Makerere disqualifies two guild aspirants over illegal debate

The chairperson of the students’ electoral commission at Makerere University has disqualified two guild presidential aspirants from the race on allegations of holding an illegal electoral debate.
The two candidates are Ms Margret Nattabi and Mr Sulaiman Namwoza, who allegedly held an illegal guild presidential debate at Mitchell Hall on the night of April 5, in which one Robert Sserunjogi, a second year student from the College of Natural Science, was severely injured by unknown students before he was admitted at the university hospital for treatment.

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In his April 6 letter, the electoral commission chairperson, Mr Levi Tshilumba said both aspirants admitted taking part in the Kimeza meeting which is contrary to Section 10 (b) of the new students’ guild statute, 2022 and Article 67 (1) (b) of the Makerere students’ guild constitution, 2022.

The two disqualified candidates are National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters who wanted to contest on the same ticket but the party endorsed Nattabi before Namwoza decided to vie as an independent candidate.
Efforts to get comments from the two went futile as none of them responded to our repeated phone calls and text messages by press time.
However, in an interview yesterday, Ms Nattabi dismissed the allegations that she participated in the chaotic meeting.
“This is not true. People have written lots of things about me and I reached a time where I archived every WhatsApp group because they can be frustrating. I learned about this man’s beating when I was in Complex Hall,” she said.
Mr Namwoza said he was in his room when the alleged incident happened.

“I learned about it yesterday morning (April 5),” he said.
The 89th guild elections are slated on April 14 virtually and had attracted 11 aspirants before the suspension of the two NUP supporters.
The remaining nine spirants in the race include; Mr Sabiiti Akankunda, Mr Julius Birigwa, Mr Robert Maseruka, Ms Baraka Nkoyooyo and Mr Oremo Odwee. Others are Mr Mark Ssebunya, Mr Andrew Lubinga, Mr Evans Murungi and Mr Emmanuel Wanyama.
Last year, physical campaigns were suspended following a July 14 incident in which one Betungura Bewatte, a second year law student, was stabbed to death in a scuffle between two opposing camps.