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10 eye Lord Mayor Lukwago’s job
National Unity Platform (NUP) party flag bearer for the city mayoral position, Nabilah Naggayi Sempala casting her vote at Katuuso church of Uganda polling station in Kampala on January 20, 2021. PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The 2011 mayoral race attracted at least six candidates but Mr Lukwago won it by a landslide.
Kampala voters go to polls today to elect the Lord Mayor, divisional mayors and councilLors who will head the City for the next five years.
There are 1,280,409 registered voters in the five divisions of Kampala.
The race for Kampala Lord Mayor attracted 11 candidates but the main contest is between Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) Erias Lukwago and National Unity Platform’s (NUP) Nabilah Naggayi Sempala.
Mr Lukwago is the incumbent Kampala City Lord Mayor while Ms Sempala is the incumbent Kampala Woman MP.
Other candidates in the race are; Innocent Kawooya (Ind), Joseph Mayanja, alias Chameleone (Ind), Charles James Senkubuge (DP), Daniel Kaziibwe, alias Ragga Dee (NRM), Isaac Sendagire (Ind), Eddie Bazira Kibalama (Ind), Ben Lule (Ind) Yakub Mayanja Musaazi (ANT) and Micheal Evans Mugabi (Ind).
Mr Lukwago first became Lord Mayor in 2011 following the enactment of the 2010 KCCA Act which provided for the offices of the Lord Mayor (political) and Executive Director (administrative). He had been MP for Kampala Central from 2006 to 2011.
2011 mayoral race
The 2011 mayoral race attracted at least six candidates but Mr Lukwago won it by a landslide.
In a race of six, Mr Lukwago scored 229,325 votes (64.4 per cent) against NRM’s Peter Sematimba 119,015 votes (33.4 per cent).
In that contest, Mr Micheal Mabikke of the Social Democrats Party (SDP), came third with 4,092 (1.1 per cent), followed by Francis Edward Babu (Ind), with 2,059 votes (0.58 percent), and two other independents Sandra Ngabo (1,035 or 0.29 per cent) and Emmanuel Tumusiime (539 or 0.15 per cent).
However, in November 2013 Mr Lukwago was controversially impeached by authority councillors after a tribunal found him guilty of incompetence and abuse of office. Lukwago said the accusations were politically motivated.
He was reinstated on November 28 2013 after the High Court Judge Yasin Nyanzi ordered the then Kampala Minister Frank Tumwebaze to stop the implementation of the tribunal decision but the judge’s orders were disregarded.
Mr Lukwago would later seek re-election on an independent ticket for the second term in 2016 and won.
The former Electoral Commission’s Returning Officer for Kampala District, Mr Charles Ntege, declared him as the winner of the Kampala mayoral race after he acquired 75 per cent of the total votes counted.
