NRM’s Etuka wins upper Madi Okollo by-election

Mr Isaac Etuka (L) celebrates with his supporters after being declared winner of the Upper Madi Okollo County parliamentary seat. PHOTO BY CLEMENT ALUMA

What you need to know:

  • The electoral commission chairman, Justice Simon Byabakama apologised for the initial challenges posed by the biometric machine at the beginning of the voting which were later rectified but said the elections was without incident.
  • While campaigning for the NRM candidate on Tuesday, President Yoweri Museveni said he had accepted to give Arua district local government three units of road equipment because the district was too large.
  • Poor road network, broken bridges and poor health care systems dominated the bi-elections campaigns.

ARUA. Electorates in Upper Madi Okollo Constituency in Arua District have re-elected Mr Isaac Etuka of NRM in a by-election held on Thursday.

Mr Etuka got 10,075 votes representing 76.9 per cent of the votes cast while his immediate challengers Mr John Arumadri of FDC got 1,174 votes and Mr Martin Drito, an independent 1,223 votes.
Mr Drito has however threatened to challenge the outcome in courts arguing that the position of the NRM Flag bearer was ring fenced denying them an opportunity to contest on the same level while Mr Etuka has said he will win the sit 100 times because the voters still had confidence in him.

“Whoever contests against me will get zero, it will be a waste of their time, and my victory is a sign of love my people have for me,” Etuka said.
The court of appeal had annulled the election of Mr Etuka on the grounds that his name irregularly appeared on the ballot paper of the 2016 parliamentary contestants list despite being denominated by the returning officer at the time then.
Mr Drito said, “I don’t mind being defeated but the defeat should be genuine, I don’t rule out going back to court if the ruling of the court of appeal is not respected, I m still consulting my lawyers.”
He continued, “There is a court order which has been dubiously revoked and so we are back to the drawing board and back to the court, what they should have done was to conduct fresh primary elections on adult suffrage.”

The electoral commission chairman, Justice Simon Byabakama apologised for the initial challenges posed by the biometric machine at the beginning of the voting which were later rectified but said the elections was without incident.
He appealed to the concerned authorities and the elected leaders to work on the concerns of the locals especially the roads.
While campaigning for the NRM candidate on Tuesday, President Yoweri Museveni said he had accepted to give Arua district local government three units of road equipment because the district was too large.
Poor road network, broken bridges and poor health care systems dominated the bi-elections campaigns.