Entebbe Municipality up for grabs as DP fights hurt Opposition
A number of public and private projects have been initiated in Entebbe Municipality in the last few years such as the widening of Entebbe road above. Like in 2011, the ruling NRM and the Opposition, are set to fight for control of this key town.. NET PHOTO
KAMPALA- The absence of an incumbent in the Entebbe Municipality MP race has attracted a throng of hopefuls for the seat from across the political divide.
During the 2011 elections, the ruling National Resistance Movement suffered one of its biggest losses in the entire election, which saw more than 90 per cent of the elective posts in Entebbe clinched by members of the Opposition Democratic Party.
With the exception of a few council seats, the Municipality Mayor, MP and majority councillors were swept by DP.
Mohamed Kawuma’s re-election as MP was, however, successfully challenged by Patience Mubangizi, a former LC5 councillor at Wakiso District headquarters. Mubangizi dragged both Kawuma and the Electoral Commission to court citing massive irregularities in the exercise.
She argued that the election didn’t comply with the Constitution, Electoral Commission Act, and the Parliamentary Elections Act.
She complained that the failure to comply with electoral laws affected the results in a substantial manner.
Mubangizi further argued that the EC failed to collect, ascertain and tally the results of elections at 18 out of 74 polling stations in the municipality.
The High Court in Kampala presided over by judge Andrew Bashaija in August 2011 ruled that Kawuma’s election flouted the electoral laws and ordered a fresh election. Kawuma had garnered 10,812 votes against Mubangizi’s 8,973.
Bashaija noted that 8,224 votes were not included in the final tally, reasoning that this had substantial impact on the final result.
The results got better
In the subsequent by-election, Kawuma’s victory margin improved while Mubangizi declined thus conceding the loss.
He garnered 13,727 while Mubangizi got 6,226. William Wilberforce Seryazi got 209, and Hawah Nakibuule managed only 12 votes.
One of the messages that Kawuma used to convince the voters was that he was running for his last term. That angle became a game changer in what was a two-horse race between Kawuma and Mubangizi.
In next year’s poll, the NRM has eight candidates who are set to compete in the party primaries. This number has reduced by one candidate from the nine, who contested in the party’s primaries in the run-up to the 2011 polls.
These include Mubangizi, who after losing the 2011 polls, was appointed Presidential Adviser on Environmental Matters.
Others are Maj (rtd) Julius Rubahimbya, former Rwampara MP Amon Muzoora Reeves, former Nkumba University guild president Madina Zalwango.
Also in the race are Charles Kirumira, a former flight engineer, Peace Salamuka, Rose Tumusiime, an LC4 councillor and Fabrice Rulinda, a communications strategist who has been working for the Government of Burundi.
Divided DP
NRM will be looking to exploit the divisions within DP ranks in the municipality.
Instead of consolidating the landslide victory in 2011, DP disintegrated into two camps led by former allies. One camp is led by Entebbe Mayor Vincent Kayanja De Paul and another by Kawuma.
The duo that since the 2001 election had campaigned on the same platform has never mended fences.
The fall-out, according to sources, emanated from an alleged interest in the mayoral seat by Kawuma.
Kawuma became MP in 2006 after he defeated Dr David Byatike Matovu, who had represented the area since the Constituent Assembly days.
Rallying on the need for change, he together with Kayanja managed to convince the residents of Entebbe to support him.
Kawuma, then a teacher at Entebbe Parents Secondary School, lost narrowly to Dr Matovu in the 2001 polls but bounced back and defeated him in 2006.
Kayanja only became mayor in the 2011 polls after defeating Steven Kabuye, who had been in the seat for 15 years.
Dr Matovu has since retired from active politics and is now involved in academia where he chairs councils of two universities, among other duties.
For a party that enjoys incumbency in the area, the DP primaries were expected to attract stiff competition but the exercise organised at Entebbe Mayors Garden must have run out of steam due to the events that preceded it after the 2011 polls.
Michael Kakembo, also known as “Mbwatekamwa”, was voted as the DP flag bearer in the 2016 race after defeating Leonard Senoga Mivule, the political assistant to Wakiso LC5 chairman Matia Lwanga Bwanika.
Kakembo, a political assistant to Mayor Kayanja, garnered 29 votes while Mivule got 13 votes.
At the last hour, Deo Lubwama, the vice chairman Entebbe Division B, who had shown interest in the seat opted out and instead supported Kakembo.
Challenged by the implications of the divisions within DP over his candidature and the party’s chances, Kakembo said: “Democratic Party, like any other party, belongs not to leaders but members. A politician is like a fish, he cannot survive outside water.
It is DP that made Kawuma and his few followers strong and they are nothing without DP.”
While he seems to downplay the gravity and likely impact of the divisions within DP, the fact that Kawuma and his supporters shunned the primaries tells a different story of what might befall DP in Entebbe.
Attempts by Saturday Monitor to interview Kawuma for this article were rendered futile after he failed to keep interview appointments.
DP woes
Another DP member, Abubaker Walusimbi Mukasa, (kicked out of the race on technicality that he was not eligible to run for the parliamentary seat, because, according to DP authorities in Entebbe, he hadn’t been active in the party), did not take the matter lightly.
According to sources, he and other DP members, including the current Katabi sub-county LC3 chairman, Gerald Mukasa, have since joined the DP Lukwago-led pressure group, Platform for Truth and Justice.
The platform’s declared major goal is to rejuvenate DP membership across the country.
At the launch of the platform on July 29 at Bativa Hotel, Mukasa, who was in attendance, accused a section of DP leaders in Entebbe of disenfranchising the DP electorate during the grassroots polls.
FDC’s chances
While it is Uganda’s largest Opposition political party, FDC stands a negligible chance here.
With the exception of Dr Kizza Besigye, who won in a number of polling stations in the area, FDC struggles to make impact in Entebbe.
William Wilberforce Seryazi, who tried to market the party in 2011 in the area, has since vanished from the mainstream Entebbe politics.
NRM primaries
While the odds seem to tilt in its favour given the evident confusion in DP, NRM is not likely to have it easy. In the run-up to the 2011 polls, the ruling party conducted its primaries which, Mubangizi won but those she contested against challenged her victory citing irregularities in the exercise.
Muzoora, Kirumira, Sumaya Nakanwagi and Christopher Ssebuliba went to court, but their petition was dismissed. They then contested as independents but put up a dismal performance.
Both Muzoora and Kirumira are contesting again while Ssebuliba opted out and he now works with the Buganda Kingdom as the executive director of Buganda Heritage and Tourism Board.
With eight candidates in the race, and high stakes because of the absence of an incumbent, the NRM primaries are likely to breed independents again unless the party moves and reconciles those who will lose.
The young energy
Two new youthful entrants Ruhinda and Zalwango command support from, especially the youth, and they will be entering the polls with this section as their core base.
On the other hand, Mubangizi, Kirumira and Muzoura will be looking at consolidating their support bases of 2011.
With a number of military installations in the area, Maj (rtd) Rubamhibya will be looking at members of an institution he retired from as key supporters.
The army plays some role in the politics of Entebbe and key candidates, especially in the Opposition, keep a watchful eye at polling stations such as the one at St John Parish Primary School, where members of the Special Forces Command vote.
In 2011, DP was not only enjoying the incumbency in Entebbe but it was riding a heady political tide of success. The election was DP’s to lose but without both, the 2016 election will be too tough to call.
Previous elections results
2006 MP results
Mohammed Kawuma (DP) 8,900
Dr David Byatike Matovu (NRM) 8,100
Olive Nassuna (FDC) 2,000
Fredrick Acidri (independent) 400
2011 Mp results
Mohammed Kawuma (DP) 13,727
Patience Mubangizi Tusiimire 6,226
William Wilberforce Seryazi 209
Hawah Nakibuule 12
