadblocks at all roads leading to the districts to prevent non- residents from taking part in the election after reports that some party members from other districts had been ferried to vote.
However, at the end of the day, Sodo was declared the winner but Shartis Musherure petitioned the party electoral commission citing a number of irregularities.
By the look of things, the election in Mawogola North in the forthcoming 2021 general election is something to watch out for.
