The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party is poised to select its flag bearer to compete against candidates from other political parties to succeed the late Dokolo Woman Member of Parliament, Barbara Cecilia Atim Ogwal.
Ogwal, who passed away in an Indian hospital on January 8, 2024, due to cancer-related complications, was laid to rest at her residence in Dog-Gudu Village, Alito sub-county in Kole District on January 27.
While the Electoral Commission has not yet declared her seat vacant, NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong declared on Saturday a thorough reorganization of the party in Dokolo to ensure their chosen candidate succeeds Ogwal.Dokolo District, established in 2006 from Lira District, had Ogwal from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party as its woman MP.
“We plan to dispatch a team to Dokolo next month to revamp the party, followed by the selection of a flag bearer for the Dokolo Woman MP by-election,” stated Mr. Todwong after meeting party leaders in Otuta village, Abeli Parish, Akalo sub-county in Kole District on Saturday evening.
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“We have a candidate who contested against the late Atat Ogwal in 2021, but we are yet to confirm her interest in the seat,” he added.
In the 2021 general elections, Ogwal retained her seat, securing 32,223 votes, while NRM’s Janet Rose Adong Elau garnered 16,880 votes, and UPC’s Sarah Aguti received 10,460 votes in a fiercely contested race.’No repeat of costly mistakes’The NRM Secretary General emphasized the necessity to ensure NRM’s victory in the by-election, vowing not to repeat the costly errors made in the Oyam North by-election.
“We must avoid a repetition of the mistake we made in the Oyam North by-election. We need to get organized. That was a very costly mistake,” remarked Mr. Todwong.
On July 6, 2023, UPC’s Dr. Eunice Apio Otuko won the Oyam North MP seat after defeating NRM’s Samuel Junior Okello Engola and two others in the by-election to succeed Col (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola Macodwogo, who was assassinated by his bodyguard.
At Ogwal’s funeral on Saturday, FDC leader Patrick Amuriat Oboi suggested that it would be wise for the FDC candidate to run unopposed in the Dokolo by-election.