Sunrise: Politics

Panado is known for treating headaches or to reduce and kill pain in the body.

But in the newly created Iganga municipality where over twenty candidates have expressed interest to represent the area in Parliament.

Talk about Panado, gets into a political discussion because it is the nick name of one of the candidates - Peter Mugema.

The soft-spoken and bespectacled Mugema says that the name Panado originates from the fact that like many other graduates do, he did not roam streets of Kampala looking for jobs.

With the NRM national delegates' conference drawing near, the race for top leadership positions in the party keeps getting hotter.

The new kid on the block is Mayanja Mbabali, the NRM chairperson-elect for Lwengo district who is tipped to replace Prof. Gilbert Bukenya as the vice chairperson for central region.

Bukenya has been vice chairperson for central region since 2005 and will not be seeking re-election for the same post.

Bukenya is drawn in a fierce battle for secretary general of the party, where he faces the incumbent Amama Mbabazi, trade minister Kahinda Otafiire and Lwemiyaga Member of Parliament Theodore Ssekikubo.

The recently concluded elections to choose the office bearers of the NRM at villages, sub-counties. And district level have once again re-ignited debate about the internal democracy of the party as well as the role of politicians in the country in general.

In many places, NRM voters fear the irregularities, ranging from late or non delivery of voting materials to open bribing of delegates by some candidates could be repeated in the coming primaries for Parliamentary and LC V chairmen elections slated for August 30, about a week from now.

According to some analysts NRM big wigs rushed to become district chairperson mainly to confirm their patronage and establishing themselves as small gods in some areas.

At the recently concluded NRM national delegates conference, Retired Captain Daudi Ruhinda Maguru's decision to stand against President Yoweri Museveni for the chairmanship and hence flag bearer of the party took many by surprise.

Of course, he wasn't the first one to try to cast himself as a fearless unbwogable contender ready to take the fight to the almighty leader of the NRM.

Indeed many were quick to dismiss Ruhinda Maguru as a mere joker while others referred to the little-known retired soldier as an indisciplined cadre intending to take the shine off the revolutionary leader many would want to go through unopposed.

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