Voices of discontent about the outcome of the NRM parliamentary primaries were even louder as the party held its LC3 and mayoral elections on Monday, September 14, 2020.
At Bugolobi Market, Jambula zone, a polling centre in Nakawa division, chaos and multiple voting marred the elections for LC3 chairperson flagbearer forcing the exercise to be halted.
Kubaruho Boaz was entangled in a fight with Agaba James for LC3 councillor seat on the NRM ticket.
Chaos ensued when FDC and People Power members from the Jambula ghetto joined the lines in favour of a certain candidate.
The elections that started at 11:00 am attracted a large number of Bugolobi market vendors who lined up to vote for their favourite candidates.
The queues were packed and only a handful had face masks. There was no form of social distancing whatsoever, no measures to curb the dreaded COVID-19 at the very least.
Some lines were random, others zig-zag, as undecided voters stood on the sidelines only to hop into the lines that grew a little longer.
Many others stood on the balcony of the market to have a clear view of the unfolding drama
Ghetto yut (youths) were seen swaying placards of their favourite candidates, others waved NRM flags.
Campaign assistants strolled through the lines with megaphones to persuade the last undecided voter.
Older women in their multi-coloured extravagant polyester dresses waited in line to be counted and were seen clapping and elated by ululations from the youth.
Whistles, car traffic noise and chats reverberated the air like there was no coronavirus. The few people who had masks wore them by their chins.
Officers from Bugolobi Police Station appeared overwhelmed as they tried to put the situation into reason.
They were seen working with the former chairman (NRM) who was voted out by the same people in a surprise poll in favour of an FDC rival last year.
Something that has never happened in Bugolobi, an NRM stronghold.
As lines grew longer, there was no clear sign of a winner. It appeared, some people were leaving lines after being counted only to rejoin from the back.
People Power candidates were also seen trying to influence their friends to vote for particular candidates.
Political rivals they deemed weaker and easy to beat in the final elections or at least that's the plan.
Chaos erupted at the back and the lines were broken. Election monitors were seen rushing to the backend with security personnel.
Then boom, total chaos! The monitors were getting overwhelmed and being pushed back to the front.
The Local Defence Unit soldiers (LDUs) only stood and watched without taking any action, thanks to their refresher course.
During the lockdown, LDUs were faulted for shooting at and killing more people than coronavirus, the president directed they be recalled immediately from Kampala streets.
The LDUs only intervened at a fracas where market women started pushing a Kikomando vendor's cooking stall off the voting lane.
At the neighbouring Block 1 polling station, voting was already suspended. Ghetto yut (youths) had breached the lines and disorganized the counting process.
Polling officers were overwhelmed and decided to call off the exercise. We caught up with Hakim, a vocal rasta from the ghetto, he was infuriated that jokers from the opposition were stealing the incumbent's election.
“We have defeated them thoroughly because Boaz’s line was too long up to that poster. The rest of the contestants and their supporters are jokers! It’s only Boaz who has the qualities we want,” Hakim retorted.
An announcer appeared from the back sounding on the megaphone that the exercise had been halted.
The suspension of the exercise didn't go well with many who wanted the exercise done already.
“Boaz has been in the NRM for long, he has the experience we need. My pain is that we have won but they are saying we do a recount, now what is that?” Hakim questioned.
Another participant was quick to counter him on camera, “If Boaz thinks he has won, why do you fear standing back in line and the votes are recounted?” Hamidu asked.
Bewildered Agaba's supporters challenged Boaz's camp to line up if they were real men.
“I am not a supporter of any of these candidates but I belong to the NRM party. I only came here to oversee who truly won. Whoever wins we shall accept, let them stand again in line,” Hamidu suggested.
The exercise was called off forthwith to the disappointment of all participants.
In the evening, reports indicated that electoral officials had decided to announce Boaz as the winner of the LC3 NRM primaries. They agreed to tally results from only 7 polling centres that were peaceful.
The move to eliminate Jambula Zone and Bugolobi block 1 was a middle finger to the opposition, yet, it did not go well with a majority NRM supporters in Bugolobi market.
Chaos rages in Ntinda
Jut like other hot spots in the country, the Mayoral election in Ntinda was reported to be largely chaotic as people kept voting from one polling station to another.
Observers noted that familiar faces seen voting earlier were appearing the second time in lines at the nearby polling stations.
More chaos! Election monitors started pulling people out of the lines, while agents of some candidates were pointing out their rivals who had voted thrice.
Museveni directive
A day before the NRM primaries, President Museveni directed that all members who are not in the party register should be registered and allowed to vote.
“Therefore, in the exercise of the powers granted to the chairman under Article 14 of the Constitution, I hereby offer guidance that all members of NRM whose names appear on the register shall be allowed to vote. Any NRM member whose name is not on the party register shall be immediately added to the register and permitted to vote if the person is 18 and above,” Museveni said in a September 2, 2020 letter.
Museveni had presumed that village executive committees would verify that the person added onto the register is a member of NRM.
And where there are no registers; the village committee would verify and register all members eligible to vote.
However, there was no time for that, most polling centres were overwhelmed by hundreds of voters.
The confusion and chaos are now blamed for candidate losses and they have since blamed their defeat on Museveni’s directive.
NRM receives court 373 petitions
The ruling National Resistance Movement has received over 373 petitions challenging the recently concluded party primaries for parliamentary flag bearers.
The NRM director in charge of legal affairs, Mr Oscar Kihiika detailed to the media that 14 lawyers had been put in place to look into the petitions.
“Each of the lawyers will be holding a hearing where each party will present its case. The lawyers will then make recommendations to the electoral commission which will make a final decision on whether to cancel the results or carry out a fresh tallying process,” Kihiika said.
The elders' tribunal
To stem the mounting pressure and court petitions arising from the primaries, President Museveni also suggested a panel of elders to be set up in every region where complaints will be lodged by aggrieved party members.
“My advice is that we should set up panels of elders per zone. As NRM members you don’t have to riot or quarrel, just write a petition and send it to the panel,” Museveni directed.
Mr Kihiika appeared affirmative in the Chairman's suggestion and confirmed on Sunday that some of the petitions will be sent to a panel of elders for resolution of the issues complained about.
“We shall work with these tribunals and where the petition needs to be mediated, we shall pursue this form of dispute resolution so that some of the issues are solved amicably to avoid disagreement within the party,” Kihiika said.
He added that in case the tribunal fails, the petition would then be forwarded to his office for the set of lawyers to handle and then recommend to the electoral commission the next steps to take.
Comments