The Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) welcomes competition and does not seek political enmity, a colleague of newly elected vice president Joan Bavuga revealed on Tuesday as they basked in victory.
Ms Henrietta Wamala and her running mate Joan Bavuga have been voted President and deputy of Uganda’s oldest diaspora association. Wamala is entering her second term while Bavuga formerly served as the vice President of Ugandans in Michigan having relocated to City of Tyler, Michigan in 2009.
“Joan (Bavuga) and Henrietta Wamala are a formidable team and we have a lot of faith in their exco to unity Ugandans in North America beyond political affiliations,” US-based visual journalist Peter Sserwanga told theLOCAL.
He added, “When they were seeking our mandate, they promised to uphold our organization’s values of promoting the social, cultural and economic development of the Ugandan Community in North America and beyond.”
Henrietta and Joan’s run mates dubbed as Team Action namely: Lambert Etibot who was elected Executive Secretary, Elvis Henry Nsereko (Treasurer) beating the challengers led by Lydia Natolo.
“I am a solid dedicated team member and player, as your Vice President I promise to improve and develop relationships with local communities. I have the ability to work with everyone regardless of their age, the gender, religion or political beliefs,” said Ms Bavuga who hails from Kisoro district of South Western Uganda
“I found it heart breaking that we as Ugandans living aboard still have the audience to ask you which part of Uganda you come from in order to work with you and yet we all need to be united to develop ourselves. My integrity has proved proven my leadership.”
Joan Bavuga (c) says that her desire to become Vice President stems from wanting unity among Ugandans living in North America.
Ms. Joan Bavuga formerly served as the vice President of Ugandans in Michigan. She pictured here with colleagues Micheal Mugambe (L) and Albert Bakasala
Heading into the past few leadership elections, UNAA had been drawn into political groups with smear campaigns and abusive exchanges rampant on social media.
Speaking following their victory, incumbent Henrietta Wamala said Team Action’s new term will be “Kisanja Hakuna Mchezo” and will not accept anyone to undermine the UNAA administration.
“In 2019, a lot of people came from opposing teams and we saw what was going on, the undermining of administration, what has been written out there, we will not allow that,” she said.
This year’s elections were conducted electronically on computers, on-site at a designated voting/polling center.
