The Gulu UPC Chairman Benjamin Oola Ameda(left in blue t-shirt) and the UPC candidate for the Omoro woman member of parliament Shaka Marie Lapolo(right). The conflicts at Uganda House(the UPC headquarters) has found its way in Omoro(Photo by James Owich)
The candidature of Mariea Shaka Lapolo, the Omoro District Woman MP aspirant has divided members of her Uganda Peoples Congress(UPC) party along Olara Otunu and Jimmy Akena factions.
Lapolo was nominated on July 29, by the Electoral Commission officials as the official UPC candidate but her nomination has sparked sharp division.
The disagreement is now public after Dickens Charles Olak, the District Chairman for the party in Omoro disowned Lapolo.
Olak says UPC has not nominated any single candidate as flagbearer in the Omoro District Woman MP race.
Olak explained that as the district Chairman, he has not endorsed anyone as candidate including Lapolo.
Interesting, when Museveni last week visited Omoro, the UPC youth leader in the Akena faction, Brenda Kinyera said the party was supporting Catherine Lamwaka of the NRM.
Olak is part of UPC members who are aligned to Olara Otunu. He has asked voters in Omoro to support opposition candidates of their choice between Prossy Alanyo Owiny (FDC) and Grace Pamela Lanyero (DP).
But Benjamin Oola Ameda, the UPC Chairman for Gulu criticized Olak for sowing a seed of division among the UPC with intention to disenfranchise its supporters in Omoro.
Ameda says Lapolo was fully endorsed to carry the flag of party as a candidate.
“I want to say Shaka Lapolo is our official party candidate. She is a candidate for UPC currently contesting for woman MP for Omoro. Therefore nobody can disrupt it, nobody can stop it. Nobody can say no because the headquarters know about it,” said Ameda.
Lapolo Marie Shaka at her nomination for Omoro woman member of parliament
Asked what he meant by ‘‘UPC headquarters’’ Ameda said ‘‘the UPC headed by Jimmy Akena.’’
Lapolo admitted that the division in UPC is bad for the party.
“The fight in the headquarters does not concern me; I don’t want to be part of it. It is bad for members to fight among themselves. I was endorsed by the party headquarters,” says Lapolo.
