Heavy Deployment in Jinja, Kamuli After Kadaga’s Defeat For Speakership

There is heavy deployment of Police and military personnel within Jinja city and Kamuli municipality following the loss of Rebecca Kadaga to Jacob Oulanyah in the 11th parliamentary speakership race.

By 6:00pm, uniformed and plain clothed security personnel were seen patrolling different streets where several youths had reportedly planned to launch their protests.

Oulanyah defeated Kadaga with 310 votes against 197 votes during the parliamentary speakership race at the Kololo ceremonial grounds today.

Prior to the highly contested elections on Monday morning, Kadaga’s diehards who were mainly women and youths converged at the Kamuli youth center, where they collectively followed the parliamentary proceedings on television as a means of showing solidarity to their woman member of parliament.

Patience Namusobya, a fruit vendor within Kamuli municipality said Kadaga had lobbied for the construction of good roads which have since boosted trade within their area. “Our municipality has good roads courtesy of Kadaga’s lobbying skills and without her in the speakership position, we might register a setback in development,” said Namusobya.

Another Kadaga sympathizer John Magezi in Jinja city says that Kadaga has been a uniting figure within the Busoga sub region and has tremendously rallied fellow leaders to collectively lobby for the restoration of cultural leadership. “We had gone in shambles after the death of our then king, Henry Wako Muloki in 2008 but, after about five years of uncertainties, Kadaga rallied all stakeholders to jointly foster coronation of a substantive king, Gabula Nadiope, who has also embarked on efforts to reconcile with the Bulamogi chief, Columbus Wambuzi,” he says.

The seemingly quiet crowds which had gathered in different video halls within the different suburbs in Jinja city and Kamuli municipality respectively however, expressed dissatisfaction after the declaration of Oulanyah and threatened to protest against this decision, prompting the security deployment.

However, the Busoga North police spokesperson, Michael Kasadha told journalists that, security deployments are normal and tasked all citizens to keep calm and transact their businesses normally.