Derick Lufunya becomes guild boss as Cathy resorts to threatening

BY ANDREW KIWANUKA

In the just concluded Nkumba guild campaigns,Catherine Khalayi a

second year law student turned out to be a big spender.It is right to

argue that no candidate spent more money than she did.However,not all went well on her side as ,after the tallies she only managed third position losing to Derick Lufunya, also from the same faculty.

To her, splashing out cash was a sure measure to guarantee success,unfortunately it was not the case as students considered other factors besides money. The money was obtained from various souces was used to buy booze to a number of students and indeed hooliganism was the order of the day in Cathy’s camp.The uncontrolled frustration after the loss has seen cathy attacking a number of individuals who she thinks were

responsible for her loss by sending them threatening phone and internet messages. Among those threatened are,the outgoing guild president Okebe Nathan,the prime minister Odia Robert,and the outgoing speaker Mahande Joshua, who also happened to have been in the run for the same seat among others.Though some are not scared of these threats, some like the outgoing premier are spending sleepless nights worrying of the dangers they might face as cathy is known for keeping her words "I did not support any candidate neither did i contribute to Cathy's failure,but I am worried about her claims and I fear she might revenge"said Odia.

Money is a very important factor in campaigns and elections at every level but how it is used also  .According to winner Derick lufunya, having money is one thing and knowing how to spend it wisely

so as to succeed is another. He says he used projectors in the different discotheques around the university,internet messeges ,and though this he claims his competitors who thought could just give out

money to students were unable to win the race.However, the issue of gender also had a role to play as female students opted for male candidates whereas female candidates got much support from male

students and since there are more female than male students at the university, also explains that it was always going to be hard for a female student to emerge victorious other factors including money remaining constant. ”he is handsome, I will vote for him”a lady was quoted saying.

The national resistance movement fronted candidate Mahande Joshua was badly beaten despite the party’s strength at the university.Whereas others were suffering from how to spend the little they had ,NRM’s Joshua was not given a single coin and his supporters attributed the loss to the deliberate refusal of the party officials to fund their flag bearer. “I knew that we could not win without money,NRM refused to release money yet they knew earlier that they have a candidate in the run.They are entirely responsible for this loss” said a party supporter.