By Andrew Buluba
Dear Editor. Thanks for the Mulengera news stories. They are insightful and well researched. Thanks for the innovation. I’m, however, writing to respond to your story on Asuman Basalirwa being the best candidate for Bugiri Municipality. By way of introduction, I’m called Andrew Buluba, the FDC Chairman for Bugiri Municipality. I feel I should respond to your otherwise well presented article on what awaits opposition in Bugiri ahead of the 19th July Municipality elections. We assume the article was written and published in good faith but it would have come off even better if it didn’t omit the very important facts I’m going to share in my response.
CONFESSION;
I must confess from the very onset that as opposition forces, we are faced with a very big dilemma of having to choose between a candidate people in Kampala consider more prolific material for Parliament (indeed he is) and one who is clearly more popular with the grassroot. Ideally Mr. Basalirwa is okay; and ordinarily the right person for the parliamentary job at hand but the reality is that he is hard brand to sell to the Bugiri voters. My own party candidate Eunice Namatende is a people’s darling and that’s a fact even when many in Kampala and at national level may not know her as much as they know Ndugu Asuman Basalirwa.There is an electoral track record on which to base to judge these two candidates, their suitability and chances to win this election. The NRM camp is in disarray and the primaries is going to leave them even more divided but it remains a generally 50-50 district between us and NRM and this is why for us as FDC, a careful decision had to be taken even when it seems an irony to our friends in Kampala. She maybe less known in Kampala than Mr. Basalirwa but her past electoral performance is indicative that Namatende stands much better chances than him regardless of who the NRM fronts. We clearly know that the NRM primaries will produce two candidates but that’s not enough to make the opposition complacent not to front their best candidate.
PAST PERFORMANCE;
The good thing is the two people, from whom we must choose, have thrice stood before in this same place and there is a history against which the best in the eyes of the voters (and not our Kampala friends) can be measured. Ndugu Basalirwa has previously stood for Bukooli North MP Seat with Baka Mugabi and Gastur Kyawa Mugoya later on. Namatende, because of her love for FDC and impatience with NRM, has been contesting for the Bugiri woman MP Seat since when she was just 19 years. She has lost before but in 2016, her performance was very good and inspite of the rigging by NRM, she officially polled 40,000 votes against eventual winner Justine Taaka of NRM who polled 42,000 votes. In comparison, Mr. Asuman Basalirwa stood with Mugoya (NRM) and Baka (independent) plus FDC’s Ouma Masinde. This was for Bukooli North. This is how they performed; Basalirwa got 2,000 votes, Mugoya won with 28,000 followed by Mugabi’s 24,000 votes. FDC’s Ouma Masinde had about 1,800 votes. The new Municipality, which we are now focussing on, has been a town council or mere Sub County under Bukooli North. In the sub county (now Municipality), this is how Mr. Basalirwa and my candidate Namatende performed in 2016; Asuman scored 427 votes and my candidate Namatende (standing for woman MP) got 4,787 votes in this same sub county ( now Municipality). I’m a leader in this area and these are facts; I leave it to the reader to tell for themselves who of the two is more popular in the Municipality. Whereas our friends in Kampala can rationalize and consider that Asuman is the better candidate, the thinking of the voters here ironically is totally different. There are those Ken Lukyamuzi-like little things which Namatende does and those are the things making her a darling for the voters to the extent that even NRM is more scared of her than they are afraid of Mr. Basalirwa in this race. She has no money as such but the voters see her as one of them and she easily connects with them. Comrade Asuman is very okay and a nice gentleman but the truth is he is too sophisticated for the ordinary voters here and at best, he will always remain the very good MP Bugiri never had.
THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR;
We are serious people here as the FDC leadership in Bugiri. We sit down in meetings and brainstorming sessions and we discuss and reflect on all the possible scenarios. We rightly considered that because the constituency is Muslim-dominated, voters maybe very biased and uncomfortable electing a lady for the MP Seat. But we also realized that Comrade Basalirwa is a good Muslim who has stood thrice and has been miserably losing the vote in this Municipality even to none Muslim candidates. This left us with no choice but to insist on the Eunice Namatende candidature. Clearly we are doing this not because we have any vendetta against Mr. Basalirwa. No. Its in the best interest of the broader opposition cause. We aren’t aware of anything Mr. Basalirwa intends to do differently to grow his electoral fortunes and get the seat for the opposition this time round. I must also say that your article created a lot of misrepresentation as regards Mr. Wafula Oguttu’s role in propelling the Namatende candidature. There is a lot more that perhaps hadn’t come to your attention at the time you authored your article. We have had an intensive competitive process as a party before we could eventually agree on Namatende. She hasn’t got the flag on a silver platter. And Mr. Wafula Oguttu was initially a protagonist in that internal process and to be frank with you, Namatende was initially not his candidate but that’s a story for another day.
The author, Andrew Buluba, is the FDC Chairman for Bugiri Municipality and an aspirant for LC3 Chairmanship for the newly created Western Division. He can be reached on: 0754269719
