ROAD TO 2011: The battle for a ‘poisoned chalice’

No youth parliamentary seat has produced as controversial MPs as the eastern region one. Today, Don Wanyama looks at the candidates who are craving to drink from this “poisoned chalice”.
When the framers of the current Constitution created a special seat in every region for a youth parliamentarian, they knew the need to accommodate the excess energy exhibited by this segment of voters. But if there are youthful MPs who have demonstrated as much energy as controversy since 1996, it is those who once represented the eastern region.

From Geoffrey Ekanya to Zaake Kibedi, the Eastern Youth MPs have had the tag “controversial” pinned on them at some point. For Ekanya, who represented the region in 1996, it was the threat to cross from the FDC to the ruling NRM when the battle for the Tororo District split reached fever pitch last year.

Giving upMr Ekanya’s immediate successor, Jay Tanna (now deceased), threw in the towel months after he had routed a pack of opponents—after questions arose about his qualifications. The succeeding by-election in 2001 saw Mr Wilfred Kajeke take the seat after narrowly defeating Jay’s brother, Sanjay. And one of the memorable events of the 8th Parliament will be that sunny July afternoon in 2009 when Mr Kajeke, then Mbale Municipality MP, called it quits.

“Mr Speaker sir,” he told an attentive House. “If I have this mandate to stop this reckless and impossible mortgaging of our country and I cannot do it, then there is no reason whatsoever for me to continue being in this House and that’s why I am leaving…to liberate my conscience.”

Courting controversyAfter Kajeke came Zaake Kibedi in 2006. And like his predecessors, he has courted controversy in large measure. He has become a common face in Jinja’s cells, moving in and out over unpaid loans he helped boda boda cyclists get. If this “troubled” history of past eastern youth MPs would make the position a poisoned chalice—it is surprising just how many young people are willing to sip from it. The race is promising to be more heated albeit one-sided.

Early indicators show that the NRM primaries might actually generate more heat than the final battle in 2011, since the opposition seems to have called it a day. For now, it is a four-horse race among Mr Kefa Mafumo, an orthopedics graduate, Mr Paul Wanyoto, a budding lawyer, Mr Hudu Hussein Kahandi, an NRM youth leader and Mr Peter Ogwang, who works at the Youth Desk in State House.

“Like all youths elsewhere, the major problem is unemployment,” says Mr Mafumo. “That is why my campaign is tailored on creating jobs and making the youth more constructively engaged.” He says he has begun supporting youth groups with agriculture inputs—the first recipients being those in Manafwa that got 45 kilogrammes of onions on March 19.

He also claims to be rooting for a small-scale textile manufacturing plant in Iganga District. He says with help of “more senior” NRM functionaries they have done a feasibility study with the trade ministry and hope the Shs5 billion project can help check youth unemployment in Busoga—offering factory jobs but also market for cotton products. “I am on the ground working as my opponents are in Kampala talking,” he adds with an air of pomp.

For Hudu, who serves as secretary general of the NRM Youth League, his is an ideological calling. He sees this as an opportunity to strengthen the NRM party thinking and formulate pro-youth policies. He says unemployment is a product of a static mindset—and believes his peers must change attitudes if they are to succeed.
“Young people are short-termist. They rarely look at the future. That is why my slogan is long-term thinking and collective effort. Young people must look at building capacity and try to be multi-purpose if they are to survive in this competitive atmosphere,” adds the once English Language teacher who now administers the NRM Communications Bureau in Kampala.

No stoogeHudu dismisses talk that he is a stooge of the party’s Secretary General, Mr Amama Mbabazi.
“I am my own man. But importantly, as a youth leader, I must work with top NRM officials if I am to help my constituents. Mr Mbabazi shares my dream of building a strong party. If I commend him for that, I don’t know why I should be labelled a stooge.”

Mr Wanyoto, who runs a private law firm in Kampala, says his legal and debating skills are the biggest asset for the parliamentary position.

“As a trained lawyer, I intend to originate Bills that will hopefully be passed for the empowerment of the youth in the country, lobby for government programmes and ensure that they reach their intended target,” he says.
“I will also encourage my wide clientele to invest in big projects that will ultimately create employment for the youth in Uganda particularly eastern Uganda.”

In charge The bubbly talker also denies being a front of his sister, Lydia Wanyoto, the East African Legislative Assembly member. “I am in charge of my destiny. In fact, I have not spoken with my sister about this race. It is a lie propagated by those scared of my growing influence. I finance my campaigns and meet people on my own.”
Despite repeated efforts, Daily Monitor could not get to Mr Ogwang, whose known phone lines were switched off. But what do the rest of the youth think? Ms Florence Asio, a youth councillor in Jinja, says: “We know that there are various programmes tailored for us but they never get to us. We need someone who can influence these projects to get to the youth on the ground.” Source: Monitor