Former Gulu Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Catherine Lamwaka has gone through unopposed as the NRM candidate for Omoro district woman parliamentary seat.
Lamwaka contested for the Gulu woman parliamentary seat in February but lost to Betty Aol Ocan of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
Omoro district was curved out of Gulu this month, triggering off elections for a district chairman, woman member of parliament and councilors.
Milton Odongo, the Omoro district NRM primary elections supervisor told Acholi Times Tuesday that Catherine Lamwaka was the only one that had showed interests in the seat. For the rest of the positions, Odongo said the NRM will hold its primaries to choose candidates on Friday this week.
‘‘For the Woman MP it was only Catherin Lamwaka who went through unopposed because no other person picked a form for the same position,” Odongo said.
For the Omoro district LC5 Chairman, Odongo, himself a former RDC until he was dropped said: “There are two candidates who picked nominations for the LC5 seat. They are Isaac Ojok Newton and Odong Latek.’’
Odongo cautioned the aspiring NRM candidates to avoid campaigning beyond the stipulated time of 6 pm.
“We do not want to hear that there are people campaigning beyond the required time. I urge them to follow the guidelines as stipulated by the NRM electoral commission”, Odongo says.
Lamwaka will face Opposition candidate Christine Atimango who has said she will contest as an independent. Atimango said she does not trust the NRM electoral team.
“I decided to stand as an independent because the NRM electoral team from Gulu headed by George Obwola rigged my votes in the previous elections, and I know they may favour Catherine Lamwaka,” Atimango said. She has previously attempted to stand as the NRM candidate for Gulu woman parliamentary seat but lost to Lamwaka.
When contacted George Obwola, the Gulu NRM registrar rubbished Atimango’s allegations.
“There will be a number of team members from other districts to conduct the primary elections. Why is she [Atimango] worried about me? I do my work as the NRM Administrator,” Obwola told Acholi Times.
The Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has identified four potential candidates for the Omoro woman member of parliament seat. They are Prosy Alanyo a nursing officer in Odek, Teddy Amito a social worker in Kampala, Sofie Jovana Akena who works with Save the Children and Alice Akello Latigo, a private lawyer in Gulu.
For the Omoro LC 5 Chairman, the FDC has declared Simon Toolit Akeca as a sole candidate. But some FDC members are reportedly plotting to back current Gulu Vice Chairman and former Speaker Douglas Peter Okello aka Okao. Okao is the Gulu NRM Chairman but he is being sidelined by the NRM for reportedly being close to former presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi. Okao, despite being in NRM is known to enjoy good relations with people in the opposition which explains why Gulu Chairman, Ojara Martin Mapenduzi (FDC) appointed him his deputy.
