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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
YUMBE: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2025
To draw serious attention to the problems hard pressing the people of Yumbe district, Zulaika Nassur, a contestant for the Woman Member of Parliament, has banned hand clapping and applauds during her rallies.
Zulaika said there is nothing to be celebrated in Yumbe that people who want to clap should reserve it for her opponents in the race rather than for herself.
She is challenging the incumbent Naima Avako Gule and Fikira Yassin for the woman parliamentary seat.
A member of the Patriotic League of Uganda, Zulaika has chosen a radio as her symbol for the election, signifying the voice of Yumbe after alleged rigging during the NRM primary elections.
Having traversed 25 sub-counties out of 26 in Yumbe district, the photo-journalist turned politician on Tuesday expressed pain as she reflected on the state of affairs in the district that she attributes to poor leadership.
She has therefore promised to provide leadership that will change the situation by uniting the people, understanding their dialy struggles and work hand-in-hand with the communities to create opportunities for development.
“As a state photographer, I have got the chance to move with President Yoweri Museveni all over Uganda and abroad. I have seen leaders working very hard to develop their areas, but who has cursed us the Aringa people?” she wondered.
Zulaika has worked as a photo-journalist of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces at the office of the Chief of Defence Forces for over 15 years.
She noted that Yumbe was among the first districts to be curved out of Arua district but it is lagging behind in most of the parameters of socio-economic development.
From Yumbe-South Sudan border at Umaruku near Kaya to Kerwa Sub County to Point K border point with Moyo district in Kochi Sub County to Kulacha in Kululu sub county bordering Obongi district to Ombokolo in Arafa Sub County bordering Koboko district the living conditions are squalid.
“In Umaruku, women walk miles to look for water that their hairs are peeling off because of that rough conditions,” asserted Zulaika.
She told the people during rallies in Bijo sub county that at Point K, the people have a grass thatched primary school that burned in April under unclear circumstances when children were coming to conclude the first term.
Zulaika said after receiving the distress call from the community, she the supported the repair works with a tarpaulin to serve for the emergency period.
She noted that Ombokolo is like an island surrounded by swap without any bridge to link the people that one time a breast feeding mother who was going to the market slipped in the swamp, losing the merchandise and falling with the baby into the muddy water.
In Kulacha, an expectant mother who found the stream flooded gave birth at the riverside but the baby died due to the coldness she highlighted.
“Let me ask you; is the government really unable to build a bridge in those areas or built a school for those people? Zulaika posed.
She said Adjumani district is shining with streetlights like London in UK because of the work done by Gen Moses Ali, in Kakumiro district, the residents feel like they should lie down for Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja to walk over because of the unprecedented development she has spearheaded while in Kamuli district, the track record of Rt Hon Rebecca Kadaga signified by abundance of safe water coverage had endeared her to the Bushoga people.
“My people of Aringa we desperately need eye opening to tap opportunities provided by the government to eradicate poverty in our district,” Zulaika added.
She highlighted the parish Development model as one such opportunity that could rapidly lift the people out of poverty.
Zulaika however indicated that the program has not been well implemented due to lack of oversight that instead of receiving sh1m, beneficiaries are given sh500,000.
Yumbe has received the biggest chunk of the PDM funding in West Nile, amounting to sh58.33 billion which has been disbursed to 58334 beneficiaries in 197 parishes.
But the impact on the ground is minimal due to the reported impropriety during implementation.
Zulaika also noted that Yumbe district has a large population of war victim’s having borne the brunt of instability since the violent ouster of late former president Idi Amin.
Several rebel groups operated in the area up to 2002 when the Uganda National Rescue Front II signed a peace accord with the government.
However the war victims have not been compensated, a fact that prompted an elderly woman who endured scars from maiming by rebels during the anarchy years to break down into tears.
Zulaika said she will follow those issues with the responsible people in the office of the president and the Ministry of Defence most of whom she has been photographing during routine work.
She vowed to put an end to the divisive leadership in Yumbe district by bringing together all the members of parliament from the district, the district council and lower local governments to focus on holistic development where everyone benefits as opposed to personal enrichment.
Zulaika emphasized youth skilling, suggesting that one more presidential skilling hub be established in Yumbe to add to the two in West Nile so as to increase the enrolment of the young people for skills training under the statehouse arrangement.
A letter to that effect was penned by Zulaika in July and President Museveni spoke about it during his rally in Yumbe district.
Zulaika therefore asked the people to vote into the office of the district woman member of parliament in order to follow the matter to fulfilment.
