Rose Lilly Akello Wins Kaabong By-election

Rose Lilly Akello Wins Kaabong By-election

Rose Lilly Akello has bounced back to Parliament as Kaabong Woman MP after beating Christine Tubo Nakwang in the by-election held on Monday.
The by-election came after court nullified Tubo’s victory in 2016 over election malpractices.

Akello, who is on the ruling NRM party ticket, polled a total of 21,814 votes against Tubo’s 21,558 votes. Judith Adiaka Nalibe of the opposition FDC party trailed with 593 votes.

Sarah Iyolu, the Kaabong district returning officer, declared Akello winner of the by-election a few minutes past 2:00am amid enormous crowds at the Magistrates Hall in Kaabong town council. She notes that the election was generally peaceful with more than 80 percent voter turn up.

A total of 47,822 voters cast their votes out of 59,082 registered voters in 19 Sub Counties of Kaabong district. A total of 3,857 votes were invalid.

None of the candidates was present at the tally centre except their agents and party leadership. Akello’s results were received by the NRM party electoral commission chairman, Dr. Tanga Odoi.

The Kaabong parliamentary seat fell vacant after the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the high court nullifying the election of Christine Nakwang Tubo who initially contested as the NRM party candidate in the 2016 general election.

Akello represented Kaabong in Parliament in the 9th Parliament before losing the seat to Tubo in February 2016.

Tubo, who initially won the race with 19,460 votes, was accused of bribing voters in at least six polling stations. The polling stations were identified as Nikwapicha Village, Nachukulu, Morouetome, Kathile Sub County, Kathile Trading Centre and Namamutau.

In his initial ruling, presiding judge Billy Kainamura ruled that Tubo erred in law when she slaughtered a ram for a feast and bought drinks for over 100 voters on the eve of the February 18 parliamentary elections. The judge said the act contradicted the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005.

Court also heard that Tubo distributed cash and other items to her opponent’s supporters to persuade them to abandon their candidate and vote for her.