By Steven Kintu
“Aaaagnes Nandutuuuu”, has been her unique identity while reporting and it’s best enjoyed in the NTV Friday night news segment- Point Blank.
Agnes Nandutu who contested as an independent, is the Bududa district Woman MP elect, after beating the incumbent NRM’s Justine Khainza, Agnes Khainza Shiuma and Esther Wetsetse, in the 14th January 2021 polls.
Sources at the Serena Kampala based TV say that Nandutu went back for the journalism job after losing in NRM primaries held in September 2020, but was turned away on grounds of professionalism after participating in partisan politics.
At this point, the tough woman saw herself as a loser, but gained courage back in Bududa politics and stood as an independent and won.
Nandutu has practised journalism for over 20.And in an interview with the Observer in November last year, she said it’s her passion.
She attended Bumwali P/s, Bbulo Girls, Bulucheke secondary school all in Bududa district and later pursued a diploma in Journalism at Uganda Institute of Journalism and Media studies in Kampala.
In her career, she’s worked with Impact Radio, Daily Monitor, Radio Uganda, Open Gate Radio in Mbale and NTV as a freelance reporter.
NTV: At NTV Nandutu, realised her potential in politics and started building the career.
Her zeal for politics grew after she went back to Bududa, her home area for news stories.
“You know I went back to Bududa as a journalist and reported stories about the difficulties of children who go to school walking a number of kilometres. I also reported about the bad schools that didn’t have structures, toilets and facilities,”she said during an interview with the Observer last year.
Nandutu however,said that she wasn’t shocked since it’s the same environment she studied in her childhood.
While at NTV, as a political reporter she gained experience and exposure in Uganda’s politics, mostly about parliament the centre of the country’s administration, where she was deployed.
She served as president of the Parliamentary Journalists Association between 2011 and 2016, but was kicked out of the House in 2017, in a controversy with the then Parliament’s Director of Communications and Public Affairs Chris Obore.
Nandutu was denied accreditation to cover parliament over lack of a degree in journalism, a crackdown which saw many parliament reporters out.
Nandutu never gave-up but kept covering general news, until she developed a TV show on NTV dubbed ‘The People’s Parliament’ which revealed her love for parliament politics.
The show she moderated kept her relevant, by highlighting issues affecting the common person in various districts.
Agnes Nandutu, born from a very poor family, all eyes are upon her to see if she will cause change in Bududa, a landslide prone district.
Being a born of the area and with her experience in journalism, the expectations are high, after an overwhelming victory in the recent parliamentary Election.
Bududa district, in the Elgon region of Eastern Uganda has suffered landslides since 2010, and have claimed hundreds of lives and many have been displaced.
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