By Bee Correspondent
On Saturday night, Kasim Muyindi was announced new IUIU Main Campus Guild President. Attracting joy and ululations beyond normal description that lasted about 3hours from 5:45pm comparable to that of Lukwago or Nsereko in Kiseka as the Electoral commission announced results of the highly contested guild post between a one Mujuzzi Aziz and Muyindi Kassim. Muyindi emerged victor with 1,076 votes (707 male and 369 female) to 746 (371 male and 375 female) amounting to 59.1% and 40.9% consecutively- the electoral commission speaker Safe Hasard confirmed this.
A total of 1,822 students turned up for the exercise which kicked off at 9am that is 39.52 percent of total student population compared to 20% last weekend for the electoral commission chairperson.
The results provoked massive celebrations with happiness overcoming fear for the Sharia law which prohibits free mixing of males and female. They danced and sang together moving all campus round. Prompting the sharp ones to branch to dark corners for a little ‘juma’ prayer. Despite the fact that political parties aren’t allowed, the pleasure that comes with the rival cultural camps is no different. For this, it was a Basoga Vs Baganda affair with the Basoga taking it all at the end of the day because of the fact that they are the majority tribe at campus and the combined effort of Somalis, Itesot, Nigerians, Subinys among others who rallied behind Basoga against the defeated. Kassim Muyindi the newly elected speaking in a brief press conference said he thanks the students for their support dismissing the claims that the administration usually dictates on who takes it all. He promised to serve at his best being the students’ ear and eye, transparency and effective leadership. A total of eight candidates had turned up for the screening exercise days back. The only law student whohad turned up for the screening was vetted off because of retakes and failure to meet other standards, leaving the race to two second year Public admininstartion students. Law students had dominated for the last two years.
“The elections were conducted through a database driven system with three users, the voter, the middlemen( who generated individual access codes for the vote) and the administration which is the only one that could access the results, , add voters, among other functions, with three passwords, the university coordinator’s, the ICT head and the E.C chairman….a system even the Country E.C chairman Badru Kiggundu appreciated last weekend, making it fast, secure, time and resource saving,” boasts Umar Jingo a BIT 3 student, interim ICT minister and one of the program designers. The low voter turn up was blamed on the high computer illiteracy levels, delayed releasing of funds, and the fact that it was a weekend for students who are on week program didn’t cast their vote. Rumors of Aziz being in the Dawa Secretariat, a Muslim brotherhood spy network in the university that ensures promotion of Islamic morals added the last nail to his coffin .His fans blamed his failure on the high level of tribalism and hatred for the Baganda by the Easterners though he wasn’t available to comment on this at press time and the same with the outgoing Guild president Abubaker Matanda.
The next elections are scheduled for 2nd, 3rd and 5th of March for halls, faculty M.Ps and speaker consecutively while swearing in will be on 11th March 2014.
