Losers in the Bukoto South NRM primary elections are threatening to contest as independents unless the party electoral commission nullifies the victory of John Alintuma Nsambu, the former ICT minister. They are David Mukasa, Joseph Ssabayiki, Robert Rutalo, and Achilles Lubega. Nsambu was declared the official NRM candidate for the Bukoto South seat by Charles Mubiru, the Lwengo district NRM returning officer on Friday night.
According to the poll results released by the party electoral commission Nsambu polled 10,404 votes, David Mukasa came second with 1765, Achilles Lubega 1525 and Joseph Ssebayiki trailed the pack with 92 votes. After declaring the result, Mubiri asked the losers to join hands and support Nsambu to boost his chances of claiming victory in the by-elections.
However, the losers will not have any of this, and are demanding for fresh primaries. They argued that the primary elections were marred with massive rigging in favor of Nsambu. Ssabayiki says the elections were marred with gross irregularities that he cannot bare with. He says that he tried to report them to the electoral commission secretariat but the officials failed to address them in time.
He also claims that many of his supporters were illegally deregistered to block them from voting with the intention of denying him victory. He explains that many non registered voters were allowed to cast votes, in breach of the election guidelines issued by the secretariat. Ssabayiki says that he will contest as an independent candidate in the forthcoming by-elections.
Achilles Lubega, another contestant claims that many of his supporters were deliberately blocked from casting their votes. Lubega says that he plans to petition the NRM National Executive Council to annul the results and organize fresh elections. He also threatens to drag the party to court should it fail to take immediate action to rectify the situation. He says that primary poll results do not reflect the wishes of NRM members in Bukoto South.
Robert Rutalo, the former Makerere University Guild President says that he foresaw the irregularities before the primaries and reported to Prof. Elijah Mushemeza, the NRM EC boss but he disregarded them. Rutalo claims that he witnessed Nsambu’s campaigner Joy Walusimbi ferrying voters from Bukoto East to Bukoto South to take part in the primaries.
He claims that many NRM supporters boycotted the polls but he was shocked to hear Nsambu declared winner with more than 10000 votes. Rutalo explains that the people who voted for Nsambu came from his village in Nkuke, Buwunga Sub County a place which is outside Bukoto South. He claims that these voters from Bukoto East voted from Sseke secondary school classroom. He says they have already drafted a petition seeking fresh polls and if they are not organized immediately they will contest as independents.
But Alintuma Nsambu, the NRM winner denies the allegations of vote rigging saying that he won the elections fairly. Prof. Elijah Mushemeza, the Chairperson NRM Electoral Commission who supervised the elections claims that the exercise was free and fair. He says the complaints by the four candidates are minor and instigated by anger after losing. He says NRM will not conduct fresh polls because there is no time.
