Kampala- As the 2016 presidential campaigns kick off tomorrow, with the various candidates holding their first rallies in diverse parts of the country, the incumbent, President Museveni, has picked a team of people he expects to help him retain power, while his challengers, Mr Amama Mbabazi, Dr Kizza Besigye and their counterparts have appointed teams which can convey them to State House next year.
Although the teams had not been officially unveiled by press time, Sunday Monitor established the key personalities who will be charged with the election campaigns in the camps of three candidates: Mr Museveni, Mr Mbabazi and Dr Besigye and their responsibilities as Uganda gears up for what is billed as a tight race.
Dr Kizza Besigye
The campaign team for Dr Kizza Besigye, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, is set to be unveiled today ahead of the start of official campaign tomorrow.
According to sources in FDC, the team will be four-dimensional, with a technical campaign bureau, field campaign force, candidate’s campaign team, and special task force.
The technical bureau will be headed by an executive director and will constitute six directorates – of finance, administration and fundraising; policy and research; legal and security; communications and publicity; logistics; and technical support for field operations.
The overall head of the election team will be the director general. Sunday Monitor could not confirm all the names on the Besigye’s various campaign teams but sources said the director general would be Mr Wasswa Biriggwa, who is the party chairman.
Party president Mugisha Muntu, sources indicated, would head the candidate’s campaign team, which will include party leaders such as secretary general Nandala Mafabi, Wafula Oguttu, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, and Dokolo MP Cecilia Ogwal.
Mr Geofrey Ekanya, the Tororo County MP who chaired Dr Besigye’s campaign team in the race for party flag bearer, was tipped to head the field task force.
Our sources said the main bases of the election team will be at the parish, sub-county, district and regional level, underlining the party’s belief that protecting the vote is central to this election.
There will be 20 sub-regional desks modelled on the old independence districts of Lango, Bukedi, Kigezi, Tooro and others in the same format.
Below these will be district desks that will penetrate down up to the parish where much of the efforts and resources will be committed, our sources said.
The special task force will comprise allies from the other political forces who back Dr Besigye’s candidature.
During Dr Besigye’s inaugural rally at Nakivubo stadium in Kampala after his nomination on Wednesday, the Conservative Party leader and Rubaga South MP, Mr Ken Lukyamuzi, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and former coordinator of intelligence services, Gen David Sejusa, addressed the gathering at the venue and declared their support to the FDC flag bearer.
By press time yesterday, it was not readily clear where they will fall under the various segments of Besigye’s campaign task force.
Mr Biriggwa, the overall of the campaign team, is a relative new comer to the party who became party chairman only in June. His key role, sources said, will be administrative, with the political work headed by Gen Muntu, the party president.
Amama Mbabazi
Sunday Monitor has learnt that Mr Mbabazi will structure his team to include a technical wing and a political one.
Mr Mbabazi is backed by diverse groups from the Democratic Party (DP), People’s Progressive Party, Jeema, Uganda People’s Congress wing under Mr Olara Otunnu and Ms Beti Kamya’s Uganda Federal Alliance.
DAILY MONITOR
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