Kanungu politics has always had one recurring feature. Standards that seem to shift depending on who is being judged.
During the campaigns for January polls, shortly after NRM primaries, Betty Namara Mutabazi Kataba found herself at the centre of a controversy that many people still struggle to understand.
Critics accused her of neglecting Kanungu voters by allegedly organising a victory celebration in Rukungiri. The narrative spread quickly. Supporters of rival camps amplified the criticism yet, truth be told, it was widely seen as a political witch hunt against her. No party was organised.
Kinshaba Patience Nkunda actually hired people to go spreading false news that her opponent candidate Betty Kataba had slaughtered 20 cows during celebrations in Rukungiri.
To this day, many of those who followed the events closely argue that the controversy was exaggerated for political purposes. The fake party story became a convenient political weapon rather than a genuine concern about accountability to voters.
But then, It is on record that during the same campaign period, Kinshaba Patience promised three major victory celebrations, one at Kihihi playground for the West, another at Kanungu playground for the East, and a final one in Kampala during the swearing-in ceremony.
The election is over. Kinshaba Patience was sworn in. Her voters have not yet been invited for any victory party.
If celebrating with voters was considered such an important measure of commitment , why has the conversation disappeared now?
This is what frustrates many residents in Kanungu. Not because they desperately want a party. Not because they expect politicians to organise victory celebrations anyway, but because they expect consistency…not double standards.
Political credibility is built when leaders apply the same standards to themselves that they apply to others.
What’s your say on a leader with such character?
End.
Akankwasa Sharifu.
