The recently concluded woman Member of Parliament by-election in Kisoro district has left many NRM supporters unhappy, most especially with the way the NRM primary elections are conducted.
The NRM flagbearer Rose Kabagyeni ended up losing to the Independent-NRM-leaning Grace Akifeza Ngabirano in a hotly contested election. Akifeza made a decision to contest as an independent candidate, claiming that the party primaries were marred with irregularities.
Severally, many candidates have on various occasions complained of irregularities in the NRM primaries, leaving them with no option but to contest as independent candidates.
Kisoro has been voting NRM since time immemorial, and every Ugandan expected beyond reasonable doubt an NRM win, but the fact that an independent candidate took the day, NRM should do soul searching and correct the mistakes in preparation for the next elections.
Over the last four decades, Philemon Mateke has been an iconic figure in the politics of Kisoro. Mateke raised the issue of vote rigging in primaries as well as the politics of religion, and it is imperative that President Museveni listened to him and promised to handle the issues, though it was already late.
The politics of religion in Kigezi is no longer news, and by the look of things, the vice is going nowhere. It is just a matter of accepting living with it because it is now increasing instead of reducing; any aspiring candidate has to plan for religion before anything else.
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The truth of the matter is that Mateke was underrated in this election. The political leaders in the Kigezi region and the NRM secretariat team underrated Mateke’s interests and chose to ignore him instead of engaging him. The NRM secretariat went ahead not to listen to his rigging complaints but rather thought they would overpower and demobilize him, which was a strategic mistake. Knowing Mateke’s political history with his Bafumbira, it was a grave mistake for any leader to take him for granted, and it is still hard to take power from him as long as he is still alive.
The NRM secretariat needs to streamline their activities and conflict resolution mechanisms. The NRM primaries have been conducted poorly recently, and those who complain are not given platforms to air out their views for a fair hearing. Worse still, these people have been treated as enemies when they decide to contest as independents, and the mistreatment has surely created divisions in the party.
The happenings in Kisoro exposed dirty activities at the NRM secretariat, and something should be done to avoid the same in the future. The frustrations of NRM supporters have seen many leave to join the opposition; such tactics should not have been deployed in Kisoro, which is a known NRM stronghold. The selfish interests of some political leaders and the NRM secretariat will continue to disorganize the party if left unchecked.
