Henry Banyenzaki, the former minister of state for Economic Monitoring, has said the Dr Tanga Odoi-led NRM electoral commission should be fired for lack of capacity to hold free and fair elections.
Banyenzaki, a former Rubanda West MP, last week grudgingly withdrew from the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) nomination race, claiming the process was flawed.
Banyenzaki argued that he couldn’t participate in an election he didn’t believe in. Banyenzaki claims that NRM will only prosper if the Dr Tanga Odoi-led electoral commission is disbanded and a new competent team is selected.
Interviewed on CBS’ phone-in programme; Nze Nga Bwendaba (The Way I See It), Banyenzaki said NRM’s EC had so many unskilled people who need to be replaced. He said the many petitions filed against the commission are proof of incompetence.
The former MP wondered how Odoi, who cannot coordinate a small group of MPs, ended up at the helm of the party’s electoral commission.
“That commission will mislead the party because the one leading it is a wrong person. If he had the power to manage elections, he wouldn’t have failed to coordinate 300 people. Let them choose a new electoral commission because the chairman [Tanga] acts like a politician,” said Banyenzaki on Friday.
The relationship between Odoi and Banyenzaki soured in 2015 when the latter lost his Rubanda West flag to Dennis Sabiti in the NRM primaries. After losing, Banyenzaki referred to Odoi, the former chairman of the academic staff association at Makerere (Muasa), as confused and incompetent.
Banyenzaki noted that he quit the Eala race because he didn’t want to be involved in the chaos that ensued. MPs almost came to blows as Odoi prepared to tally votes last Tuesday. Elections were cancelled and held again on Wednesday. Banyenzaki scoffed at those who claim he contested with the hope of catching the president’s eye for a job.
“I have to keep my dignity. You cannot just trash my dignity into a garbage bin and expect me to just stare at you,” he said.
Interviewed for a comment on Saturday, February 11, Odoi told The Observer that Banyenzaki is a bad loser who contested largely to lobby for a job from President Museveni. He said his team will not resign because it has just served two of its seven-year term.
The history lecturer urged Banyenzaki to make peace with his voters who threw him out of parliament instead of attacking him.
“He wants to be proud, presenting himself as a former minister. We are not dealing with former ministers but candidates and the EC won’t resign because Banyenzaki has lost,” Odoi said.
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