Serere County Campaigns Begin
Campaigns for the Serere County Parliamentary by-election have kicked off in different sub counties following the closure of the nominations last week on Friday 10th February 2023.
Five out of the seven candidates who picked the nomination forms returned them and were duly nominated. They were then confirmed as candidates to contest in the by-election that arose following the death of the area MP Patrick Okabe in December 2022.
The Returning Officer for Serere District, Sylvia Cheptegei, promised that the electoral process will be free and fair until polling day on Thursday 23rd February 2023.
The five candidates in the race are: Emmanuel Omoding, a son to deceased former MP Patrick Okabe who will contest as an independent, former Serere District Woman Alice Alaso Asianut of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party, and Philip Oucor, the ruling NRM party, flag-bearer. Others are Martin Onguruco, another independent candiuates and Emmanuel Eratu of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
Leaders from different parties have camped in Serere to drum up support for their respective candidates.
These include Al-Hajji Moses Kigongo, the first National Vice Chairman of NRM, Rosemary Senninde, NRM Director for Mobilization, Training and Cadre Development and NRM Director of Communications, Emmanuel Dombo.
Kigongo said that the NRM candidate Oucor is the right person to continue delivering services to the people of Serere.
The FDC team is led by the party President, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, while Maj. General Mugisha Muntu, the head of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) is leading his team alongside, former Kasese Woman MP Winnie Kizza who is ANT campaigns coordinator, former Soroti Woman MP Angellina Osegge.
Amuriat added that they don’t expect a free and fair process but nevertheless, they came into the by-election to empower the people to demand good governance.
The ANT party president, Maj. General Mugisha Muntu, urged the people of Serere to give them trust and vote for Alice Alaso. He added that ANT will focus on building a bond with the people of Serere.
The spokesperson of the Okabe foundation, Stephen Polly Ochola says they will to continue running the projects late MP Patrick Okabe had started.
The Serere County parliamentary seat fell vacant after the tragic death of then MP Patrick Okabe, alongside his wife Christine in a car crash along the Mbale-Tirinyi highway on December 19, 2022.
