By Mulengera Reporters
Mercy Marion Alupo, the NUP leader who in 2026 tried to stand against Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among only to get blocked by the EC Chairman Simon Byabakama, says people in the district are happy to see the former Speaker (who has been their legislator since 2016) investigated and not many have any tears to shed for her. She says she doesn’t expect any anti-MK demonstrations to be staged anywhere in Bukedea to stand in solidarity with Anita Among.
Alupo, who was among the aspirants who the EC blocked on grounds they weren’t registered voters at the instigation of one of the Among diehard supporters called Zipporah, says the people of Bukedea are so excited to see their Woman MP go through all that torment to the extent that Gen MK, who orchestrated everything, would defeat anyone in Bukedea if any electoral contest was to be held today. “You already would be seeing demonstrations [thanking the CDF] in Bukedea except that people are still cautious fearing that the President might intervene and stop the ongoing investigations, which will expose them to retribution.”
She said that, much as she is NUP and considers Bobi Wine to be her President, she can’t deny the fact that the courage and decisiveness with Gen MK has tackled Anita Among has deepened PLU’s popularity in Bukedea. Speaking in a Monday interview with Mulengera News, Alupo also welcomed suggestions by some PLU officials like SG David Kabanda to hold fresh elections in Bukedea because the circumstances through which Among bounced back unopposed were shrouded in extreme illegality.
She added that in Bukedea, all the other winners were beneficiaries of fraud as no proper election ever took place. That whoever Anita Among desired went through and this never reflected the will of the people. “Apart from the LC5 Chairman, the rest were imposed on the people because that’s what Anita Among wanted.” She said much as people are happy so far, they will even be happier and consider MK’s PLU a more acceptable political Movement once fresh elections are conducted.
She suggested that a public inquiry can be conducted and people’s views be heard after which a report can be written recommending fresh elections. “That will be the best gift for the people of Bukedea whose will has been suffocated since 2016 when Anita Among first became MP in our area. They haven’t been exercising their right to vote like the rest of the country.”
Vowing to stand and going on to win with up to 80% of the vote in case a credible election is organized, Alupo also implored MK to ensure that the ongoing investigations around the Anita Among phenomenon are expanded to cover the EC national chairman Simon Byabakama and the electoral commission officials in Bukedea. “He is part of the problem and he shouldn’t be left untouched,” Alupo said adding that the EC mischief of illegally blocking her nomination was even subsequently confirmed by Justice Simon Peter Kinobe in his ruling in Zipporah’s suit which challenged her status as a Bukedea resident. “The conduct of that judge should also be inquired into too because he played hide and seek, delayed hearing the case and his judgment came out when it was already too because we had been locked out of nomination and the Woman had already been declared unopposed.”
Thanking her party NUP for standing with her though it all, Alupo said she will never forget the persecution she endured in Justice Kinobe’s court, an exercise she says was very exhaustive physically, emotionally and financially.
“He would require us to appear at 8am and he immediately adjourns the hearing for another two weeks and that’s how time was bought for that woman to go through unopposed. The judge would never consider the fact that these are poor women who are spending money travelling to Kampala every now and then. There was some game that was being played on us which I think should also be inquired into. We suffered a lot and I don’t even know how and why I’m still alive.”
Alupo, who is one of the many former Anita Among opponents who the President privately reached out to through an emissary requiring them to document their experiences for him, says once fresh election is organized, she is 100% sure that the people of Bukedea will vote for someone else and not Anita Among. “I don’t see how she can get more than 20% of the vote because majority of the people don’t like her to the extent that she had become unelectable as early as 2021. That is why she was desperate to be unopposed and people wondered why when Rose Akol, who she replaced in 2016, was a whole Minister who allowed competition and conceded defeat upon being defeated.”
Alupo further explained that regardless of whether they are NRM or opposition, Bukedea residents unanimously resent Anita Among for a number of reasons including unwillingness to protect them against land grabbing and also because of the bad reputation her conduct at the national level has occasioned to their district.
“We are all being judged as corrupt, rude, arrogant, selfish, cunning and many other bad vices because of the quality of leadership she has been exhibiting at the national level in Kampala. This is something painful because I know of Bukedea sons and daughters who have been denied jobs in organizations because of fears that they might be having Anita Among-like traits,” Alupo says. She adds that in case a fresh election is ordered, even by court because in her view there is glaring evidence against the incumbent, she will decide whether to run either as an independent or NUP depending on what the dynamics on the ground will dictate.
A former student leader at Kyambogo University, Alupo originally belonged to FDC and was even the treasurer for their Youth League only to leave protesting injustices when it came to allocating the party flag on who should stand for Bukedea Woman MP. She protested that injustice by going to NUP and says she doesn’t regret her decision because she fell in love with Kyagulanyi’s leadership style and concluded that the Kavule-based party was much better than Najjanankumbi.
She hails from a strong family with a long history of supporting opposition candidates in Bukedea including Anita Among who she says used to receive generous support from her parents when she was still FDC standing against Rose Akol who was Gen Museveni’s State Minister for Internal Affairs.
Alupo says that though they wish this came much earlier on, the people of Bukedea are happy for the interventions Gen MK has made to tame their Woman MP from whom she claims Bukedea hasn’t benefited. She says the hospitals and schools the Speaker put in place have good infrastructure and are attractive to look at but haven’t directly benefited Bukedea residents because they are very expensive for the poverty-stricken residents. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
