KAMPALA – National Unity Platform – NUP’s Lawrence Alionzi alias Dangote was on Wednesday evening declared victor of the Makerere University guild battle after thrashing seven other contestants.
Alionzi got 5,839 votes in an online voting exercise that propelled him to the most prestigious student’s office in the land.
Alionzi’s closest rival and ruling party – NRM’s Ibra Hussein managed 2,079 votes in the second place in an exercise, which Edrine Nsobanyi – the Makerere University Electoral Commission Chairperson, presided over.
“When the will of the people is too strong it can’t be sabotaged. The voice of the people is the voice of God,” said Aliozi following the official declaration.
“We had a very effective electoral process, it has been a very free fair and transparent election and this is what we had wished for.
“As students of Makerere; “our theme states that we shall hold a free fair, and participatory electoral process, (and) today we have elected our leaders at all positions, we had a good turn up, it has never happened,” said Nsobanyi, although a sizeable number could be heard complaining.
Aliozi is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Science in Electrical Engineering. He is a former speaker of Nsibirwa Hall. In his manifesto, Alionzi promised to construct another hall for girls, reinstating suspended students, fixing missing marks issues, renovation of halls of residence, and increasing the allowances of students on government sponsorship.
The other contestants were Justus Tukamushaba who got 1,758 votes, Blessious Namirembe who managed 359 votes and Calton Muhinda collected 238 votes.
Others were Christopher Ronald Mugisa who got 106 votes, Honest Natumanya who walked away with 24 votes and Edward Nalwangu who got 37 votes.