How Kadaga beat Namuganza
What you need to know:
- Mr David Mugoya Sooka, an NRM party official in Bugiri, said some of the people were also not comfortable with the overly aggressive campaign messages that Ms Namuganza picked on, often sounding very confrontational about Ms Kadaga.
The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, emerged victorious in the race for second vice chairperson (female) of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party with 6,776 votes against that of her sole rival, State Minister for Lands Persis Namuganza’s 3,943.
The battle for the seat was steamy.
Ms Kadaga’s opponent accused her of having betrayed both President Museveni and the NRM party.
Being labelled a “traitor” and “enemy of the President” usually means that one is headed for obliteration, at least politically. And most observers feared Ms Kadaga was set for a turbulent election ride.
There were also allegations that money and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) apparatus had been put at the disposal of Ms Namuganza, who was in some areas presented by her political fans as the preferred NRM top leaders’ candidate, which sparked off real fears among Ms Kadaga’s supporters.
“The ground is shifting. ISO has moved in. They either give the delegates money or intimidate them. I think we are going to be defeated,” a supporter of Ms Kadaga told Sunday Monitor on Monday.
But at the end of it all, the shift was insignificant.
So how did Ms Kadaga do it to weather all this talk and fears?
Ms Kadaga was able to build alliances with MPs across the country. She also had the backing of several members of the Cabinet.
In western Uganda, for example, ministers Chris Baryomunsi and David Bahati were her leading campaigners.
A source close to Ms Kadaga, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to speak on her behalf, revealed that their biggest strength was the strange decision not to set up a campaign structure.
“Our campaign was not structured in any way. It would have been easy to penetrate and disorganise if it had been structured,” he says.
Come polling day, Ms Kadaga’s team appointed hitherto unknown or little known people to work as its polling agents in the districts.
Mr David Mugoya Sooka, an NRM party official in Bugiri, said some of the people were also not comfortable with the overly aggressive campaign messages that Ms Namuganza picked on, often sounding very confrontational about Ms Kadaga.
“When she appeared on a talk show on NBS radio in Jinja, all she did was to badmouth [Speaker] Kadaga. She repeated the attacks in the districts and when she made the closing remarks of her campaign. On the other hand, Ms Kadaga was talking about her record of performance. People usually take note of such details,” Mr Mugoya said.
