By Mulengera Reporters
On Thursday, the NRM through its Electoral Chairman Dr. Tanga Odoi, convened a jubilant news conference in Kampala and claimed to have won up to 51,093 (or 71.7%) LC1 village chairperson positions out of the a total of 71,214 slots that were up for grabs. In otherwords, NRM candidates won 51,093 out of 71,214 villages.
Flanked by other NRM EC Commissioners namely James Kinobe and Fred Omach, Dr. Tanga said they had already obtained preliminary results from the whole country through their elaborate structures network even before the national EC of Justice Simon Byabakama aggregates and comes up with the final tally.
He added that the independent candidates, many of whom are NRM-leaning, had won up to 13,861 (19.5%) LC1 village chairperson slots; leaving all the opposition parties combined to share a total of 3,971 (5.6%) village seats in the whole country.
Tanga said this shows the extent to which majority Ugandans are well aligned with the NRM agenda while actively rejecting the narrative of the opposition whose forces Tanga said are in total disarray because of lack of clear leadership and contradicting messaging.
He said that the ruling party anticipates its winning margin will even enlarge the moment the disputed/withheld results from the remaining 2,900 villages are finally harmonized and declared.
Tanga called upon NRM people not to relent but to continue preparing for the upcoming elections for LC2 chairpersons and women leaders leading women councils at parish levels. Those elections are slated for 10th and 7th August respectively.
Dr. Tanga announced that the NRM would hold its primaries to determine LC2 level flag bearers for both chairpersons and women councils on Friday 31st July across the country.
Only people elected to be part of the LC1 executive committees at the 71,214 villages will be eligible to stand in those party internal elections.
The LC1 executive comprises of the chairman, vice chairman, secretary for information, security, finance, environment, youths plus the secretaries for older persons, women and PWDs.
At the same news conference, Dr. Tanga, while responding to questions from journalists, explained that the party in total invested Shs5bn out of the Shs11bn it collected from 2026 flag bearer aspirants from whom a total of Shs11bn was realized as expression of interest fees.
Tanga said that the Shs5bn was distributed to enable the ruling party’s candidates facilitate their agents and meet other election-related expenses. He said the victories registered in both women councils and LC1 elections indicated that the Shs5bn was money well spent and that there was a good return on investment.
He thanked NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong and the National Treasurer Barbra Nekesa Oundo and all the others at the Secretariat for prioritizing coordination and the empowerment of NRM grass root structures which enabled the resounding victory for the ruling party.
BUGANDA M7’S AGAIN:
Tanga flashed the LC1 results to dismiss claims by the likes of Mukono MP Betty Nambooze that Gen Museveni and his NRM party no longer have support in Buganda.
Tanga shared results from the electoral regions in Buganda, indicating that NRM defeated NUP and the entire opposition in Buganda, including in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts which make up the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area.
In Nambooze’s Greater Mukono, Tanga who specifically mocked and referred to the veteran NUP law maker, asserted that NRM won a total of 970 villages, while the entire opposition combined trailed with just 217. The independents, majority of them NRM-leaning, got 379. Tanga said this neutralizes propaganda by the likes of Betty Nambooze whose public utterances have always been to the effect that Baganda are done with Museveni and NRM.
In Greater Masaka, where NUP is claimed to be strongest, Tanga’s statistics showed that the ruling NRM won 1,954 LC1 village chairperson slots against the combined opposition’s 360 as independents got 575.
In Greater Kampala, basically Kampala and Wakiso districts, Dr. Tanga asserted that NRM party got 883 LC1 village chairperson slots, leaving opposition parties to share 252 as independents grabbed 400.
Without having to plunge into details of his native Bukedi and Ankole region where he said NRM swept everything, Dr. Tanga also read out the figures of Greater Luwero where the ruling NRM did equally well while dwarfing its opponents. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
