By David Takozekibi
What used to be a peaceful community, Budiope East, and now the entire Buyende district, has been turned into an epicenter of political chaos, electoral violence, and vote rigging. This devastating transformation is thanks to the arrival of Eng. Moses Magogo and his wife from Bukedea district, Anita Annet Among, who serves as the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda. As a resident and active participant in Budiope East politics, I bear witness to, and have personally suffered from, this reign of terror.
Once Magogo and his controversial wife landed in Budiope East ahead of the 2021 general elections, peaceful campaigns and voting ceased to exist. With them came voter bribery, chaos, violence, blood spilling, and deception. The 2021 elections marked the start of excessive electoral violence across the constituency. These ugly electoral malpractices now characterize our politics—leaving our community brutalized and victimized.
Like they say, old habits die hard. Magogo, and his now powerful wife, unleashed untold violence yet again during the 2025 NRM primaries. The race in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries for Budiope East parliamentary constituency was between current Member of Parliament Eng. Moses Magogo, former MP Geofrey Dhamuzungu, and newcomer Daniel Mulirire. Magogo, Anita, and their teams have been violently consistent since their debut in Budiope in 2021 when they unleashed hired goons from Bukedea (dubbed “Bukedea Boys”) to harm anyone who supported Dhamuzungu, who was the incumbent then.
I participated in that 2021 election as an independent NRM-leaning parliamentary candidate, and I witnessed firsthand the extreme lengths Magogo and his violence-peddling wife can go to use brutality as a political tool to secure victory. Five years later, their heinous methods were at full display on July 17, 2025, when the ruling party conducted its primaries.
While we anticipated the Magogo camp to be violent because that is their character, and they had promised exactly that, the 17th day of July 2025, kicked off with warm optimism and a promise to give Budiope East leaders who are indigenous and suitable for the job. This was never to happen as Anita, who is the Speaker of Parliament, had set her hired goons, police, military personnel, and private bodyguards off their leashes to torment whoever they didn’t perceive to support them or was a hindrance to their planned electoral robbery.
Little did I know that I, as the head of Hon. Geofrey Dhamuzungu’s campaign task force, and my family, were primarily targeted. We were attacked by security operatives, both in police and military uniform and plain clothes, allegedly attached to Speaker Anita Among’s camp. They were armed to the teeth as if they were going to battle ADF rebels in the DR Congo or Al Shabaab in Somalia. Seeing the way they were strapped, you would never think they were going to torment innocent people participating in a nationally sanctioned ruling political party election.
On seeing me and my team, the violence-mongering mix of goons, police, and soldiers lashed at us. They started slapping and beating me and my team with cable wires, gun butts, punches, and sticks – all in equal measure. You dodge a slap, a stick or wire lands on your fragile body. It was a melee of violence and brutality unseen in Buyende district before.
The attack, which occurred just hours before the NRM party primaries, left my younger brother, Daniel Bagiire, seriously injured after being beaten with wires and gun butts. His head burst from the beating. The cut on the back of his head let out a worrying stream of blood that soaked his hair and clothes, necessitating immediate medical attention. He is still being medically managed to establish the depth of damage done on his head. Daniel’s “crime” that day is that he was my designated driver.
The violence on that day was part of what the Dhamuzungu camp calls a coordinated campaign of intimidation, vote rigging, and suppression. We had sensed plans to frustrate our campaign. Unknown individuals, including one identified as Mus a — the son of LC Chairperson Tenywa — were seen loitering near my gate early in the morning. They are known Magogo collaborators who were carrying out clandestine spying before reporting back to their bosses, informing them of our movements.
Despite the threats, together with the team, I proceeded for the day. I was driven to Gwase but soon noticed a police patrol vehicle speeding in the opposite direction — heading back toward Ngandho. We immediately turned back to Ngandho, only to find the situation already volatile. Security operatives had started harassing people. I arrived just as a middle-aged man, Shaban, was being violently dragged towards a police patrol car like a terrorist caught in the act. Shaban was severely and embarrassingly assaulted just because he didn’t support Magogo and was against the prevailing injustices.
In an effort to de-escalate the situation, I tried to engage the security commander. Instead, my phone was grabbed, and I was slapped hard at the back. I was trying to alert my candidate, Dhamuzungu, about what was happening on the ground.
Earlier that morning, I had met the Officer in Charge (OC) of Gwase at the Buyamba junction. The OC was visibly powerless and flanked by a policeman on a motorcycle. The officer on the bike simply told the OC to “speak to the boss in the police car.” The situation quickly escalated when my young brother and driver, Daniel Bagiire, stepped out of the car holding his smartphone.
On seeing this, the security agents rushed at him, fearing he might record the operation. They beat him with gun butts and electric wires until he fell to the ground. I jumped over to protect him. That’s when they turned the canes and wires on me too. They beat me across the back without mercy. The beating left my skin bruised and torn, oozing with blood. It was a hell of a beating no Ugandan should face because of an election.
The beating only stopped when a voice from inside the security vehicle ordered the officers to “spare him.” Bagiire was rushed to Ngandho Health Centre — where no iodine or basic medical supplies were available to offer first aid. We had to continue to Bugaya Health Centre III for proper first aid and stabilization. From there, we found a way to urgently evacuate him to Kampala, where he received full medical attention. Bagiire is now recovering at home under the care of his wife, a trained medical professional.
Despite the assault and intimidation, Hon. Geofrey Dhamuzungu overwhelmingly won the NRM primaries in Budiope East – only for the election commission officials in Buyende district to without shame announce Magogo as the winner. We protested this kind of behavior, and we vehemently refute these concocted results. Luckily, we had taken precautions. All our agents were issued unique stamps specific to each polling centre. Only declarations bearing these valid stamps are legitimate — and that makes it very easy to verify the true outcome.
They beat us, harassed our supporters, and tried every trick in the misconduct book, but they won’t win. The people of Budiope East voted — and they voted for Dhamuzungu.
The campaign, backed by a united coalition of former contestants, has vowed to resist any attempts to impose a candidate through violence or fraud. Efforts to sanitize politics in Buyende district are ongoing, and the evil seeds sown by Magogo and his wife will be uprooted just as they are about to germinate.
