Mbabazi: Fight to protect your vote

Kanungu.

Independent presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi took the message of change to his home district of Kanungu asking people to fight back if it is what it will take to protect their votes at polling centres.

Speaking in his native Rukiga dialect, Mr Mbabazi told the people yesterday that in case they are attacked by stick-wielding people who want to scare them away from the polling stations, the people should respond in equal measure.

“Whoever comes to beat you is like you. They have the same hands like yours. They do not have more hands than you. Don’t get intimidated,” he said at a rally in Kinkizi East, Kanungu District headquarters, the constituency of his political rival, Mr Chris Baryomunsi, the State Minister for Health.

Mr Mbabazi’s statement came after a voice in the audience shouted: “They will beat us”, when he told them to be vigilant on voting day and not leave the polling stations after casting their vote.

At all his campaign rallies so far, Mr Mbabazi has been reassuring his supporters that no one will hijack his victory when he wins the February poll.

“Handle the polling station level and leave Kampala to me. We shall handle that. Do your part and trust me to do the rest,” Mr Mbabazi said.

Mr Mbabazi also explained his decision to remain in NRM, even when it’s clear he was wanted out, saying it is because he built it. “The home that you have, who can tell you to leave and you go?” he asked.

He subtly aimed a jibe at NRM candidate, President Museveni, saying the problem in NRM is “those who diverted us from our revolution ideals to build a country where all enjoy and are happy”.

On his relationship with other parties, he said he is working with FDC flag bearer on the same goal of bringing about change in the country.

“We are in alliance with FDC, I discussed with Dr Besigye that we continue cooperating because our ideals are the same,” said Mr Mbabazi.

Dr Besigye, also campaigning in the same district, recently said he was working with Mr Mbabazi during this period to bring about change.

Unlike at Kihihi playground (his home area) where Mr Mbabazi was received by an excited crowd that filled the football pitch, the audience at Kanungu headquarters was not as exuberant.

At Kanungu headquarters, some listeners murmured that he had not tackled the issues of roads and lack of enough electricity- which are at the heart of the people’s problems. They claimed Mr Mbabazi did not answer these issues even as prime minister in government.

However, the crowd at Kihihi playground went beyond hushed conversations and loudly asked him when the construction of the Rukungiri- Kanungu road will start.

“Don’t worry about that. Immediately I am sworn-in in May, I will start with that,” the presidential candidate said.
Mr Alex Muhumuza, a lecturer in the department of Agriculture at the Great Lakes University in Kanungu, who attended the first rally, said Mr Mbabazi is a good leader but was only affected by the type of responsibilities and ministries he held while in government.

Kanungu residents speak out

Mr Justus Bakaihwahoenkyi, farmer: “He has spent many years as an MP and minister yet we are the ones without any tarmac road in the district. We do not know him as a hardworking person even though today he said he is. He hasn’t said anything he has done for us.”

Ms Merith Sunday, farmer: “We want him to make sure that whatever a farmer harvests is useful to him or her. For example, coffee and maize produce, the beneficiaries are traders and we the farmers fetch very little. We want him to ensure that our children who have gone to school get jobs.”
Alfred Sunday: “This is just campaigns, these people come here at every election and after they disappear, they do not do anything. They do not deliver on their promises.”