KAMPALA — With the controversial elections around the corner, President Museveni has deployed former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s blue eyed boy Isa Kato to head a door-to-door campaign meant to draw voters to the NRM flagbearer in Kampala and nearby areas.
Museveni, 76, is seeking a sixth term in office but this time around, he’s facing a tough challenger in Bobi Wine real name Robert Kyagulanyi who enjoys a substantial support in most of the urban and sub urban areas.
Early this week, the Electoral Commission suspended all campaigning for January’s presidential polls in the capital and 10 highly-populated districts, citing coronavirus risks, but critics said the real reason was the opposition’s popularity in these areas.
“The Independent Electoral Commission has suspended campaign meetings in districts and cities categorised by the Ministry of Health as having high spread of Coronavirus. From December 26, 2020, no campaign meetings will be held in Mbarara, Kabarole, Luwero, Kasese, Masaka, Wakiso, Jinja, Kalungu, Kazo, Kampala City and Tororo,” commission spokesman Paul Bukenya said in a statement on Saturday.
The NRM has since deployed a team led by seven members coming from different divisions of Kampala including Kampala Central, Kawempe, Nalawa, Lubaga, and Makindye divisions.
Speaking to this website, Kato who heads the group said they have adopted a mathematical Mobilization approach to ensure their candidate wins in Kampala.
He also said the same has been replicated per each perish and that the same will go up to village levels.
“Team 7 Kampala has penetrated all the divisions from the parishes and to the villages of all the divisions of Kampala and Kampala extra,” he said, noting that a total of 812 parish conditioners have been identified to implement the exercise.
Kato said his group, being patroned by local government minister Raphael Magyezi has effectively started drumming up support for incumbent Museveni while respecting the Electoral Commission and Ministry of Health protocols to avoid the spread of coronavirus.
Recent developments have projected these densely-populated areas as key political constituencies because the zones attract multitudes of youth, the majority of them unemployed and living in hardship.
Uganda has one of the world’s youngest populations and unemployment levels, especially among young adults, are frighteningly high.
The quick reading of this situation by most political commentators is that President Museveni is aware of this time bomb such unemployed and restless young population presents and will not leave anything to chance as the 2021 elections near.
Last month, several people died and dozens injured, including from gunshot wounds, in protests that erupted after police arrested Bobi Wine.
