SEMBABULE.
Outspoken Lwemiyaga County legislator Theodere Ssekikubo has rejected the results from Thursday National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentary primaries saying the exercise was marred by violence and disenfranchisement of voters .
On Friday morning around 4;40am Sembabule NRM Registrar ,Ms Deborah Arayo declared Rtd Brig Emmanuel Rwashande as the party flag bearer for Lwemiyaga after polling 16,358votes against Ssekikubos 8702 votes . Other candidates –Ms Joy Kabatis ,the former State Minister for Transport garnered 473 votes ,Edmond Bwiire 960 votes while Jacob Kato got 4 votes .
Mr Ssekikubo ,who has been Lwemiyaga County MP for close to 25 years ,said some of his campaign agents were hijacked on the eve of elections and many others were beaten up by soldiers attached to Rwashande’s security team on the polling day .
” Our assessment of Thursday polls shows that almost 50 percent of residents in Lwemiyaga did not vote because they were intimidated by soldiers deployed solely to cause fear among the locals ” he said
He cited several polling stations where voting didn’t take after soldiers travelling in vehicles with covered number plates beat up voters .Some include Meru Meru ,Luyonza ,Madende ,Kyatuba A & Kyatuba B .
At some polling stations ,Ssekikubo claimed the registers were falsified to favour his opponent. ” At my own polling station, they read over 30 names and they were not known to the residents and if they were not vigilant, the unknown voters could have turned up to vote “he said
He said he is still gathering enough evidence that will support his petition to the NRM Electoral Commission .
Ssekikubo said since NRM grass root elections started in May , he has been pleading with the Army leadership to order soldiers out of Lwemiyaga politics ,but his request was never honoured but instead more armed men some in plan clothes were deployed in the area .
“This was not an election ,but war , Lwemiyaga is bleeding and the people who were beaten are NRM supporters . I ask President Museveni who is the national chairperson of NRM to come and see what soldiers did to innocent party members” he complained
In his speech after being delayed winner at Sembabule District headquarters ,Brig Rwashande said promised to cause visible change in the constituency in just one year .
” Ssekikubo has been telling people that I am too old to serve my people ,I am going to prove to him that in one year there is going to be transformation in Lwemiyaga which he has failed to do in two decades , “he said
Brig. Rwashande has the support of retired army officer Gen Phenihas Katirima who is a key influencer in the area .
He also has the full backing of President Museveni ’s younger brother Michael Nuwagira aka Toyota. Toyota is the chairperson of Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) , a political mobilisation outfit .
Brig Rwashande asked all those he contested with to rally behind him and develop the constituency .