By KT Reporter
The police in Hoima are hunting for Joseph Kutegeka, the Hoima district NRM Registrar, for allegedly declaring two candidates as winners for the same seat.
Kutegeka reportedly declared two winners for the Hoima woman MP seat and two winners for the Bugahya county member of Parliament seat.
For Bugahya county MP seat, the race was between Pius Wakabi, the incumbent MP and Amlan Tumusiime, the former Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Kikuube. Kutegeka first declared Tumusiime as the winner, but when Wakabi’s supporters protested, a few minutes later he declared Wakabi as the winner too. This resulted in tension.
For Hoima woman MP seat, Kutegeka initially declared Beatrace Wembabazi aka Teacher Mummy as the flag bearer. However, a few minutes later, he declared Harriet Businge, the incumbent woman MP, as a winner as well.
This situation left supporters of both candidates confused. According to the declaration, Wembabazi had won with 19,598 votes (44.8%) against Businge, who got 13,844 votes (37.8%). The third candidate, Susan Asiimwe, garnered 10,225 votes (23.3%).
However, after a short while, the same registrar declared Businge as a winner with the same number of votes, 19,598 (44.8%) obtained by Webabazi in the first declaration.
The results have since been disputed, and petitions have reached the NRM National Electoral Commission Chairman, Dr Tanga Odoi.
To date, the election results for Hoima woman MP seat and those of Bugahya constituency candidates are still being withheld by Tanga Odoi awaiting final declaration.
Julius Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson, says that they received instructions from the district security committee chaired by the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Rogers Mbabazi to have the registrar arrested.
“Currently we are recording statements from all the concerned parties that will facilitate our investigations against the District NRM registrar, “said Hakiza.
According to Mbabazi, the Hoima RDC, Kutegeka should be arrested along with his data entrants to facilitate investigations into the motive for conflicting declarations that led candidates and voters into conflict.
“You cannot declare two candidates as winners, yet you know that the winner must be one. The police must investigate the exact motives behind that as security,” he said.
However, attempts by Uganda Radio Network (URN) to reach out to Kutegeka were futile as his known mobile telephone number was off by press time.
-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
