Five aspirants resurface as independents after losing NRM primaries in Luweero

Luweero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Five parliamentary aspirants from Luweero and Nakasongola districts have relaunched campaigns as independent contenders after losing the National Resistance Movement-NRM party primaries held last week.

The aspirants include Faridah Nakalawa, Zena Ali Merrycillah and Joy Namulindwa who were defeated by Cissy Mulondo for the Luweero Woman parliamentary flag, Ali Ndawula who was defeated by John Chrysostom Muyingo for Bamunanika County ticket and Stephen Tiberondwa Bujingo who lost the Nakasongola County ticket to Noah Mutebi Wanzala.

On the women’s seat, Mulondo garnered 20,645 votes to defeat Nakalawa who had 2,591 votes, Zena who had polled 4,319 votes and Namulindwa managed 1,466 votes. The other contenders in the race included incumbent MP Lilian Nakate who polled 11,045 votes and Phoebe Namulindwa with 15,315 votes.

For the Bamunanika County flag, Muyingo garnered 20,451 to defeat Ndawula who polled 7,308 votes while Tiberondwa scored 10,627 and Victor Mutebi had 16,120.

However, all these have rejected the outcome of the process citing bribery, alteration of results and intimidation of voters, among others. Some of these have already released campaign posters indicating they are now contesting as independents.

Zena Ali Merrycillah, one of the aspirants for the Women’s Parliamentary seat says that she lost trust in NRM Electoral Commission and petitioning them to conduct fresh primaries was a waste of time. Zena adds that she has consulted her campaign agents who have advised her to contest as an independent candidate.

Faridah Nakalawa, another aspirant for the Luweero Woman MP seat has since released campaign posters indicating that she is now an independent candidate contesting for the same seat.

Ali Ndawula, an aspirant for the Bamunanika County Parliamentary seat says that the incumbent MP  John Chrysostom Muyingo was declared the winner on doctored results. He adds that he asked for declaration forms from the NRM district registrar to verify the results in vain.

But David Kamugisha, the Luweero district NRM registrar says that the aspirants have not submitted any petition to him to investigate their allegations. Kamugisha says that the aspirants are only devastated by the loss of elections and that the party intends to reach out to them for reconciliation before the official nomination.

In Nakasongola district, Stephen Tiberondwa Bujingo who lost to Nakasongola County MP Noah Mutebi Wanzala has already released campaign posters as an independent aspirant. He insists that he was robbed of his victory.

But NRM leaders in Luweero and Nakasongola districts say that the trend is opening opportunities for the opposition to snatch seats that were initially held by the ruling party.

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