The ruling party Secretary General Hon Justine Lumumba and the NRM Electoral Commission chairman Tanga Odoi have received a petition from lawyers of Dickson Kateshumbwa about the misconduct of Minister Elioda Tumwesigye in Sheema District.
According to the letter seen by this website which was received by NRM secretariat on Wednesday, Elioda is accused of using his position as Sheema District NRM chairperson to wield power and also using the same Ministerial position to force security agencies to disrupt Kateshumbwa’s consultation meetings which were legalized by the area Resident District Commissioner (RDC).
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation is the current MP of Sheema Municipality and is seeking a reelection in the next polls.
He is facing a strong opponent Dickson Kateshumbwa alias Katesh, who formerly worked at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) as Commissioner Customs and Domestic Tax.
In May he resigned and launched his political bid to unseat Elioda who has a history of violence is his campaigns.
Kateshumbwa’s lawyers Mujurizi and Byamukama Advocates told Hon Lumumba that, Elioda had used his office of the NRM chairperson to appoint his juniors to lead his campaign taskforce which contravenes the constitution of the party.
“According to the NRM constitution and elections guidelines, all aspiring candidates for NRM primaries are expected to be treated with impartiality,” the petition reads.
The lawyers further stated that, “the current chairman is using his position as the NRM party district chairperson and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation and the party structures by appointing NRM district office bearers as his campaign agents/ mobilisers.”
An example is NRM publicity secretary who is working as his main campaign mobiliser.
“Further on a daily basis, the minister is using his position to intimidate security officers including the offices of the police and RDC by directing them to follow and disrupt Kateshumbwa’s consultation activities which have been permitted by the RDC.”
“These actions are legally wrong and go against the spirit of the constitution of the party and the spirit of impartiality in conducting free and fair elections without any bias. This contravenes rule 4(k) of the fourth schedule of the NRM constitution on the code of conduct,” the lawyers concluded.
After receiving this petition, this website has learnt that NRM secretariat will summon the Minister to file his defence amidst conducting more investigations.
For example, Minister Elioda a few weeks ago, used his agents to claim that Kateshumbwa had burned a vehicle belonging to a councilor Allan Matsiko who strongly supports him. But it would later emerge that Elioda’s camp has committed the offense to smear Kateshumbwa.
Kateshumbwa however, referred to this act as cheap propaganda.
Having pitched camp in Sheema Municipality for close to two months widening his political base, observers say the former Tax Man could trounce his opponents with over 80% of votes.