By Stanley Ebele
With less than two months to the NRM party primaries, two women have thrown in their hats to challenge Kotido District, incumbent Woman Member of Parliament Margaret Achilla Aleper, for the party flag.
The two include the Kotido District Vice Chairperson Nuria Isa Teko, and Rebecca Acheboi, a social worker by profession.
This brings the number of aspirants for the juicy position to three so far, with the incumbent who has been in Parliament since 2006, recently declaring that her interest to run for the fourth term.
She made the pronouncement while officiating the district belated Women’s Day celebrations held at Lomukura grounds as the chief celebrant .
Without state exactly what she has done for her constituents in the last 15 years she has been in Parliament, Aleper claims that she has done a lot of remarkable things for her voters, which make her a better candidate compared to other contenders.
“Whether you’re a soldier, fisherman, teacher, clergy, civil servant, woman, or any voting-age person, give me another mandate for my achievements,” says Aleper.
In her part, Nuria Isa Teko, emphasises that her focus will be on accountability, transparency and proactive leaderships.
She vows to be a linkage between government and the voters by presenting their concerns before parliament for redress and provide them with a feedback.
Teko criticises the alleged current disconnect between the electorates and the current leaders.
Meanwhile Rebecca Acheboi, pledges to focus on economic empowerment of local community through supporting village saving groups and skilling the unemployed youths.
Acheboi explains that she is a firm believer and community empowerment and she is eager to leverage her position as Member of Parliament once elected to drive polices that promote sustainable development and benefit the local people.
She also emphasises her readiness to improve the education and health standards, once elected a Member of Parliament.
“Good health is the foundation factor that enables people over poverty as the bod healthy is better equipped to engage in economic which in turn improve their household income”, Acheboi notes.
Their expression of interest comes a week after the NRM Secretary-General, Rt. Hon. Richard Todwong unveiled the roadmap on April 15th, this year.
The roadmap, running from April 2025 to February 2026, outlines a series of internal party processes starting from grassroots elections and leading up to the nomination of presidential candidates and the general election.
As per the roadmap, NRM party internal elections will kicks off next week on April 24 with the expression of interest and nomination for LC1 chairpersons and village party structure officials.
The election of LCI flag bearers and village party structures is slated for May 6, 2025: Election, primaries for parliamentary candidates will take place on July 16, 2025.
Primaries for LCV chairpersons, mayors, and councilors, LCIII chairpersons and parish councilors are scheduled for July 24, 2025 and August 18, 2025 respectively, while October 23, 2025 will be the nomination date for presidential candidates.
The unveiling of the NRM election roadmap has seen a number of people with ambitions to vie for various elective positions under NRM ticket, expressing their interest to compete for the party flag, ahead of the forthcoming general polls, with others promise voters heaven on earth.
