Vice President Alupo who had herself shunned the campaigns because of Mukula then drew up a team that had Sanjay Tanna, General J.J Odongo, Minister Musa Ecweru…
Soroti – July 29, 2022: The Soroti City East Division Member of Parliament [MP] seat fell vacant in May 2022 after the Court of Appeal Justices directed the electoral commission to conduct a fresh election.
According to the Justices of the Second Highest Court in the land, the January 14 general election for the same area left some voters disfranchised.
On the orders of the above court, the electoral commission on Thursday, July 28, delivered the final results. The final results [declaration] read by the Returning Officer of the Soroti City electoral District Eyu Christine, NRM’s Ariko Edmund won with 9,407 votes.
The Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] party candidate Attan Moses came second with 8771 votes. The third candidate, Amuriat Pascal for UPC got only 115 votes.
What, however, many may not know is how the NRM party managed to pull off this win because Soroti City is largely an FDC stronghold. For instance, the Soroti City Woman MP, Joan Alobo, Soroti District Woman MP, Anne Adeke; Mayors of both divisions are all members of the FDC Party.
Soroti City has traditionally voted for FDC for the last 20 years.
Exclusive reports both Reporters have before nomination and immediately after nomination are that the FDC’s candidate, Moses Attan was leading in opinion polls.
This was made worse by Mike Mukula’s utterances describing Patrick Amuriat Oboi, FDC’s party president as “an impotent man unable to sire a child”. Mukula was at the time heading Ariko’s campaign team since the NRM’s Secretary General was out of the country in Germany.
According to an insider, two weeks before the election, President Museveni received intelligence reports that the NRM candidate was heading for an outright defeat. The main reason was that the man leading the campaign team was very unpopular.
The President was briefed that Mukula was unpopular even amongst NRM party leaders in Soroti City. NRM party honchos such as the district’s party chairman, Charles Elasu, Teso NRM sub-region mobilizer, Teddy Acham, Abdul Latiff, and many local council chairpersons were not in agreement with Mukula and had therefore abandoned campaigning for Ariko.
Reacting to these details, President Museveni dispatched the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, Lydia Wanyoto, Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Agnes Nandutu, and some other Ministers. This move also backfired with many voters shunning the team that they saw as Bantu who did not understand their problems.
Intelligence again picked this information and relayed it to President Museveni a week before Election Day.
As a Sabalwanyi, President Museveni immediately deployed his Vice President, H.E Jessica Alupo to reorganize the campaign team.
Alupo who had herself shunned the campaigns because of Mukula then drew up a team that had Sanjay Tanna, General J.J Odongo, Minister Musa Ecweru, MP Akello Rose Lilly, Minister in Charge of Ethics and Integrity, Sidronius Opolot Okasai, State Minister of Energy and Mineral Development; Hellen Asamo, the Minister of State for Disability Affairs, the State Minister for Teso Affairs Minister, Dr. Ongalo Obote and other Teso MPs.
The Vice President is also credited for bringing on board Bosco Okiror, the Usuk County MP and Chairman Teso Parliamentary Group [TPG]. Okiror had before eschewed the campaigns because of differences with Flight Captain Mike Mukula.
The Vice President deployed her loyal troops with Mike Mukula now ordered out of active campaigns as follows:
Central Ward Known to be the most difficult for NRM was assigned to Gen. JJ Odongo and Sanjay Tanna, a renowned businessman in the region including Soroti City where he runs a string of businesses including but not limited to TBS Radio, MTN Distribution, and Nile Breweries Distribution.
This Central Ward Team decided to segment their campaigns meeting different groups separately. They met the Juakali, the Boda Boda riders, Taxi drivers & conductors, Special Hire operators, Wabebaje (load carriers), Market vendors, Muslim leaders, Teachers, and academia of all Higher Institutions of Learning, Youths, and Artisans.
In most of these segmented meetings, the Vice President attended and addressed.
The source reveals further that it was these segmented meetings that broke ground for NRM in Central and Pioneer Wards.
The Vice President deployed Dr. Ongalo Obote to woo the Kumam-speaking community, a big voting bloc in Soroti City, and the State Minister for Fisheries, Hellen Adoa was tasked with delivering the votes from Akisim Ward.
The notorious Campswahili was assigned to the equally no-nonsense Musa Ecweru, Aloet was delivered by Sidronius Opolot Okasai, the State Minister of Energy and Mineral Development.
The calculative Vice President then instructed the State Minister for the Disabled, Hellen Asamo deal with Persons with disabilities while Lilly Akello wooed the Karamojong voters.
It should be noted that the Vice President also ensured that security did not disrupt campaigns despite the FDC supporters breaking all the traffic rules during their mega processions.
The only scuffles that were witnessed happened on the night preceding the elections when several FDC leaders were arrested for allegedly violating electoral laws and on Election Day.
While the Vice President’s tactics were tilting the fortunes in favor of NRM, parallel NRM Campaign structures were busy blackmailing her team. There was the obvious one holed up in Mike Mukula’s residence, another at Soroti Hotel, and the third headquartered at Hursey Resort Hotel.
Despite these attempts at blackmail, yesterday’s declaration of Ariko as the winner vindicated Alupo’s efforts and tactics.
Why Soroti City East by-election was a do or die for NRM
A respected source in the NRM party said President Museveni’s interest in Soroti City is a strategic move to have the NRM sweep to victory in 2026. This is now classified as the ‘Bull Horn Strategy”.
He added that the “Bull Horn Strategy” is President Museveni’s latest political strategy following the fallout with Buganda. It should be remembered that Buganda was until the 2021 general elections Museveni’s stronghold until NUP came up and changed the tide.
The “Bull Horn Strategy” therefore has NRM concentrating in Western Uganda, West Nile, Northern Uganda, and Eastern including Busoga effectively encircling Buganda.
Therefore the blue patch in Soroti City is a dangerous obstacle to the Bull Horn Strategy, a roadblock that President Museveni is determined to remove. The Soroti City East by-election was therefore not about Ariko or Attan but the 2026 Bull Horn Strategy.
Much credit on this reporting to East News Markson Omagor
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