By Augustine Kabooha.
FDC’s LC5 Candidate for Kabarole in the recent 2021 elections shares her experience in an interview with Augustine Kabooha following an agreement on time and venue.
Hello!!
My name is Augustine Kabooha a reporter with Jubilee radio.
Oh! Thanks Augustine, I am happy to meet you
Kindly tell us about yourself?
Okay! My name is Justine Komuhangi, 26 years old, a secondary school teacher by profession. I hold a bachelor’s degree in arts with education from Mountains of the moon university.
Before joining politics, I was teaching at St. Paul’s Secondary School Rwengoma in Fort-portal.
You are a young girl at only 26, what inspired you to fight for the top position in the district?
My dream has always been to become a leader and serve my people. And being a teacher is a step ahead because as teachers we lead many groups of people especially students who come from different places and background but we make sure they are brought together.
So I wanted to utilize my experience to lead and serve my county, my district and the people of Kabarole district who are facing a lot of challenges in terms of service delivery
What are the challenges you wanted to address as an LC5 Chairperson?
They are very many, ranging from poor roads, dirty water, Electricity etc which have not been addressed over the years
Over the years ACODE has ranked Kabarole district local government and district chairperson as the best performer national-wide. What is your comment about that?
I think those people do not carry out enough research before releasing the performance scorecard. Because what has been carried in their documents is totally different to what is on ground.
What was people’s response in the field during campaigning, did they appreciate your manifesto??
Of course yes, the only challenge is that Uganda’s politics is commercialized. Many people were asking for money which gave an advantage to the incumbent. Voters could ask for many things before I could even say a word during meetings.
Being a flag bearer of the opposition FDC party, did it cost any positive or negative impact on your performance?
Lots of people in Kabarole district are pro-NRM, so when I introduced myself as FDC many people took it that I was trying to overthrow the sitting government while not. Across remote areas of Uganda many people take opposition leaders to be enemies of the state.
How does life look like now that election period is over?
Life has come to normal as usual, I have reported back to class at St. Paul’s Secondary School where I used to teach.
Should we expect you on the ballot paper in 2026 or you have given up?
Oh No! I can’t give up until my dream is achieved. About which position to stand for, I will be informing you in the shortest time from now.
Lastly, what is your massage to the people of Kabarole district and supporters?
I take this opportunity to thank my supporters because I was the second runners-up in the race. They shouldn’t give-up though we never made it
