Dr Tanga Odoi, the National Resistance Movement –NRM party Electoral Chairman, has declared State minister for gender, Mwesigwa Rukutana, as the winner of controversial and contested Rushenyi County primaries.
Rukutana was battling Naome Kabasharira who was first to be declared winner on September 4 when NRM countrywide primaries were held. Rushenyi county is located in Ntungamo District in western Uganda.
The minister has been representing the constituency for more than 20 years and was declared winner on Wednesday afternoon with a slight margin. Odoi said when he visited Rushenyi county particularly the place where Kabasharira and her team claimed voting had not taken place, he established that voting did actually happen.
When Kabasharira was first declared as winner and NRM flagbearer in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Rukutana lost his temper with rival’s supporters who were allegedly provoking him.
A video where the minister was seen grabbing a gun from one of his bodyguards aiming at his rival’s supporters. The minister was later arrested, charged and remanded. He is currently out on bail.