Tempers are flaring in Kumi County following the declaration of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primary results, as parliamentary aspirant Solomon Opio outrightly rejected the outcome, citing widespread fraud and manipulation of votes in favor of incumbent Minister of Energy, Hon. Sidronious Okaasai Opolot.
Opio lost yesterday’s polls to Minister Okaasai. According the results, Minister Okaasai Opolot Sidronius got 24,230, Opio Solomon 8,669 votes, tuba Samuel 3,956 votes, Obore Godfrey 728 votes while Opolot Charles got 15 votes.
In a statement released on Friday morning, Opio decried what he termed a “blatantly fraudulent electoral process” marred by vote rigging, result doctoring, and voter inflation across several sub-counties.
He named Ongino Sub-county, Ongino Town Council, and Tisai Sub-county as hotspots where he alleged deliberate manipulation occurred to tilt the contest in favor of Minister Okaasai.
“I wish to express my deep concern and outright rejection of the recently concluded NRM party primaries in Kumi County,” said Opio.
“The exercise was marred by widespread fraud and deliberate manipulation of results.”
Opio singled out specific polling stations where he claims massive irregularities were perpetrated.
In Obeler Polling Station, Oseera Parish, he stated that while the official Declaration of Results (DR) form showed Minister Okaasai receiving 250 votes, the final tally was fraudulently inflated to 800.
He also cited Ongoto Cell in Ongino Sub-county, where Okaasai reportedly got only 56 votes according to DR forms, but the registrar declared a staggering 356 votes in his favor.
“We have photographic evidence and copies of the original DR forms that show glaring inconsistencies. How can the declared figures be triple the actual vote count?” Opio posed.
He further noted that in several polling stations, the number of votes cast exceeded the number of registered voters, a classic indicator of ballot stuffing.
In some cases, he claimed, declaration forms bore no results at all, yet mysterious figures were announced with no verification or cross-checking.
Opio did not hold back in criticizing the officials entrusted with overseeing the electoral process.
He named three individuals, Ariko James, Grace (surname withheld), and Aisu Sam, as central figures in what he described as “state-sanctioned fraud.”
“It is disheartening to note that the very election officers who were entrusted with ensuring a free and fair process became the architects of this electoral fraud,” he charged.
Opio accused these registrars of colluding with agents of Minister Okaasai to tamper with results, declaring fake tallies in contradiction with figures entered on the official DR forms.
Perhaps most controversially, Opio alleged that attempts to report the fraud were blocked under the pretext of a directive from President Yoweri Museveni himself, supposedly ordering that Minister Okaasai must retain the party flag at all costs.
“I wish to state categorically that no one, not even the name of the President, should be used to undermine democracy and the will of the people,” Opio said.
He called on the NRM leadership at the district and national levels to investigate the matter and protect the integrity of the party’s internal democratic processes.
Opio also sent a stern warning to the Kumi District NRM Election Office and the district executive committee.
He implored them to remain impartial and avoid being used as tools of bribery and political manipulation.
“To the Kumi District NRM Executive Committee, and especially the Vice Chair: Your actions yesterday violated the very principles on which our party was founded,” he said.
Opio’s remarks point to deepening divisions within the ruling party in Teso Sub-region, and may trigger investigations or even legal challenges depending on the response from the NRM Secretariat.
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