Unlike previous parliamentary elections in Entebbe Municipality that have attracted fewer candidates, this time round the 2016 parliamentary race has attracted eleven candidates who for the next two months will be on the campaign trail convincing the electorate to vote for them come February 18, 2016. The eleven candidates include Democratic Party’s Michael Kakembo popularly known as Mbwatekamwa, NRM’s Rose Tumusiime who won the heated NRM Party primaries, FDC’s Gitta Alex. Those who are running on the independent ticket include Walusimbi Abubaker and Archilles Kiwanuka who are DP leaning while Madina Zalwango, Charles Kirumira and Patience Mubangizi who lost to Rose Tumusiime in the NRM primaries were also nominated. They have argued that Rose Tumusiime didn’t win fairly during the party primaries and that the process was marred with a lot of irregularities.
Others include Ambrose Katuntu, Kalle Michael and John Baleke who has moved both from DP, FDC. The ruling National Resistance movement party is seeking to regain the parliamentary seat it lost to the Democratic Party in 2006 when Mohammed Kawuma trounced David Byatike Matovu. Patience Mubangizi in 2011 tried her luck to unseat Mohammed Kawuma but she lost in the hotly contested polls.
The Forum for Democratic Change is taking a fourth shot at the parliamentary seat. Gitta Alex will need to convince the electorate more to defeat NRM and DP the two dominant parties in Entebbe Municipality. Olive Nassuna and Wilberforce Seryazi have previously stood for the parliamentary seat and lost. Olive Nassuna stood twice for the parliamentary seat in 2001 and 2006 while Seryazi stood in 2011.
Fabrice Rulinda Disappoints His Supporters.
To many he was a darling and a new kid on the block who enjoyed the love and praise wherever he passed and set foot in Entebbe Municipality. His dramatic rise to fame in the politics of Entebbe Municipality has largely been attributed to his cash taps that enabled him earn the admiration and endorsement from a wide spectrum of the electorate in Entebbe. Fabrice Rulinda’s supporters woke up to the shocking news on the morning of December 3, that he had been poisoned by unknown rivals. His campaign agents a one Kizito Ahmed and Kasozi Kiriweru who were by his bedside at Kampala International Hospital claim that they did their best to have Rulinda Fabrice nominated for the Member of Parliament Municipality seat but they failed due to his life threatening illness.
However political analysts in Entebbe Municipality have dismissed Rulinda’s alleged illness as vague and not holding any water and asked why he would be poisoned on the eve of his nomination day. The analysts have argued that how come Kiiza Besigye the 2006 FDC Party Flag bearer was nominated as Presidential candidate in Luzira Prison. They argued that Rulinda’s agents would have stood in for him during the nominations. Did he tactfully withdraw from the race after sensing danger, only time will tell?
“I don’t buy Fabrice Rulinda’s excuse that he failed to be nominated because he was bedridden in hospital. In 2006 Kiiza Besigye the FDC Party Flag bearer was nominated as presidential candidate while he was in Luzira Prison” the analyst told entebbenews.
Meanwhile the biggest winner in Rulinda’s withdraw from the MP race is NRM Party flag bearer Rose Tumusiime. Had Rulinda stayed in the race and run as an independent candidate, he would have divided the NRM Vote to the advantage of the opposition. Many of his supporters are now coming to terms with the news and have crossed to Tumusiime’s camp. Former aspiring NRM MP Flag bearers Hakim Magoomu and Peace Salamuka have also declared their support for Rose Tumusiime.
