The National Unity Platform (NUP) party president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu has said there was no levelled ground in the Omoro by-elections.
President of the National Unity Platform (NUP), Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, commented on the by-elections in Omoro saying there was no no levelled grounds.
In elections held on Thursday, Andrew Ojok Oulanyah was declared the winner after bagging 14,224 votes against 1,633 votes attained by NUP’s Toolit Simon Akecha who came second.
Others including Odong Justine Obiya from the FDC party manages 529 votes, Terence Odongo on the Independent ticket scooped 532 votes, Onen Jimmy another Independent candidate got 88 voted while Kizza Oscar from the Alliance for National Transformation managed 63 votes.
Speaking about the results however, Kyagulanyi who wrote on his social media handle said the election was one sided from the start of the nominations because the opposition were denied their full rights to campaigning.
Kyagulanyi said several officials from his party who were overseeing the ongoing voting were arrested and whisked away by joint security forces.
In addition, he said many of the locals in Omoro were also bribed with items including soap, salt and other home essentials which is contrary to the laws of the Electoral Commission (EC).
“Local Polling Agents and supervisors as well as Hon. Kalwanga David, Faridah Nabatanzi, Maiso Peter, and other comrades are some of the many officials currently placed in security custody,” Kyagulanyi said.
“Multiple vehicles with concealed numberplates have been sighted in the area distributing sugar, soap, salt and other items. clear instances of bribery! Repeatedly, the regime has been claiming to have overwhelming support in the Northern region but specifically in Omoro. One wonders why, then, it cannot let its opponents to have a levelled playing ground.”
His submission comes at the same time when other NUP officials including Mathias Mpuuga the Opposition leader in Parliament have also come out to challenge the same election.
Mpuuga who questioned the statistics from election said Omoro has for long held a record of low voter turn up but EC results indicate the NRM candidate polled over 600 votes from a number of polling stations.
“From an election with a record LOW voter turn-out, somebody polled over 600 votes from certain polling stations! That was the resultant effect of the arrest of the people we had deployed in Orapwoya Sub-County,” Mpuuga said.
He also recalled scenes of vote rigging that were witnessed in the area including the one were a polling official was filmed helping out voters to tick on the ballot papers.
“It was worse at other stations like at Odek P7 Sch and Fabio’s Home P/S where the presiding officers were directly involved in negotiating bribes for our agents. Nonetheless, as NUP, we achieved most of the objectives for participation in this by-election. Key among them was reaching out to the people that the state had kept us away from since 2020,” Mpuuga said.
“And to the abused and humiliated people of Omoro, we shall be right back and work with you for total liberation. ” he added.
 leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu said there were no levelled grounds in the Omoro by-elections.){kind=link}