Excitement As Edema JB Declares Bid For Maracha East Parliamentary Seat
MARACHA. There was untold excitement in Azipi Parish, Oleba Sub-County in Maracha district on Palm Sunday as John Bosco Edema made his triumphal entry into the race for Maracha East Constituency Parliamentary seat.
The way Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, Edema was welcomed by joyous women, youths and the elderly people of Azipi who kept on waving tree branches and clothes in his face while chanting and dancing to different tunes of local songs through the scorching sun to the venue of the meeting.
Edema, also a born of Azipi Parish, was at home to officially declare his intention to unseat Ruth Ondoru Lematia, the incumbent Maracha East County Member of Parliament (MP).
The news of Edema’s coming was received with a lot of excitement by the locals who said it is the first of its kind for their own to show interest in becoming an MP.
“I’m happy that our own has for the first time shown interest to represent us in Parliament. For long, we have been electing MPs from elsewhere but once they reach Parliament, they don’t look back. As a result, our problems, especially when it comes to social services, have remained the same. Our roads are bad, we are cut off from other areas because of lack of bridges and it is worse when it rains; children will not go to school,” Gilbert Amani, a youth and a resident of Randra village said.
Elena Oberu, 82, another resident of Olupi village remained optimistic that through Edema, most of their problems will be solved.
“I’m now very happy that our son (Edema) will look back to us when he goes through as our MP. We are here suffering as if we are not part of this country. At my age, you will not get surprised that I still drink water with animals because all the people we have been electing don’t care about bringing for us clean sources of water. But today, I’m so excited that God has brought for us Edema who has seen how we have been suffering,” Oberu said.
Similarly, Anthony Pariyo, a resident of Odravu village, said they have been neglected for long and for that reason, time has come for Edema to go and represent Maracha East in Parliament so that he can use his expertise in lobbying to bring services from the government.
“You showed interest in contesting as an MP in 2021 but we stopped you because you were still young, but now you are big enough to represent us. We are giving you the go ahead to contest, so you have our blessing as your elders at home. I know you are good at lobbying; you must now go and lobby for good health care services, schools, roads and clean water for your people of Maracha East, and God should bless you in this journey!” Pariyo prayed.
In his remarks, Edema promised not to let down the people of Maracha East once given the opportunity to represent them in the 12th Parliament.
Edema who has been working as a factory manager in Masindi and also as a consultant for International Organizations, said his main reason for contesting is to bridge the leadership gap in Maracha East which has greatly affected service delivery in the area.
“I’m offering myself for the people of Maracha East to have true representation in Parliament through legislation, oversight and lobbying for the different government programs to reach my people. Currently, when people fall sick, they can’t cross rivers (streams) because most of them lack bridges. Health Units are far away and children can’t go to school because their parents are poor. It will be my duty to put the government under pressure to bring these services closer to the people, including making clean water available in every village,” Edema promised.
Edema reminded the locals of the students he offered bursary to, with others now in S.6, S.4 and S.3, promising that when elected in office, more bright but needy students in Maracha East will get the same opportunity to study for free.
Besides, Edema encouraged parents to educate their children, warning that in the near future, those who are not educated will have no voice in the affairs of this country.
Vincent Ariaka, the Maracha district male youth councillor, concurred with Edema and said without education, Maracha can’t develop.
He noted that currently, the population of the youths in Maracha is the biggest and for that reason, it is important to educate them so that they can become useful citizens in the future.
Meanwhile Gabriel Ofeku, the Maracha district National Resistance Movement (NRM) party chairperson, asked the locals of Azipi to blame their leaders for the poor service delivery in the area but not President Yoweri Museveni.
Ofeku argued that through Parliament, Museveni ensures that funds are sent for service delivery but it is the local leaders who don’t make good use of the money sent.