By Mulengera Reporters
Over the weekend, hundreds of NRM delegelates converged in Arua City for a meeting with NRM Buganda region Vice Chairman Haruna Kasolo who was in the sub region to canvass for support. Kasolo is competing with Kayunga richman Moses Karangwa and Godfrey Kiwanda who has been holding the position. The delegates that came to see and interact with Kasolo came from all districts of West Nile.
Delegates from West Nile said they initially had lost hope and given up about their party ever regaining the Central region but the momentum Kasolo has created had given them hope that it’s still possible for Gen Museveni and other NRM candidates to once again win votes in Buganda.
They made it clear Buganda is the nerve center of all the politics and economic activities of the whole Uganda; implying that there is no way the ruling NRM can galvanize the whole country unless the central region is won back. They asserted that being on the periphery in Buganda is politically very costly to the ruling NRM as it demoralizes cadres and mobilizers in other parts of Uganda.
The delegates registered their optimism and hope that with Haruna Kasolo in charge and leading mobilization in Buganda, there is hope the politically very influential region can be recaptured from the opposition.
The delegates said they had compared and contrasted all the contenders for the NRM Vice Chairperson position in Buganda and they had established that Kasolo was far much better than all the others.
Saying they are appreciative because only him had valued them by physically travelling and camping in their region, the delegates promised a block vote for the incoming Kyotera County MP. Kim Nass, an influential veteran journalist in the region, summarized why Kasolo had captured the imagination of majority delegates from West Nile.
“As a journalist, I have known Honorable Haruna Kasolo for years and all I can say is that he is pro-people, accessible, a wealth creation ambassador and above all youth-centric,” Nass said of the Microfinance affairs Minister.
“He has always advocated and worked hard for the transformation of Uganda and not just Buganda or Kyotera. We are confident that even in CEC, he will be using the platform to advocate for better life not just for NRM cadres in Buganda but in the whole country.” He predicted over 90% delegates support for Kasolo in West Nile.
The Minister promised to support stronger SACCOs in West Nile and specifically asked NRM leaders in the region to form an additional three SACCOs into which he promised to pour money as a way of amplifying wealth creation efforts in the region.
“We know you are going to win and be in CEC but what we request of you is to remain humble and down to earth the way you have been. Don’t forget us and always keep in touch with us the way you have been during this campaign time. You have humbled us by personally travelling here to visit and talk with us. We feel valued and are so grateful. The only way to reciprocate this is by killing you with votes during the National Conference at Namboole,” one super delegate told Kasolo, speaking on behalf of others.
The delegates also said they like Kasolo’s message which seeks to unite, engage, empower, motivate and re-energize cadres and supporters of the NRM not just in Buganda but in the whole country. Some said they got inspired after witnessing the energy the crowd exhibited as Kasolo went to Kyadondo to get nominated to campaign for the CEC position.
Others asserted that he deserves the vote because programs like Emyoga, which his Ministry has been coordinating, had tremendously impacted them directly and indirectly through someone they know or is close to them.
Kasolo implored the delegates to interest themselves in knowing more about his track record as a public official in comparison with that of any of his opponents. He said he had maintained a clean record and had never used his position either as MP or as Minister to perpetrate land grabbing through proxies or by personally grabbing anybody’s land.
