Earlier today, The Electoral Commission of Uganda declared National Resistance Movement candidate Andrew Muwonge as the winner for the position of Local Council 5 District Chairperson in the recently concluded By-Election which has been going on for over a month now in Kayunga.
Andrew Muwonge was declared winner in a highly contested election with the majority of the people country-wide refusing to accept these results because according to them, the loser is the one who was declared the winner.
The By-Election in Kayunga was as a result of the death of former Kayunga District Chairperson, who won this position on the National Unity Platform ticket, Owekitiibwa Muhammad Ffeffekka Sserubogo who was found hanging dead on a tree in Kayunga on the 17th of July this year, barely a year in office.
This election has been marred by lots of violence, heavy Military and police deployment, excessive ballot stuffing, massive voter bribery, and many other evils which would render any Sensible electoral process null and void. To the surprise of many, the election went on uninterrupted, eventually declaring Andrew Muwonge the winner, something that many have failed to digest till now.
In one of the unfortunate incidents in this by-election, at one Polling station called Kayunga Mixed at the church, Andrew Muwonge had 95 votes while NUP’s Nakwedde had 215 votes with a margin of over 100 votes, but as voting neared closure, a gentleman came with pre-ticked ballot papers and he stuffed them into the ballot box, which caused anger among the people present. Officials from the Electoral Commission were called and they found out that this man had indeed stuffed in 100 ballot papers and that the number of votes also surpassed the number of voters. The man was later arrested by police.
There are also videos of people who allege that National Resistance Movement officials bribed them with Shs. 4000 to vote in favor of Andrew Muwonge. This came after National Unity Platform President Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu [Bobi Wine] was refused by Police from going to Kayunga to campaign for his candidate Nakwedde. His home was surrounded by Police and the Military and so he couldn’t leave for Kayunga and yet President Museveni was in Kayunga campaigning for the NRM candidate. This of course showed that the Playing ground was not leveled. Also, many opposition leaders who were campaigning for Nakwedde were arrested and others like Honorable Francis Zaake were badly beaten and yet no single NRM leader was arrested despite the Mayhem that some of them caused there.
Kayunga is a district located in the central Region [Buganda] of Uganda and it gained district status in 2001 having been cut off Mukono District. The district largely voted for the opposition in the recently concluded 2021 General elections with Kyagulanyi winning overwhelmingly there.