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Kayunga NUP leaders' elections end in fist fight
NUP supporters fight during a meeting convened to elect district and subcounty leaders on August 12, 2024. PHOTOS/ FRED MUZAALE
What you need to know:
- Before the start of the fight between supporters of Mr Charles Tebandeke, the incumbent MP for Bbaale County with those of Mr Ronald Maiteki, an MP aspirant for the same county and Mr Joseph Ouma, also an aspirant for the seat, elections had gone on well with Mr Patrick Sserubiri elected as NUP’s district chairperson. Other district office bearers had also been elected.
A meeting organised by the National Unity Platform (NUP) party headquarter to elect the party's Kayunga district office bearers ended in a chaos after supporters from the three political camps in Bbaale constituency engaged in a fierce fist fight.
The Monday elections, which were presided over by Dr Moses Kanaabi, the opposition party’s national organisation secretary and Ms Faridah Nabatanzi, the party’s Buganda mobilization head at Ntooke Resort Hotel in Kayunga Sub-county was meant to elect the party's district and constituency leadership.
Kayunga district has three constituencies namely; Bbaale, Ntenjeru North and Ntenjeru south.
Before the start of the fight between supporters of Mr Charles Tebandeke, the incumbent MP for Bbaale County with those of Mr Ronald Maiteki, an MP aspirant for the same county and Mr Joseph Ouma, also an aspirant for the seat, elections had gone on well with Mr Patrick Sserubiri elected as NUP’s district chairperson. Other district office bearers had also been elected.
Mr Sserubiri is an aspirant for the Kayunga district LC 5 seat in 2026 general elections.
However, hell broke loose when Dr Kanaabi convened a small meeting of a section of leaders who had been elected from Bbaale constituency to elect from themselves the chairperson and vice chairperson of the constituency.
Supporters from the three camps fronted names of their leaders (Tebandeke, Maiteki and Ouma) for the post amidst protests from the rival camps.
This degenerated into chaos, prompting some of the members to propose that Mr Michael Malinga the Kitimbwa sub-county LC 3 chairperson takes the post since he is neutral.
Mr Ronald Maiteki (left) and Mr Joseph Ouma (C) in the meeting before their supporters fought with those of Mr Charles Tebandeke
Dr Kanaabi concurred with the proposal and announced that Mr Malinga was the Bbaale constituency NUP chairperson amidst ululations from supporters of the three camps.
But moments later, Dr Kanaabi surprisingly changed his earlier declaration of Mr Malinga as chairperson. He declared Mr Ouma as constituency chairperson throwing the meeting into further confusion.
“We are not going to accept this broad day robbery. You have ulterior motives against our man,” a lady in Mr Tebandeke’s camp shouted. They hurled insults at Dr Kanaabi as some tried to rough him up.
One of the supporters tried to beat up Dr Kanaabi but was rescued by the security team that whisked him and Ms Nabatanzi into the hotel.
The supporters later engaged in a fist fight as some fled the scene.
“Maiteki is not conversant with the social challenges people in Bbaale are facing,” another supporter claimed.
Some supporters also claimed that Mr Ouma was a new convert in NUP, having defected from NRM last year.
The meeting ended prematurely without any notice about when the next one would be held.
