KAMPALA: Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, has blamed the loss of People Power-backed Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) loser Nyakato Asinansi in the Hoima Woman MP by-elections on selfishness from party leaders.
Nyakato was defeated by NRM’s Harriet Mugenyi who garnered 33,301 votes against Nyakato’s 28,789 votes.
In a statement Friday Morning, Bobi Wine claimed his candidate out up such a spirited fight despite being completely outspent by the NRM.
“First, let me congratulate comrade Nyakato Asinasi Kamanda, our candidate for Hoima Municipality Woman MP. Thank you for putting up such a spirited fight. You did not have even 1% of the resources poured into this election by the NRM regime, but you did your best- waking up each day to move to the nearest and farthest points of Hoima district. You are a true fighter.”
Bobi also appreciated the coalition of opposition parties. However, he claimed the selfish interests of certain party leaders could have cost them the victory.
“There are those who have decided at every point to put their personal or party interests above the interests of the people of Uganda. We condemn this behavior and moving forward, we must have discussions and decide what is more important.”
“As people power, we came in to support an FDC candidate simply because we place the struggle for a better Uganda above anything else. It defeated all logic to see some leaders, apparently in the opposition, do everything to frustrate comrade Nyakato’s victory simply because she embraced and identified with PeoplePower,” he added.
Before the election, FDC supporters accused the People Power group of hijacking their candidate, despite being the ones who financially motivated her. They also accused people power supporters of roughing up party officials.
There were media reports that FDC had pulled out and left People Power for the beating, an accusation members of FDC leadership refute.
Bobi Wine also claimed that the size of Hoima District worked to their disadvantage as the NRM used the advantage to stuff ballots in villages
“Available information shows that they took advantage of the vastness of the district to stuff ballots early morning in remote areas, and were caught later in the day. Several people recorded these things on video, which is why Museveni and his regime are moving to ban cameras from polling stations come 2021.”
The singer, however, said he will take the lessons from the loss for his own use come the 2021 elections where he expects to vie for the presidency.
“Therefore, the most important thing is to pick lessons. These lessons are indeed invaluable as we prepare for the final onslaught come 2021. I have invited the #PeoplePower leadership for a meeting at which we shall assess this election and decide how to move forward. The good news is that dictators throughout history have done such things in an even smarter way than Museveni- but ultimately they fell and were dropped in the dustbin of history. The most important thing for us is to be smarter and more organized than a dictatorship. I am persuaded beyond doubt that we shall soon overcome.”
