NRM leaders in Kayunga want Nantaba disciplined for supporting independent candidate

KAYUNGA, UGANDA: The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders in Kayunga District have asked the party’s national leadership to summon the district woman MP, Ms. Idah Nantaba, for allegedly supporting an independent candidate in the forthcoming LC5 by-election.

Speaking during a meeting attended by the NRM party Secretary-General, Richard Todwong, Ms Rosemary Nansubuga Sseninde, the director of mobilization at the NRM secretariat, Mr Emmanuel Dombo, the director of communications at the NRM secretariat over the weekend, the leaders claimed that Ms Nantaba was campaigning for Mr Magid Nyanzi, an independent candidate for the Kayunga District LC5 by-election.

Ms. Nantaba, however, denied offering any form of support to Mr Nyanzi, who is currently the Kayunga town mayor. Mr Nyanzi also said he was not aware of any plan to have him out of the race, adding that “I have already picked my nomination forms from the EC and I am going to start looking for signatures of supporters”

“The NRM national party leadership should prevail on Nantaba and stop her from supporting an independent candidate, Nyanzi. It is you top leaders at the party that empower such undisciplined leaders like Nantaba,” Mr Samuel Ssebadda, the Kayunga sub-county NRM chairperson said.

Ms Nantaba, who in 2011 won the Kayunga District woman MP seat on the NRM ticket in 2015 quit NRM primaries and stood for the same seat as an independent candidate and won.

She cited intrigue and vote rigging in the party.

Despite being dropped as state minister for Information Technology in 2019, she is still heavily guarded by Special Forces Command (SFC) soldiers, something NRM leaders say is a sign that the party condones indiscipline by some party members.

Mr Tanga Odoi, the NRM electoral commission chairperson, said he would summon Ms Nantaba to convince her not to support an independent candidate in the by-election.

“If she (Nantaba) refuses to listen, President Museveni will talk to her,” Mr Odoi said.

The electoral commission has announced December 16, as polling day for the Kayunga LC5 by-election where Mr Andrew Muwonge is the NRM party flag bearer. However, party supporters say divisions among NRM supporters in the district might affect the party’s performance and hand victory to NUP.

Mr Odoi, however, commended Mr Moses Karangwa, the Kayunga District NRM chairman for mobilising for the party using his own resources saying he’s not other NRM leaders “who always want to milk the party.”