Awori quits NRM older persons’  party primary

  
KAMPALA-Veteran politician Aggrey Awori, one of the aspirants for Eastern Uganda older persons parliamentary seat,  on Thursday announced that he had withdrawn from the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s primary scheduled for today, citing likelihood of rigging. 

Mr Awori said the election was skewed in favour of his rival, Mr Dominic Gidudu Mafwabi, 71, the chairperson of the NRM Elders League. 

He added that the party’s district and municipal executive committees that constitute the electoral college were male-dominated.

Mr Awori, 81, said he would compete in the national election next year as an Independent.

He urged the NRM’s electoral commission to disqualify Mr Mafwabi, saying his participation in the primary would raise issues of conflict of interest.

“You cannot be a judge in your own case,” Mr Awori said in a press statement on Thursday. “This candidate [Mafwabi] should have first resigned as national chairman of the elders’ league that controls the electoral college.”

The Parliamentary Elections Amendment Bill, 2020, which Parliament passed in August, paved the way for the election of representatives of older persons to Parliament.

It provides for the election of five representatives of older persons to Parliament to operationalise Articles 32(1) of the Constitution that says the State shall take affirmative action in favour of marginalised groups, and 78(1) on women representation.

Members of the district councils for older persons constitute the electoral colleges for the selection of the older persons’ representatives.
Before the amendment, the only interest groups that were represented in Parliament included the army, workers, persons with disabilities and the youth.

Some considered the representation of the youth as a form of discrimination against the older persons, hence the decision to have the latter get representation in Parliament, too. 

Those who opposed the move argued that the representatives for older persons would only serve to further swell the ranks of ruling party in Parliament.

Mr Awori gained popularity as a representative for Samia Bugwe North in Parliament between 1996 and 2006, during which time he distinguished himself as a reflective ruling party critic.

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Mr Awori said should he be elected, he would push for the lowering of the age at which senior citizens access Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) from 80 years t0 60 since many Ugandans hardly live up to 80, and for the grant to be increased from Shs25, 000 to Shs100, 000 per person per month.

On the other hand, Mr Mafwabi wants the government to consider the older persons, too, when giving out seedlings and other services.