URN National Perspective

This program is to be broadcast on the weekend of September 4th, 2010. Stories and interviews from the NRM Head Quarters in Kampala will be added. I) AKWETEIREHO – BUNYORO Synopsis Bunyoro, like much of Uganda, is not new to poor politics and appalling party administration. Candidates contesting for election willfully ignore issues like land, oil and the economy to focus on more populist rallying calls based on character assassination and mudslinging. Despite this, Bunyoro remains an NRM stronghold and predictions are that this will not change in 2011 as support for the party president, Yoweri Museveni, is still unshakable. Support for the NRM is not a mistake of history. It appears that there is a calculated strategy by the media in the region to play favorites. Issues that would bring disrepute to the party are never broadcast, opposition voices are not heard and problems affecting the population are never articulated in case they place the NRM in a bad light. It is little wonder, therefore that about 10 practicing journalists in the region are openly running for political office on the NRM ticket. As radio personalities, they have a recognizable voice among the people. Since they have not been required to resign from their jobs, they are able to use their public profiles to campaign for themselves and ultimately, to give the NRM an even greater boost than before. II) BATRE – WEST NILE Synopsis The story of the NRM in this region is focused around the power brokers in the party. The most compelling issue here revolves around Simon Ejua, the State Minister for Transport, who also serves as the NRM Arua district chairman. Mr. Ejua intends to stand for the Vurra MP seat on the NRM ticket, but he also has his hands in other pots around the region. He consistently frustrates party members who threaten his seat, barring their campaign rallies and meetings. He uses this tactic in other constituencies by using the police to break up rallies of party members who are not in his favor. As district party chairman, Mr. Ejua is able to influence the outcome of the disciplinary committee and the party electoral body. In the NRM in Arua, no one can go past him. Despite the fact that he has not delivered the promised benefits to his electorate, he is still seen as a strong power broker in the district. III) BINDHE – MASAKA/SOUTHERN REGION Synopsis If you are looking for a prediction of violence in the forthcoming elections, look no further than southern Uganda. Violence has rocked the NRM campaigns in Kalungu East, Bukoto Midwest and of course, Sembabule district. The NRM voters in this region are divided more than any others countrywide. They cannot agree on joint campaigns, policy and programs. They are divided in ideology and systems. The inevitable result is consistent wrangling, mudslinging and violence. It doesn’t help that the NRM is not viewed favorably on the ground. Although it enjoys majority seats on district councils in Masaka, Sembabule, Rakai, Mpigi and Lyantonde, these areas are still underdeveloped and underserved by the government programs the NRM boasts of. School performance is on an all time low, roads are impassable and the upgrading of health centers going on in the rest of the country, seems to have skipped the region all together. IV) EZARUKU – KITGUM, LAMWO, PADER Synopsis In this region, the Holy Spirit has been overthrown from his seat. It is no longer The Almighty that anoints mere mortals with power. It appears that human beings can do the same. In this regard, no one is more influential than veteran politician, Mark Okeny, who used his authority to select and anoint members within the NRM to stand as the sole party candidates for seats in Lamwo district. Okeny’s move caused concern and considerable discontent. Matters seem to have been resolved – for the time being, but feelings were hurt and egos bruised. Who knows? Maybe the September 30th elections will be a forum to express those grievances – but perhaps it will not. Mark Okeny is of course, not the only power broker in the region. UPC has Livingstone Okello Okello and the FDC, the ubiquitous Beatrice Anywar. They are all vocal. They are all charismatic. However, they are not all the people want. V) KAJUBU – TORO Synopsis The Toro region bears many similarities to Lamwo and Arua in as far power and influence are concerned. In this region, this is personified in Adolf Mwesige, currently the only cabinet minister from Kabarole. However, unlike his colleagues elsewhere, he is level headed and gracious. He is even used by opposition political parties as a mentor and mediator. His story is one for another time. The story of the NRM in Toro revolves around Fort Portal Municipality, Burahya County, Mwenge County South and the Kabarole Woman MP seat. If you want examples of the failed cohesion in the party, look no further than these areas where the political battle has turned into a Clash of the Titans: Muhanga vs. Rusoke; Kaliba vs. Ruhunda; Basaliza vs. Kagwera; Kaija vs. Kajara. Interestingly, we know the politicians, but we don’t know the people. What do they stand for really? What distinguishes one from another? We know their names, but why should we care? VII) WACHA – ACHOLI/LANGO Synopsis Remember the days when the LRA were used as a rallying cry for opposition politicians in Northern Uganda? Those days are long over. With peace in the region, the opposition appears to have no new issues to articulate and the NRM is seeing a surge in popularity. The NRM in the Acholi region seems to be boosted by its organization. Over the past four years the opposition has done little to spread its influence at the grassroots. It rarely holds meetings, its politicians hardly interact with the public through the media and apart from the FDC, its structures are crumbling. The NRM, on the other hand, has been visible, organizing workshops and other public gatherings for its members and spreading the gospel of reconstruction and recovery. At the helm of the NRM in the region is comedian/politician/military strategist/fat man Walter Ochora. Unlike his predecessor, Norbert Mao, he has remained in the public sphere over the past four years. Through his weekly program on Mega FM, he has endeared himself to the public with his personable character, his wit and his charm. He rarely uses the program to address pertinent public issues, but no one really cares. He is funny and charismatic – an all round Mr. Nice Guy. A Mr. Nice Guy the NRM members in Gulu are willing to elect unopposed. VI) TUSIIME – KIGEZI Synopsis Old alliances come to bear in Kigezi politics this electoral season. President Museveni’s worst fears of a return to religious and ethnic-based voting has come to pass. In Kabale district the Catholic and Anglican churches have taken a hold of the politics and will not let it go. On one hand is the Anglican fronted Hope Mwesigye. Mwesigye, a cabinet minister, MP and the district NRM chairperson, is a powerful politician in her own right. She has the ear of the church and more importantly, the attention of the President. She is a major power broker in the region, but is also highly divisive. Her opponents say her time in politics has been self-serving and she has done very little to represent the people who elected her into office. It doesn’t help that Mwesigye’s chief opponent in the NRM elections is the Catholic Church. Catholics are the religious majority in Kabale and are a force to reckon with. The church did not take it lightly when Mwesigye publicly insulted one of its clerics, Father Gaetano Batanyenda. She was banned from addressing Catholic congregations and a pastoral letter from the Bishop has officially blacklisted her. Regardless of whether an NRM politician is allied to the church, alliance to Mwesigye appears to be paramount. At constituency and district level party members are either for or against Mwesigye and they are made to pay the price for their choices. In the new district of Amuru, the party politics is not so clean cut. With new constituencies opening up, politicians who failed to win seats in the old Gulu district are making a return to the polls. The district woman seat has three candidates lined up, one of them, former peace broker Betty Bigombe. The Nwoya parliamentary seat also involves a race of three with the NRM determined to win back the seat from the opposition. Exciting days lie ahead for the NRM who are predicting significant wins in 2011. VIII) WALUKAMBA – BUSOGA Synopsis The Busoga region has had an eventful four years. In no other region is the story of the NRM so multilayered and so complex as this. The lines of discourse involve the Kyabazingaship, religion, Presidential support, voter fraud, influence peddling by cabinet ministers and the deputy speaker to parliament, the role of civil servants … It is endless.