NRM eyes Dokolo Woman MP seat
Richard Todwong, NRM Secretary General (C) meets party leaders at Otuta village, Abeli Parish, Akalo sub-county in Kole District. PHOTO | BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- Since Dokolo District was carved out of Lira District in 2006, Ogwal of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party had been the area woman MP.
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party is set to choose its flag bearer who will tussle it out with other political parties’ candidates to replace the fallen Dokolo Woman Member of Parliament, Barbara Cecilia Atim Ogwal.
Ogwal, who died in a hospital in India due to cancer-related illness on January 8, 2024, was buried at her home in Dog-Gudu Village, Alito sub-county in Kole District on January 27.
However, while the Electoral Commission is yet to declare her seat vacant, NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong, announced Saturday that they will embark on serious reorganization of the party in Dokolo to ensure their flagbearer becomes Ogwal’s successor.
Since Dokolo District was carved out of Lira District in 2006, Ogwal of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party had been the area woman MP.
“This coming month, we shall send a team to Dokolo to reorganise the party and thereafter we shall start the process of picking a flagbearer in the Dokolo Woman MP by-election,” Mr Todwong told this publication after meeting party leaders in Otuta village, Abeli Parish, Akalo sub-county in Kole District on Saturday night.
“We have a flagbearer who contested against the late Atat Ogwal in 2021 but we are yet to find out whether she is still interested in the sea,” he added.
In the 2021 general elections, Ogwal retained her seat after garnering 32,223 votes against NRM’s Janet Rose Adong Elau who garnered 16,880 votes while UPC’s Sarah Aguti polled 10,460 votes in the hotly contested race.
‘No more expensive mistake’
During their brief interaction, the NRM Secretary General said they will have to do what it takes to ensure that NRM wins the by-election.
“We don’t want to make the mistake we made in the Oyam North by-election. We need to organise ourselves. That was a very expensive mistake,” Mr Todwong said.
On July 6, 2023, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) flagbearer, Dr Eunice Apio Otuko was elected Oyam North MP after trouncing NRM’s Samuel Junior Okello Engola and two others in that by-election to replace Col (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola Macodwogo who was killed by his bodyguard.
At Ogwal’s burial on Saturday, FDC leader Patrick Amuriat Oboi physically told other party leaders that it would make much sense if the FDC candidate goes unopposed in the Dokolo by-election.
