Nakaseke, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The need for tarmac roads, eliminating land grabbers and unfulfilled pledges are taking centre stage as parliamentary candidates campaign ahead of the 2021 general elections.
Official campaigns are scheduled to start on November 9, 2020, and last until January 12, 2021. But the candidates are already on the ground campaigning in small meetings and rooting for support from constituents.
Esther Nakawooya, the Democratic Party candidate in the Nakaseke Woman MP race says that due to its proximity to Kampala city, many landgrabbers have run to the area threatening to evict residents from their land. She, however, says that once elected she will challenge any person who evicts a tenant without compensation.
Some of the villages affected by land grabbing in Nakaseke are Balatira, Lukumbi, , Nandeya, Kabira, Muzimbo, Mannywa, Ziramba, Kansiri, Luzingu, Mizimbo, Kasambya-Lukese and Nasenda among others.
Nakaseke South Member of Parliament Paulson Ssemakula Luttamaguzi said that he has spent most of the time during his tenure in Parliament fighting land grabbers from evicting tenants. He says that the majority of grabbers are using state machinery to forcibly take over chunks of land in the area.
Luttamaguzi says he will continue offering legal services to residents and save them from eviction. As part of his campaign, Luttamaguzi is using the slogan Land protector to woo voters to his camp.
Fred Masereka, the Chairman of Kabere village says that any candidate who has not been part of the struggle or not clear on the fight for the land rights of the tenants will face an uphill task to be elected in his area.
For Sarah Najjuma, the Nakaseke District Woman MP, the campaign is centred on lobbying for tarmac roads to boost transport of agricultural produce. Najjuma explains that Nakaseke district has one tarmac road stretching from Matugga to Semuto, yet others are in bad shape.
Allan Mayanja, the National Unity Platform Candidate in Nakaseke Central says that President Yoweri Museveni has been pledging to upgrade Luwero-Ngoma road, among others, in vain. Mayanja adds that as the 2021 general elections draw closer, the government has embarked on compensating people along the road to send a signal that it will be upgraded soon.
Mayanja adds that this is among the issues he will use to expose how the NRM government has failed to fulfil its pledges to the people of Luwero.
Nakaseke South parliamentary candidate Charles Kawuma Nsereko says that he has personally contributed to opening community roads to ease the movement of goods and people to markets. Nsereko says that earlier, MPs did little to lobby for the upgrade of roads which left the area stuck with a poor road network.
Paul Ssebalamu, a resident of Magoma village in Kikamulo sub-county says they are tired of the unfulfilled pledge to upgrade key roads in the area. Ssebalamu adds that currently farmers are stuck with produce due to the poor state of roads, which has also been worsened by heavy rains.
The road network in Nakaseke stretches up to 1,904.9 kilometres. However, the majority of them are impassable.
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