Closely working with the sub region’s elected leaders both in the national and NRM structures, Speaker Anita Among has intensified political mobilization aimed at reawakening and re-energizing the ruling party’s support in Busoga.
Unexpectedly, in 2021 the sub region overwhelmingly voted for NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu with incumbent President Yoweri Museveni getting crumbs. The opposition candidate won majority districts; registering up to over 65% of the vote in hitherto unassailable Iganga district, leaving the incumbent YK Museveni to share the remaining 35% with other peripheral candidates.
This was the first time people in the Kyabazinga-land were opting to choose someone else who isn’t Gen Museveni. A lot of theories (including anti-illegal fishing operations on the lakes) were advanced to explain this unexpected rejection of Gen Museveni by Busoga voters who had always voted for him overwhelmingly in 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016.
But on her recent mobilisation tours of the sub region, in whose Buyende district her husband Moses Magogo hails from, Speaker Among (who is also the newly elected NRM Second National Vice Chairperson) came face to face with disgruntled elected grass roots leaders who told her lots of things. She was here to get feedback and ideas regarding what must be done differently this time round.
In a bid to explain why everybody became indifferent and merely looked on as Kyagulanyi turned tables, the elected LC1 leaders and NRM village and parish chairpersons informed Among that exclusion made many of them to feel disillusioned and to become disinterested in campaigning for Gen Museveni and other NRM candidates.
The village LC1 Chairpersons and NRM grass roots chairpersons told Among that they resented the fact that the NRM party leadership totally disregarded them and resorted to sending or deploying strangers from Kampala and generally outside Busoga to come and champion the marketing of Gen Museveni for re-election. They complained to her that this made many of them feel alienated and unwanted hence their decision to look the other way.
In the end, voters especially the young people remained unengaged about why Museveni deserved re-election, a thing that allowed them to become disoriented into the hands of the opposition. The elected grass roots leaders also complained of the party’s failure to empower and engage them through being consulted, deployed and facilitated.
They made it clear the party’s CEC level leadership had for long been detached and reliant on rumour mongers as opposed to directly engaging with party structures, which fermented intrigue and disunity. “This is the first time anyone has reached out to engage and bring us together to discuss our party’s mobilisation strategy in our sub counties, districts and generally Busoga sub region,” said one of the more than 200 NRM village chairpersons who converged at Iganga-based Nabitende Vocational Institute to meet and interact with Anita Among.
There is a lot of euphoria towards Among; with many continuing christening her ‘mulamu’ (sister-in-law to depict her much publicized marriage to Budiope County MP Moses Magogo). She is also newly elected as the Second National Vice Chairperson of NRM having been elected overwhelming during the Movement Conference that was held at Kololo last month. Remarkably, she won in most of Busoga districts with exception of a few which included Kamuli, which is home ground to her sole rival and predecessor Rebecca Kadaga.
The meeting in Iganga was replicated in three other Busoga districts namely Bugiri, Namayingo and Kaliro. Having dedicated herself to being fully available to amplify mobilisation aimed at securing the 2026 re-election of her mentor Gen Museveni, Anita Among spent the whole of Friday meeting and interacting with NRM grass roots leaders (village & parish chairpersons) from Namayingo and Bugiri.
The next day Saturday was dedicated to Kaliro and Iganga. Listening attentively, Speaker Among was able to get a lot of feedback from these long serving and experienced leaders of the Movement. LC1 Chairpersons for all villages from each of the four districts were also invited. The meetings’ convener listened to them firsthand to understand what, in their view, needs to be done to get Museveni win back Busoga.
The village chairpersons liked the approach Among used to bring them together and have transparent discussions, as opposed to meeting them individually or as small groups, which in the past bred intrigue and infighting.
Among closely worked with other leaders from the four Busoga districts she visited. These included but not limited to Solomon Silwanyi who is the NRM Chairman for Bugiri, Hope Mukisa who is the NRM flag bearer for Namayingo, Hajji Abubaker Walubi who is the NRM party Chairman for Iganga, Kigulu South MP Milton Muwuma, Kaliro Woman MP Brenda Namukuta, Kaliro MP Sanon Bwire and Hajji Ismail B Waguma who serves as the treasurer on the NRM district executive for Iganga.
The Among grass roots’ structures-reenergization meetings were also attended by leaders of Ghetto structures, youth and women leaders. Participants were encouraged to speak out freely and be as candid as they could. While responding to the feedback she received, Rt Hon Among maintained her consistent message of unity and reconciliation.
She made it clear that even when she is the one who won the CEC race, having got majority delegates votes from more than 80% of districts in Busoga, time had come for bye-gones to bye-gones because delivering a win for Gen Museveni in Busoga will require concerted effort whereby everyone must be engaged to play a role and is permitted to make a contribution. She said with CEC elections gone, all cadres and NRM supporters were now one team whose sole preoccupation now should be wooing over more fellow Ugandans to ensure that Museveni satisfactorily wins back Busoga.
Among admitted that it was inappropriate for grass root party leaders and structures to be disregarded as was the case in the past but hastened to add that now was the best time to correct such past mistakes and hit the ground running, as opposed to blaming anyone. She stressed the fact that victory and reclaiming Busoga back to Museveni is achievable and no time should be wasted in petty bickering.
As she traversed townships and villages in the sub region campaigning for the CEC position weeks ago, Among had promised to energize the ruling party supporters and structures in the sb region by putting money into members’ SACCOs. And last weekend as she campaigned in the four Busoga districts, she delivered the promised cash support to the SACCOs she had promised.
Moments after her meetings, a team led by Hajji Ismail Waguma last weekend returned to the four districts and delivered the money that the new CEC 2nd Vice Chairperson had promised. It was made clear to the beneficiaries that the money should be used to accelerate the development and socio-economic transformation of the members.
The recipient SACCOs that received the Anita Among windfall included those of the LC1 Chairpersons, NRM village chairpersons, youth league leaders, women league leaders, ghetto structures SACCOs from especially Iganga and NRM village and parish chairpersons SACCOs. Each of the beneficiary SACCOs got between Shs10m and Shs20m. For the youth league SACCOs, the uniform donation was of Shs20m in each of the four districts that were impacted by the new CEC 2nd Vice Chairperson’s philanthropy.
The recipients were unanimous in thanking Anita Among for prioritizing and being mindful of NRM cadres and leaders’ economic empowerment and welfare.
“We are grateful that we are finally mobilizing under a leader who is genuinely concerned about our empowerment. We are glad that we now have an accessible patron under whom we shall be mobilizing for the President unlike in the past when we used to be politically orphaned without any CEC-level leader to whom to give our feedback,” said one of the LC1s’ SACCO chairpersons who implored Among to accept to become their patron as they mobilize for the NRM.
They also implored her to convince their beloved leader Gen Museveni to create time and have a meeting with them as NRM Villages and LC1 chairpersons from all the districts comprising Busoga sub region. The momentum Among’s engagement and mobilisation created in the four districts has since caused similarly-placed NRM and community leaders in the remaining districts of Busoga to demand similar interface so that they too get to be guided and get to be reenergized as the country counts down to 2026.
Especially village LC1 and ruling NRM party chairpersons were evidently enthused and elated that finally there was someone at the CEC level with adequate humility to ever think about them and come down to directly engage and speak words of wisdom and encouragement to them.
Some asserted that there is no way Kyagulanyi would have beaten Museveni in Busoga in 2021 if such efforts and CEC level interventions had been made five years ago. They commended Among for opening their eyes on what such CEC-level positions are supposed to be used for.
But as all this happens, the big question on all political pundits’ mind is whether Anita Among’s efforts and special focus on Busoga sub region will be sufficient to tame the NUP tide and ultimately reclaim the sub region back to the political dominion of Gen Museveni come voting day.
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