A total of six candidates have been duly nominated to contest for the Masaka City mayoral seat as the nomination exercise concluded on Friday.
Of the six, three are independents, while the others represent the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the National Unity Platform (NUP), and the Democratic Front (DF).
Those nominated on the final day included DF’s Michael Mulindwa Nakumusaana, and independents Henry Mayres Kagolo and Francis Ssengabi. Kagolo, a primary school teacher, lost the NUP flag to the incumbent, Florence Namayanja, who was nominated earlier on Thursday alongside her predecessor Godfrey Kayemba Afaayo (Independent) and NRM’s Fredrick Ddembe Kipapali.
Shortly after his nomination, Nakumusaana, who is completing his term as Nyendo-Mukungwe Municipality mayor, pledged to address the irregular allocation of public spaces in Masaka, which he said has characterized past administrations. He also vowed to fight corruption within the City Service Commission.
Kagolo, on his part, promised to tackle unemployment by wooing investors to establish agro-processing factories, citing Masaka’s potential as a major crop-producing area.
Ssengabi, however, stunned journalists who were waiting to interview him when he suddenly ran off, saying he had run out of time.
Masaka City deputy Electoral Commission registrar, Haidari Joloba, warned all candidates against early campaigning, urging them to wait until the official campaign period is declared open.
In addition to the mayoral race, the Electoral Commission also nominated nine directly elected councilors, 12 women councilors, and 11 representatives of special interest groups.
Masaka, one of Uganda’s oldest urban centers, was declared a township in 1953, upgraded to a town council in 1958, and became a municipality in 1968. In 2020, it was elevated to city status as part of the government’s regional city expansion plan
