NRM PRIMARIES FALLOUT! Rwampara RDC Clarifies on Rwabwogo Phone Call Story
Early this week, Redpepper published a story based on accounts of highly placed sources, following a phone call between Rwampara District RDC Harriet Nakamya and senior presidential advisor on special duties Odrek Rwabwogo.
Story link here: https://redpepper.co.ug/breaking-rwampara-rdc-knifed-after-quarrel-with-rwabwogo-over-tense-district-nrm-primaries-standoff/141757/
The phone discussion was in the wake of tense Rwampara District NRM primaries especially the District Woman MP race between incumbent Molly Asiimwe and fierce rival Annah Kansiime.
At first, Molly was declared winner with 25000 votes which sparked protests from her rival’s camp.
On the orders of the RDC, a recount was conducted only to find Annah Kansiime had won with 26000 against Molly’s actual 20300 votes.
To-date, the NRM EC is yet to announce the winner with allegations that Molly is using her state connections to overturn the election into her favour.
It is this tense standoff that saw Rwabwogo, in his capacity as President Museveni’s special operations advisor, call Rwampara RDC Nakamya to establish facts on the ground.
Basing on our sources privy with the phone discussion, at one point there was an alleged quarrel or a shouting match between Rwabwogo and Nakamya.
And on Wednesday, July 23rd, Nakamya received instructions to handover her office.
RDC NAKAMYA SPEAKS OUT
Following the story, Nakamya reached out to this publication to clarify on the allegations.
She says the facts surrounding the call were misrepresented and now wants to clarify or “set the record straight” about what actually happened during the call.
She confirmed that indeed the phone call happened but there was never anything like an angry tone, shouting or quarreling during the conversation as it was alleged.
“I’m here to apologise to Mr.Rwabwogo for a story that was published in the Redpepper basing on a phone discussion we had. The story indicated that we quarelled during that phone discussion. I want to make it clear that I have never quarelled with Mr.Rwabwogo in person or through a phone call. He has never called me on phone angry, shouting or quarreling. It is true we had a phone discussion and the District Internal Security Officer Mr.Andrew Akankwatsa was present, ” she told Redpepper in an exclusive interview at her office in Rwampara on Thursday.
She said Rwabwogo, throughout the whole phone conversation, remained calm and cool.
That he also thanked her for executing her duties diligently, standing firm and for the truth.
In the Redpepper story, it was also alleged that RDC Nakamya and Rwabwogo disagreed on the deployment of security at incumbent Molly’s home which the former reportedly declined and as well questioned his orders.
Nakamya says it is true Rwabwogo advised on the security deployment. That he however requested that both candidates-incumbent Molly and Annah Kansiime have their security beefed.
Nakamya then told Rwabwogo that she was going to inform the Division Commander of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) 2nd Infantry Division about his proposal before also sending him a phone number for Regional Internal Security Officer.
By virtue of the office, the RDC is the head of District Security Committee.
“…Mr. Rwabwogo then informed me that Molly was being threatened. He proposed that I beef up security at her home. He also advised me to do the same for Annah Kansiime. I told him I was going to inform the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) 2nd Infantry Division about his proposal. He also requested me to send to him a phone number for Regional Internal Security Officer [RISO] which I did in the presence of DISO,” she explained.
Asked about the controversy surrounding her transfer, Nakamya says as far as she knows, she is still Rwampara RDC and is carrying on with her duties diligently.
She believes her bosses eventually got to know the truth and maintained the status quo.
She says the District is very peaceful and Thursday LCV and Mayoral elections went smoothly.
BELOW IS RDC NAKAMYA’S FULL RESPONSE VERBATIM
“I’m here to apologise to Mr.Rwabwogo for a story that was published in the Redpepper basing on a phone discussion we had. The story indicated that we quarelled during that phone discussion. I want to make it clear that I have never quarelled with Mr.Rwabwogo in person or through a phone call. He has never called me on phone while angry, shouting or quarreling. It is true we had a phone discussion and the District Internal Security Officer Mr.Andrew Akankwatsa was present.
“During the phone call he started by addressing me by my name [Nakamya] and introduced himself as Mr.Rwabwogo. He asked me about what exactly happened in Rwampara NRM Primaries.
“I told him the voting exercise went on smoothly but the issue emerged at the tally centre and in particular to do with the Woman MP race.
“I told him that there were allegations of tampering with the results, forgeries and false declarations. I told him that because of these irregularities, the District Registrar first announced incumbent Molly Asiimwe as the winner with 25000 votes and then her opponent Annah Kansiime second with 20000 votes.
“I told Rwabwogo that when the registrar presented the percentage, it caused confusion and Annah Kansiime protested that she had won the election and was being cheated. Chaos ensued.
“I also told Mr.Rwabwogo that it was at this point as the district head of security committee, I said “enough was enough I don’t want bloodshed here”.
“I advised the registrar to conduct a recount as the only solution.
“After the recount, the results showed that Annah Kansiime had won with 26000 votes and the incumbent Molly indeed had got only 20300 votes.
“Mr.Rwabwogo asked me: “Are you sure this is what happened and Annah Kansiime defeated incumbent Molly by all this margin after the recount?” I said ” yes that’s the truth and I was at the tally centre as a witness.”
“Mr. Rwabwogo thanked me and complimented me as a strong lady. He told me had been following me since my days in Kanungu as RDC and was happy with my work methods. He thanked me for being firm and standing for the truth.
“Mr. Rwabwogo then informed me that Molly was being threatened. He proposed that I beef up security at her home. He also advised me to do the same for Annah Kansiime. I told him I was going to inform the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) 2nd Infantry Division about his proposal. He also requested me to send to him a phone number for Regional Internal Security Officer [RISO] which I did in the presence of DISO.
“I want again to make it clear that I have never quarelled with Mr.Rwabwogo and he has never called me on phone while angry. In that particular reported phone call, he was calm and cool. He said he wished all the RDCs were like me and thanked me for standing to the truth. Let Redpepper clarify this.”
EDITOR: Redpepper online would like to state that in our previous article https://redpepper.co.ug/breaking-rwampara-rdc-knifed-after-quarrel-with-rwabwogo-over-tense-district-nrm-primaries-standoff/141757/ regarding a phone call between Rwampara District RDC Harriet Nakamya and senior presidential advisor on special duties Odrek Rwabwogo misrepresented certain facts. We apologize for any confusion, inconvenience, or offense this may have caused. We strive to provide accurate and fair reporting. We regret the mistake and any harm it may have caused. We commit to correcting errors and providing accurate information in the future.
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