Namuganza Loses Again And Happy Odoi Says She Should Be Humble.
Tanga Odoi says Minister Persis Namuganza should be humble in the face of electoral defeat
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The NRM electoral chief has mocked junior lands minister Persis Namuganza after she lost the Bukono County flag for a second time, rekindling their long-running feud over chaotic primaries in Namutumba District.
The Chairperson of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Electoral Commission, Dr. Tanga Odoi, has taken a sharp swipe at State Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Persis Namuganza, after her renewed defeat in the Bukono County primaries.
Speaking after announcing results of the fresh elections ordered by the NRM appeals tribunal, Odoi jeered at the minister, accusing her of destroying election materials in an earlier round of the disputed pollpolls.
“We want losers to be humble losers, not like in Namutumba where a whole minister destroyed materials after losing,” Odoi said in an interview with Nile Post.
The NRM election chief, who was roundly accused of taking sides and overturning results in favour of key aspirants at different constituencies, appeared to be having the last laugh and stopped short of telling Namuganza to go rear ducks.
“Good thing we had already extracted results, and we wish her the best wherever she goes,” he added.
The fresh election results confirmed Emmanuel Maganda Katoko as the party’s flag bearer with 20,512 votes against Namuganza’s 17,764.
The contests, held in 76 villages across Kibale Town Council and Kibale Sub-county, ended the minister’s hope of overturning her rival’s earlier win.
Odoi declared himself vindicated: “The above results maintained winners who had been declared by the Electoral Commission. Winners remained winners. This fresh election has vindicated the electoral commission team.”
The barbed remarks mark the latest flare-up in a long feud between Odoi and Namuganza, whose political star power in Busoga has often collided with the NRM’s internal machinery.
In earlier proceedings before the NRM electoral tribunal, Namuganza had alleged widespread violence, tallying irregularities, and manipulation by senior party officials, including Odoi himself.
She insisted her votes from Kibale Town Council and Kibale Sub-county were deliberately sidelined.
The tribunal granted her a reprieve, nullifying Maganda’s victory and ordering repeat elections in her strongholds. But the eventual fresh election again handed the flag to Maganda, leaving Namuganza high and dry.
The Bukono legislator’s ship might just have hit the iceberg and is no longer just lost at sea. It will be interesting to see if she carries ahead with earlier threats to quit the ruling party and stand as an independent in the 2026 elections.
“I can’t accept sham elections. My party has no Electoral Commission,” she said shortly after losing the July 17 head-counted polls.
“I’ll come independent, just like I have done many times. The voters will decide again, and I know I will still win.”
For now, the NRM has closed the chapter: Maganda carries the party flag for Bukono County, and Odoi has used the outcome to reaffirm the authority of his commission.
But in Namuganza, the ruling party faces a restless insider who has never been shy about tearing through the party’s velvet curtains to expose what she calls “stage-managed” democracy.
Whether she rears ducks, as Odoi almost told her to, or rears her own independent candidacy in 2026, Bukono’s political heat is unlikely to cool soon.
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