By David K Nsubuga
The Agricultural State Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja has chosen to go against his daughter’s candidature in the race to contest for the Bukoto East Member of parliamentary seat in the next election, accusing her of going against his wish.
Justine Nameere a journalist working with the Vision Group, a government owned media house was recently nominated as an independent candidate to contest as Member of Parliament for Bukoto East, one of the three constituencies making up Masaka district.
However, her father who is also the Kalungu West Member of Parliament apologized to the party over what he described as resilience of his daughter to stand against the NRM principles.
Minister Ssempijja was forced to present his apology on Wednesday while addressing NRM campaign mobilizers from the greater Masaka region who tasked him to explain why he had fronted his daughter in the race against the party flag bearer.
Before his arrival at the event organised at Zebra Hotel in Masaka town, some of the party mobilizer had furiously rapped at Ssempijja, whom they accused of impersonating a political king maker in the district.
But in his response, Ssempijja was quick to distance himself from the candidature of his biological daughter and accordingly plead for leniency from the party mobilizers, who had also threatened to plot his downfall his in the race to retain Kalungu East parliamentary seat.
“I struggled to counsel the girl and requested her bow out of the race for the flag bearer but she ignored my advice,” he noted, adding that he took the matter both to prominent persons to lure Justine out of the race in vain.
“I am aware of the consequences of standing as an independent, which I fully explained to my daughter, but the girly deliberately chose to go against my wish,” Ssempijja poured out pleading to party elders to also take up the task of solving the standoff.
In the 2011 election Ssempijja, now a ministerial appointee also stood against Haji Umar Mawuya, whom NRM had fronted at the official party flag bearer for the Kalungu East Member of parliamentary seat, a precedent which people allege he scheme to take advantage of.
However Justine Nameere who launched her campaign rallies in the constituency on Wednesday said her intension to contest for the same seat was spurred by the many community needs that have remained unattended to by the government in the previous terms, something that raised he fell for the area.
She explained that the poor state of living in Bukoto East, characterised by poor healthy services delivery, poor schools, high levels of poverty, among other deplorable conditions could not live any sensible unbothered just in the name of respecting party principles.
“I came to represent the concerns of the local people such that I can become their voice, and help them improve their way of living. Its leaders that can provide solutions to the challenges of our community rather than parties like many people think,” she said vowing never to bow out of the race.
Despite being independent, Nameere is enjoying a lot of backing from a number of NRM leaders in the area, especially those that got offended in the party structural elections and the recently concluded primaries.
Nameere who never contested in any party primaries will face off with four other candidates in the same race, who seek of unseat Democratic Party’s Florence Namayanja.
Meanwhile, Michael Kennedy Ssebalu, the official Spokesperson of the NRM campaign taskforce, who also presided over the launch of the party’s mobilizer’s team for greater Masaka regional, also expressed concern of independents who may affect the party’s performance in the next elections.
Ssebalu who assured voters of President Museveni’s victory against his counterparts, also pledged to act a mediator’s role in the warring parties in Bukoto East and other constituencies where the NRM is facing competition from within, to see how they can consolidate the party strength.