Atugonza:No stranger to controvery

Hoima

The FDC trade and industry secretary and mayor of Hoima Municipality, Mr Francis Atugonza, has dominated the press over reports that he turned down an offer of Shs1.5 billion from a member of the First Family in return for his defection from the opposition.

In an interview, Mr Atugonza has now told Daily Monitor that defection would be total betrayal of the spirit and values of democracy which he cherishes. He is a politician who has had all sorts of run-ins with the ruling NRM party, where he belonged before the 2001 general elections.

Now 43 years-old, he was a member of the Bunyoro Kitara kingdom’s royal guards (Abarusuura) from where he was appointed the kingdom’s estates manager, a post he quit in 2004 to join active politics.
Privately, he has worked as a site manager on several construction projects.

When he left the NRM, FDC leader Kizza Besigye, appointed Mr Atugonza regional coordinator of the Reform Agenda (that evolved into FDC) in Bunyoro. He vigorously campaigned for Dr Besigye in the 2006 elections and reluctantly accepted to stand on FDC ticket for the Hoima Town Council LC3 seat which he won with over 2,000 votes against Mr Nuha Balikurungi, the NRM candidate in the race. “I wanted the party to endorse a candidate for the seat so that I concentrate on campaigning for Dr Besigye. I later realised that I could achieve both,” he says.

Mr Atugonza was the only opposition leader to win an electoral seat in Bunyoro in 2006, in a region that has for long been an NRM stronghold.

Using his eloquence, Mr Atugonza has exploited every opportunity ranging from parties, funerals, rallies, radio shows and person-to-person contact, to campaign for FDC. He has been at the centre of the successful effort to establish party structures in this region which has seen him identify FDC candidates for electoral positions. “I am happy that our party has fielded a candidate for each elective post in Bunyoro. I foresee an overwhelming victory for FDC in the upcoming polls,” he adds.

Mr Atugonza is a nephew of the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara kingdom, Dr Solomon Gafabusa Iguru, having been born to the late princess Sarah Kabatongole. He harbours presidential ambitions. He picked nomination forms during the FDC primaries to vie for the party presidency but withdrew his candidature in favour of Dr Besigye, who later contested for the seat with former army commander, Maj. Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu.

In 2008, Mr Atugonza was part of a team of FDC officials who went to the UK to campaign for Mr Boris Johnson, a Conservative Party candidate who later won the polls to become the mayor of London. That action partly cemented the FDC’s known ties with the Conservatives who are now in power in the UK. He has been virulently critical of the NRM government which he castigates for its alleged marginalisation of Bunyoro.

Mr Atugonza has championed the cause for redress of land and other historical injustices against the Banyoro. With the oil-rich Bunyoro now turning into a battleground area between the opposition and NRM, it is not hard to see why a politician of Mr Atugonza’s stature would be a target for all comers seeking to lure him to their side.

Ring-fencing Bunyoro
When a leaked government proposal to ring-fence electoral posts in Bunyoro to be vied for by only indigenous Banyoro became public two years ago, Mr Atugonza led a crusade to de-campaign it, arguing it contravened the FDC principle of ‘one Uganda, one people’, which embraces all Ugandans irrespective of their social, economic and political backgrounds. He has lived an embattled life as Hoima Town Council chairman, which many observers attribute to his political stand.

In a curious case, he was arrested on Easter Eve in 2008 in Kampala and dumped at Old Kampala police station. Mr Atugonza claims he was later tortured in a Safe House by Joint Anti-Terrorism Task force (JATT) operatives before he was subsequently charged with allegedly obtaining money by false pretence in the Mwanga II Magistrates Çourt before being released on bail. He has since sought redress in courts of law and sued the Attorney General, head of military intelligence Brig. James Mugira and other JATT operatives whom he accuses of torturing him. His lawyer, Mr Muhamed Mbabazi, has among others, requested court to order the dismissal of the accused from the military as well as offering Mr Atugonza compensation. The case is yet to be disposed of in High Court.

He was again arrested in 2009 and charged with abuse of office in the Anti-Corruption Court. He is accused of illegally selling a piece of public land on Rwentuuha Road in Hoima town to Warid telecom Ltd, which erected a mast on the land. He was released on bail in 2010. The Hoima Chief Magistrates Court cancelled his bail in May 2010 and remanded him to Hoima prison before being committed to the Anti-Corruption Court which reinstated his bail.

In October 2009, during the district NRM conference, Security Minister Amama Mbabazi reportedly ordered NRM councillors who were on Mr Atugonza’s executive to resign, saying it contravened the NRM constitution for them to serve under an opposition government.

Mr Joseph Byesigwa, the town council’s finance secretary, Mr William Kunihira, the vice chairman and Ms Mary Mugasa, the town council’s education secretary, subsequently quit the executive. He remained with Mr Dembe Kawaga Sentumba, the independent councillor, who was the production secretary whom he appointed to deputise him.
His two-man executive has to date never been recognised by the government.

When Hoima Town Council was elevated to a municipal status on July 1, 2010, the local government minister, Mr Adolf Mwesige, halted his swearing-in as mayor on grounds that he lacked a functional executive. This was followed by a crisis in the municipality since it had to operate without an executive.

Interdiction
More troubles were piled on him when the permanent secretary in the local government ministry, Mr John Kashaka, made history by taking the unprecedented action of interdicting him from office, although he is a politician and not a civil servant. Mr Atugonza challenged Mr Kashaka’s action as illegal and irrelevant.

Inspector General of Government Raphael Baku also wrote to Mr Atugonza ordering him out of office until court disposes of his corruption charges, which he denies. He turned a deaf ear on the directive. He is seeking re-election as the Hoima town mayor and is vying for the seat along with Mr David Maxwell Kaboyo, the former Hoima town mayor, who is an independent candidate, and Ms Mary Mugasa, the NRM candidate. The latest controversy just add to the list of the many that have dotted this active political biography.