By Simon Turibamwe
Last Friday is one day Kasese woman MP Winnie Kiiza would wish to forget as fast as she can. Having been invisible/inaccessible to her voters for months, it’s the day she chose to drive to Kisinga Town Council where even her country home and birth place is situated. She carried with her large quantities of reflector jackets and wished to donate them to Boda riders in her home Sub County. She said this was part of her broader road safety campaign. The riders reacted furiously during the public engagement she called and they accused her of being stingy. They said they came expecting much more from her being a long-serving MP and immediate former Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Parliament. Saying their MP was being disrespectful, the riders threw some of them back at her and took the remainder to the RDC the elderly Joe Walusimbi. They urged the RDC to use his elderly status and caution Winnie Kiiza never to disrespect them again. “You have been MP for a very long time and for all the billions you have been earning this is all you can bring to us? This shows you are disrespectful to us and we mean nothing to you,” the riders shouted as they protestingly fled the Kiiza meeting. They contrasted her with MP Bukonzo East Tony Harold Muhindo, one of the 6 MPs from Kasese, saying even when he has served for only three years as their legislator, the community has benefited much more from him. They referred to the 2 ambulances Muhindo has bought for the community besides giving very generous scholarship packages for the bright Kasese children who excel at UNEB national examinations. Speaking to local radio stations after the Friday fracas, Kiiza sounding unrepentant said she had done her best and nobody can dictate to her how much to give back to Boda riders as a donation. “I have so many people to represent. It’s a large district as you know and there is no way I can reach all the residents even if I served for 30 years as MP. That is what I expected those adult riders to understand,” she said. Kiiza then turned to put the blame on the RDC claiming its possible he was behind the attack on her by her own electors. Mulengera news reporter for Kasese says the Winnie Kiiza humiliation created excitement throughout the district because majority residents feel they risked a lot to keep her up politically, as she faced the indomitable Crispus Kiyonga, but they haven’t benefited much from her. Groups like local scribes claim they expected a lot from Winnie Kiiza especially for the years she was LoP but neglected many former allies and would struggle today to single out people she used the LoP office to empower from her native Kasese. The Boda riders have vowed not to relent until a perfect replacement is elected in her place. People who still support Kiiza are fearful that the current state of political nervousness and emotional distress could lead Winnie Kiiza into committing more blunders that would in the end expedite her political downfall. The once very popular Kiiza’s political troubles are rooted into the contents of the special report Mulengera news published last week titled “2021 Updates: Kasese Politicians Giving Winnie Kiiza, Centenary Sleepless Nights Named.”
