FDC targets keeping firm grip on Kasese

After 14 years of representing Busongora South in parliament, Christopher Kibanzanga, has opted out. He says it is time to serve the people of Kasese at district level as a precursor to his retirement from active politics. The vocal opposition MP is targeting the Kasese LCV seat currently held by the Rev. Canon Julius Kitaghenda of the ruling NRM party.

The race is likely to be a clash of the titans in the mountain district with the race centred around three political gurus opposition FDC’s Kibanzanga, Loice Biira Bwambale who was until 2006 the Kasese Women MP before she was replaced by Winfred Kiiza, the controversial politician who recently made headlines in the press for allegedly slapping a Karimojong woman who was found using a child to solicit alms on the city streets. Biira is an outspoken NRM woman in the district and was a strong agitator for the restoration of Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu. She has resigned from her ministerial post as the kingdom’s deputy prime minister to enable her embark on campaigns.

Lt. Col. Dura Mawa Muhindo is another politician who will be battling out the two for the seat. He was jointly charged in the court martial with the late Maj. Gen. James Kazini for alleged creating ghost soldiers on the army payroll and causing financial loss to the government. But to his credit Mawa was also one of the UPDF commanders who defeated ADF rebels in the Rwenzori area covering Kasese and Bundibugyo districts.

The incumbent Kithaghenda is also not surrendering the seat that easily. Reports indicate he will be seeking re-election on an NRM ticket.

Kasese has consistently stood out as the only opposition district in the western Uganda. The main contention against government has been the refusal to recognise the cultural institution, Obusinga.  In retaliation, the majority in Kasese voted the FDC candidate Dr Kizza Besigye in 2006. Kasese is the only district in western Uganda where Besigye beat Museveni in the elections.

Three of the five legislators from Kasese; Christopher Kibanzanga, Winfred Kiiza and Yokasi Bihande belong to the opposition (FDC) while the other two Dr Crispus Kiyonga and Elijah Kyetunda are NRM members.  

Now that the Obusinga (kingdom) has been recognised by the government, the campaign issues and voter behaviour may change. Kibanzanga admits that the campaign issues will shift to people’s priorities. He argues that leadership that is responsive to people’s needs such as education, safe water, better healthcare, and land conflicts between the Bakonzo cultivators and Basongora herders is what voters will be looking for in a candidate.  

 “I would like to offer leadership that Kasese district deserves; a leadership that will not encroach on public resources for personal aggrandisement. We can’t afford business people in positions of leadership because they do not care about education for our children, healthcare etc,” he told The Independent. However even as MP, he could do a lot to ensure these ideals are achieved. Why does he have to relegate to the district?  

Informed sources say Kibanzanga’s decision to go for the district seat was motivated by a series of events in the Rwenzururu kingdom that culminated into an incident in March this year when a delegation of FDC led by Besigye was denied access to king Charles Wesley Mumbere. At that time, the FDC was carrying out countrywide primary campaigns to select its presidential flag bearer for the party’s April Delegates Conference. The incident enraged the FDC top brass in the district who accused the king of being partisan and hobnobbing with members of the NRM. In Runzururu kingdom many people believe that it’s the opposition pressure that made the government officially recognise the kingdom. So the behaviour of the king was like turning his back to the people who had contributed greatly to the restoration of the Obusinga.

Observers of local politics in Kasese, say this incident scared the FDC which claims unwavering support in the district. With the elections around the corner, the FDC could not take chances. Moreover the king had been accused of making political statements at national days especially during the International Women’s Day and Labour Day, which many in the opposition interpreted as being in support of the NRM.

In a move analysts interpreted as a strategy to weaken the FDC in the district, the king appointed influential opposition-leaning individuals in the district as ministers in his cabinet. Once one is a cultural minister, they are barred from participating in active politics. In a way, the king’s appointment suggested the FDC top wigs from Rwenzori region would not be able to openly carry out political mobilisation for their party. In fact many of these ministers have tendered in their resignation claiming they plan to run for political offices in the district.

After the Omusinga (king) barred the FDC delegation to his palace, the Kasese FDC executive met him and it was resolved that he should act as a bridge between government and the opposition. “We told him to be receptive of all people regardless of their political affiliations so that whoever runs to him for help he should mediate. The king is like our mirror. We don’t expect a mirror to say you are ugly, I will not reflect you or you are beau tiful so I will reflect you. He listened to us,” says Kibanzanga, who is also the king’s young brother.

With such a political scare in your backyard, you would need to deploy your most trusted and strong lieutenants to keep the house in order. Therefore his retreat from parliament to the district could be in line with the desire to consolidate the party support and not let it slip away to the NRM.

Without directly admitting that’s the reason he is going back to the district, Kibanzanga gives credence to the claim when he says he will use his 14 years experience as MP to strengthen the FDC in the district.

Best event in parliament

He says his best event in the house was when President Museveni announced a referendum to review the Movement system of governance and that he would support a multiparty system.

Worst event in parliament

He says it was when many parliamentarians took the Shs 5 million inducement to lift the two five-year presidential term limits from the constitution. “Their actions shuttered my conscience that people could buy leadership and sink to that level.”

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