The Minister for the Presidency and MP-Elect for the Budiope West Constituency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda, has decried the growing hypocrisy among NRM leaders in Busoga who sponsored NUP candidates.
While speaking to several radio stations and Baba TV in Jinja, the minister commended the people of Busoga for electing H.E. Rtd. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for another term in office and congratulated all leaders in the region who emerged victorious.
The minister decried a well-sponsored move of hiring mercenaries to intimidate the voters and also rig the electionthe election for the opposition overwhelmingly across the region.
“I was lucky that on the election eve, we managed—in conjunction with the district security team—to impound four buses that had carried 102 goons from Bugembe in Jinja City and Kawempe and other ghettos of Kampala to Buyende. We successfully handed these people over to the police, and they were presented to the courts of law and remanded to Kirinya Prison.”
“They wanted to blackmail me, make me fail and portray that I am not a good mobiliser, hence a failure. The same move applied in several districts of Busoga, and where NRM candidates were found reluctant, their plans succeeded, “succeeded,” she said
“It is important to always remind ourselves that elections are meant to settle political contests, not deepen social wounds. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in the Busoga sub-region. I am afraid to say that the recent elections left scars on NRM cadres, and these show in the seats our mighty NRM party ceded to the opposition.” She said,
“We must agree as leaders from Busoga that the most lasting impact of a heated season is often not who won or lost, but the divisions left behind. The hard truth, sadly, is that the divisions help none of us move into the future. This is why the time has come for honest reflection and genuine reconciliation among us leaders and the fractured communities that we serve back home.” She said,
The minister also noted that leaders forget that voters are perceptive; they can tell when politics becomes more about personalities than priorities. They see when energy that should be spent discussing jobs, schools, hospitals, and roads is diverted into factional struggles and quiet campaigns of undermining one another. Over time, that perception erodes trust not just in individuals, but in leadership as a whole.
The minister noted that leaders in Busoga are heavily divided, eaten up by internal rivalries, which even the party chairman, the president, warned them against while chairing the leaders’ meeting in Iganga.
“Instead of consistently presenting clear and united agendas focused on the needs of the ordinary Basoga, many of us are locked in personal contests for influence and visibility before the appointing authority. We, however, forget that when leaders pull in different directions, the public is left confused, disillusioned, and doubtful about whose interests truly come first. Across the sub-region, families worry about employment opportunities for their children, the quality of healthcare services, the state of schools, and the reliability of infrastructure. Farmers seek better access to markets; our young people want skills and meaningful work, while small business owners want a stable environment in which to grow, among others. These are not partisan desires; they are shared aspirations.”, she said
Minister Babalanda called for the restoration of sanity in politics for Busoga’s progress.
“On the backdrop of these few election reflections, I wish to state that reconciliation for us is no longer a luxury but an inevitable necessity. And the reconciliation we need is not the one of pretending that disagreements never existed. We should acknowledge mistakes, let go of grudges, and recommit to a higher purpose — the well-being of Busoga’s people. This, though, will require leaders who speak to one another with honesty. Let’s seek to resolve our disputes through dialogue rather than intrigue and remember that political competitors are not enemies but fellow stakeholders in the region’s future, and as leaders, we are accountable to the electorates.”
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