Buyende district is fast becoming a political and electoral violence hotbed in Busoga subregion if the latest news coming from there is anything to go by. A former MP for Budiope West, Robert Musoke, is in pain having lost over 40 acres of sugarcane plantation that was burnt by yet-to-be-identified people on Good Friday.
The burnt-to-ashes plantation which was about to be harvested is located in Njwejwe zone, Ndulya parish, Nkondo sub county.
Musoke is pointing a finger at his political rivals as the architects of this heinous act. “I used to hear rumours from some political arsonists that they will burn my shambas. They want to cripple me financially so that I fail to raise money for campaigns,” Musoke said in a telephone interview with Busoga Times.
He estimates that he has lost over UGX100m in profits. He has been waiting to harvest the profiting canes with anticipation, having heavily invested in the planting of canes and caring for the plantation.
Despite this heavy loss, Musoke is yet to report the matter to the police for investigation. “What will police do?” he questioned when asked why he has refused to report the matter to the law enforcers.
“I know they can’t help me in this. If the whole office of the RDC [Resident District Commissioner] in the district has turned to be the campaigning agent of Milly Babalanda, what help should I expect?” he said questioningly. I better embark on community policing, he added.
Asked how, as local leaders, they are planning to deal with the rising political unrest in the district, Musoke opined that getting rid of nomadic politicians is the only solution. This has never happened before their invasion, he said without revealing the identity of the said political nomads.
“We have ever had peaceful campaigns. We had never witnessed such kind of malice, daily arrests and threats. But nomads tend to carry with them characters that fail them to stand in their native constituencies. But I am happy the world is watching,” he said, lamenting.
“On several occasions, I have received threatening messages that I should keep quiet, or else they will arrest me and slap any case against me. That they will make sure I am denied bail until after nominations; that they will use their offices to achieve what they want,” Musoke added.
Musoke was MP for Budiope West between 2016 and 2021, when he lost to the incumbent Kyoto Ibrahim Mululi. He has expressed interest in regaining his seat in parliament. However, the seat has attracted interest from several individuals, including Milly Babalanda, the Minister for Presidency.
Recently, fighting broke out in Budiope East, allegedly between the supporters of incumbent Moses Magogo and aspirant Daniel Muririre, commonly known among his supporters as Uncle Dan. It took the intervention of the District Police Commander, the RDC and other district authorities to quell the bloody attacks among the two rival groups.
