That President Museveni ordered voters to vote for NRM candidate and the evetual winner, Mr Moses Walyomu for the Kagoma County parliamentary seat is no secret but the fact that the ruling party’s Secretary General Hon. Kasule Lumumba broke electoral laws to swing the vote to Walyomu’s side is a new shocking revelation.
This claim was made by Mr. Henry Muguzi, Alliance for Electoral Monitoring head on Friday.
Mr. Muguzi told reporters that even though Walyomu was declared the winner of the by-election by the Returning Officer for Jinja District, Mr Rogers Edward Serunjogi, his win was not fair and square.
He accused the Walyomu’s camp of breaking an earlier anti-bribery agreement he signed with fellow candidates instead went through Resident District Commissioners, Members of Parliament and top NRM party members.
Top of the list of those who bribed voters was the powerful and loaded Ms. Lumumba, who Mr. Muguzi claimed gave voters Shs7 million to two catholic churches in Bwenge Town Council on May 7, which was deep in the tense campaigning time, with a message to Christians to vote the bus (NRM candidate Walyomu).
Three days later, Mr Walyomu won with 24,257 votes while his biggest opponent, Mr Alex Brandon Kintu emerged second got 18,490 votes. Third in the pecking order is the Forum for Democratic Change candidate, Timothy Batuwa Lusala with 8,149 votes. Mr Muhammed Bidondole, another independent candidate walked away with 1248 votes.
The pattern of the Walyomu’s win was described by the election observers as not convincing but the Electoral Commission spokesperson Mr. Jotham Tarermwa advised those with complaints to compile their evidence and go ahead petition court.
READ MORE: EC’s Jotham Taremwa explains pre-ticked ballots in Kagoma by-election
The Kagoma parliamentary seat fell vacant after the Court of Appeal earlier in the year nullified the result of the 2016 parliamentary election following an appeal by a losing candidate.
Kagoma County has nearly 102,000 registered voters, with 158 polling station.
