The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Had it not been the swift police intervention, Robert Kato, the National Resistance Movement [NRM] Returning Officer in Lubaga Division would be either nursing serious bodily injuries or long gone.
Kato survived lynching by irate NRM supporters who accused him of involving himself in electoral fraud. Trouble for Kato started after he declared results of Lubaga North D woman Councillor which supporters of one of the candidates described as fraudulent.
At 7:09 pm, Kato declared Aishati Sheila as having obtained 6,000 votes against her only challenger Rema Nalunga’s 3,455 votes. On hearing this, Nalunga’s supporters jumped from their chairs and nearly strangled Kato who was saved by police by closing him in the NRM Lubaga offices, whose compound is where the tally centre is located.
They wondered how any elections which were very poorly attended in all parts of Kampala could have attracted 9455 voters in only four villages of Mutundwe, Najja 1, Najja 2, and Kabowa.
The declaration of these results came just minutes of declaring the results of the Lord Mayor which singer Daniel Kazibwe aka Ragga Dee had won with 8,113 votes against Ssebaana Kizito’s 2,725 votes. This brings the total number of voters who participated in this election in Lubaga division to 10,828.
“Where did those voters come from? How can four villages have almost the same number of voters like those in the whole division of more than 100 villages?” said one man who was too angry to even say his name.
Nalunga who was present at the tally centre, couldn’t take in the news, she collapsed. “We defeated her even at her own village. Where has this man got these results,” Nalunga shouted moments before she collapsed.
For about 30 minutes, the melee went on, police officers looked like they were incapable of doing anything. When one of the commanders who couldn’t be readily identified gave the order for everybody to vacate the place, the rowdy youths vowed to go down fighting. “Go ahead and shoot, we are not leaving. We can never accept this broad day robbery in NRM,” they kept on shouting. Seeing that it was very hard to calm down the incensed supporters, Police concentrated its manpower on protecting Sheila and the polling officials.
Unlike the polling officials who had been barricaded in the office with several officers manning the door, Sheila was seated among the audience so she couldn’t easily be evacuated. So the police decided to surround her with tables which had been abandoned by the polling officials.
The irate supporters tried to grab her but the three officers surrounded her with their fingers on the trigger, jealously guarding her. They instead channelled their anger towards the plastic chairs which they broke with fury.
This was the second incident of supporters wanting to lynch the returning officer. Earlier an agent of another councillor candidate had tried to disorganize the tallying but was quickly subdued by the police. His candidate Kazibwe Fred Kazibwe lost the race with 1,326 votes against Charles Ssemogerere’s 2,132 votes.
NRM today was holding nationwide elections to choose candidates who will hold the party’s flag in the 2021 general election. In the past, violence has been synonymous with NRM elections, which the losing candidate resort to to force the cancellation of the election. In last week’s parliamentary primary elections, areas of Ntungamo, Isingiro, Sembabule, Katakwi, Jinja, Mbale among others, witnessed unprecedented levels of violence as losing candidates tried to marshal their way through to victory.
********
URN
