Why NRM CEC disqualified 21 from EALA race, left five from Buganda

The ruling National Resistance Movement top organ dubbed the Central Executive Committee yesterday sat at State House Entebbe to trim numbers of candidates in the East African Legislative Assembly by-election race.

This followed an earlier meeting on July 8 where the CEC called for the commencing of the process of expression of interest from party members.

The meeting was called to find a replacement for the deceased Mathias Kasamba both in the EALA and the NRM secretariat.

Former Wakiso woman MP Rosemary Seninde was appointed Director of Mobilisation and Training, hence replacing Kasamba as Secretariat.

Kasamba died in April this year, according to EALA office tenure, he was supposed to be out of office at the end of 2022, meaning that Uganda must nominate a replacement.

With the race open, many from all over the country expressed interest, among them former Minister of State for Tourism Godfrey Kiwanda Subi, former MP for Kabula county James Kakoza, former minister for East African Affairs Julius Maganda among others.

However, in the CEC meeting chaired by President Museveni yesterday at State House Entebbe, party brass resolved to trim the numbers of aspirants, chopping off mostly those from regions outside central.

The members resolved that the NRM candidates are always representative of regional and gender balance which are key pillars of the party.

NRM also ensures that a candidate is elected to represent Special Interest Groups, another key in the party setup.

Indeed, the first four members of the EALA on the NRM ticket included; Paul Musamali from East, Denis Namara from West, George Stephen Odongo from North, and the late Mathias Kasamba from Central Buganda.

And for the gender balance had Mary Mugyenyi and Rose Akol.

The CEC, therefore, used the same background to disqualify a number of candidates who were not representative of the said patterns.

These mostly included candidates from other regions.

Those who remained in the race include; Godfrey Kiwanda Ssubi (Former Minister of State for Tourism), James Kakoze (former MP Kabula County), Mawuye Lule (Former MP Kalungu East County), Nakato Kyabanji (former Gombe Woman MP), and Abas Mutumba (former political assistant to the late Kasamba).

The five names will be forwarded to the party caucus for voting.