By Mulengera Reporters
Renowned Jinja-based very popular veteran radio presenter Resty Nanteza aka Nakapachu says she is finally done with participation in partisan politics and this is largely to protest the injustices that were occasioned on her by Buikwe Woman MP Diana Mutasingwa Nankunda Kagenyi during the tallying of 2021 election results.
In 2021, the FDC diehard stood for Buikwe district Woman MP post on the FDC ticket and believes, just like her supporters, that she won the seat only to be circumvented by rigging that was orchestrated in favor of Minister Diana Mutasingwa of the ruling NRM party.
The results, as was proclaimed by the EC, had Mutasingwa 43,215 votes against Nakapachu’s 41,561. Other peripheral candidates performed as follows: NUP’s Faridah Nabatanzi 30,275; Immaculate Mukasa Kabaale 3,613; Rashidah Nakibuuka of DP 2,590; Dianah Banduru 2,054 and Lydia Nakiguli 1,408 votes.
But Nakapachu, the Makerere MDD diploma graduate, says that the circumstances under which her win was hijjacked were so painful and traumatizing she took a decision to just bow out and let go of competitive politics.
She says that, as her supporters began celebrating counting it done, army men got involved throughout the night and altered the results which is how Mutasingwa fluked and inherited her win, something she says left a lot of Buikwe residents cursing.
Nakapachu says there was a lot of pressure from her electors to petition court but she backed off when she reflected on the inefficiencies in the Ugandan justice system. That instead of letting her be, her opponent Mutasingwa spread very demonizing disinformation indicating that she had been bribed by the NRM top leadership to leave everything.
The rumor indicated she was given between Shs800m and Shs1bn to abandon the court path. Nakapachu says all this was untrue and it made her to become even more resentful of politics. She is doubtful the angry Buikwe residents are going to merely look on as Mutasingwa hijacks their will again come 2026. She predicts a waterloo of some sort for the State Minister who is one of the few NRMs who won in Buikwe and the larger Buganda region.
Nakapachu adds that her selfless idea was to use the MP Seat to publicize and make Buikwe shine at the national level than Diana Mutasingwa has done. Nakapachu intended to achieve this by being very outspoken in the national assembly, which she says Mutasingwa hasn’t done and will never do even if she were to get many more terms.
The campaign period ended in Nakapachu’s ouster from her radio job at NBS TV some of whose bosses she says resorted to fighting her personally and even undermined her “Women of Value” event at Bugembe where she had invited the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja to be her chief guest.
She retreated to her Nakapachu Foundation through which she continues to serve as the voice of the voiceless people in Buikwe, Jinja and nearby places. Through her Foundation, Nanteza has impacted more people, helping them to solve land-related problems, than even the incumbent Woman MP Diana Mutasingwa has done.
She helps the poor push back against injustices and even gets them legal representation, which Mutasingwa hasn’t done adequately. This public-spirited approach has made voters resent Mutasingwa even more. Those who have benefited from Nakapachu’s advocacy couldn’t just watch her get kicked out of NBS radio.
It’s them who mounted pressure and got her a new job at ex-MP Paul Mwiru’s Busoga One Radio where she currently works. And gratefully, Mwiru hasn’t regretted because the viewership has spectacularly grown as multitudes followed Nakapachu there.
Her program on Busoga One is called “Ensi Eno” and as one of the most recent IPSOS reports shows, it was a prudent decision for Busoga One to have hired her. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
