With a few days left to the January 15 General Election, State Minister for Water Aisha Sekindi, also Kalungu District Woman MP, has expressed fear that her life is in danger following repeated attacks on her campaign team.
Sekindi, who seeks a third term as MP, blames her current woes on her political adversaries in the district, who she says are yearning for her blood.
The latest attack on Sekindi’s supporters happened on Saturday night when masked men pounced on Mr Andy Ssekabira of Kirinnya Cell in Lukaya Town Council; beat him up, on top of confiscating his national Identity Card, stealing money, and vandalizing his motorbike by pouring salt in the fuel tank and smashing it.
“I was rounded up by a group of masked men who helplessly terrorized me; they forced me to give them an ID and voter location slip. When I resisted, they assaulted me and confiscated my national ID by force. Maybe they want to deny me a chance to take part in the polls,” he narrated during an interview on Wednesday.
Sekindi revealed that she and many of her supporters, including Ssekabira, have been receiving threats. “People from the NRM camp have been threatening us, which has now turned bloody. I had never moved with security guards, but because of this situation, my bosses have now deployed them for my safety,” a tearful Minister said.
Sekindi shunned the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries and chose to stand as an independent, saying she had got wind of a plot to rig her out. The NRM party ticket instead went to Hellen Nakeeya, a vendor at Lukaya Road Toll Market.
Others in the race include Ms Shakirah Nammiiro Zzinga of National Unity Platform (NUP) and Democratic Front (DF)’s Aisha Waliggo.
Despite Sekindi’s latest woes, she has in the last decade endured a cold war with ex-Minister for Defence Vincent Ssempijja, who she describes as her political father. Although Ssempijja has remained mute on why he fell out with Sekindi, whom she helped build politically, the latter has repeatedly come out, accusing him of working for her downfall because she abandoned his camp.
“I don’t know what I really owe them, to the extent of starting to form militias to attack my supporters, to injure them because of elections. I pray that they come out and reveal what I did wrong; I will ask for forgiveness,” she said.
She added that her rival Nakeeya is not the one behind these attacks, and she openly accuses Mr. Ssempijja of having an invisible hand in all these.
Mr. Ssempijja on Wednesday morning declined to respond to the accusations levelled against him, promising to call back, which he had not done by press time. “I am currently busy, but allow me to finish and revert to you,” he said before hanging up on the phone.
Mr. Twaha Kiganda Ssonko, the Kalungu district NRM Chairperson, also a party flag bearer for Kalungu West, noted that he is worried that the clashes between the two political bigwigs in the district may cost the party support ahead of the January 15 polls.
“Their squabbles are internally affecting our campaigns in the entire district. Unfortunately, I have personally failed to get to the bottom of their issues to know what exactly the problem is,” he said. “I once invited Hajj Moses Kigongo, the national NRM vice Chair, and Godfrey Kiwanda, who was the party vice Chairperson in charge of Buganda, to reconcile both parties, but the infighting persisted. I even wrote to President Museveni, and I still have hope that he will help find a solution,” he said.
Internal wrangles among NRM leaders in Kalungu started in the aftermath of 2021 General Elections when some party members accused Ms. Sekindi of having connived with National Unity Platform (NUP) politicians to survive the wave that swept several NRM legislators in Buganda Region. Several efforts have been made to reconcile the warring groups, but internal bickering has persisted.
During the 2021 district woman MP race, Waliggo contested and garnered 8,754 votes against Ms. Sekindi’s 28,451 votes. Dr. Margret Ntambaazi Nabaggala, who recently crossed to NUP from NRM, contested in Kalungu West Constituency, where she polled 384 votes against Joseph Ssewungu (NUP)’s 13,696 votes.
Kalungu was carved from Masaka in 2010 to become a district. Since then, NRM has enjoyed dominance until the 2021 General Election, when NUP’s Francis Katabaazi defeated Ssempijja in a hotly contested Kalungu East constituency race. Mr. Kamaadi Nyombi Mukiibi also won the district chairperson seat after defeating NRM’s Richard Kyabaggu.