The Rev Willy Kintu Muhanga, the new Fort
Portal mayor. Photo by Scovia Atuhaire
By Felix Basiime
& Scovia Atuhaire
Posted Saturday, March 12 2016 at 02:00
Posted Saturday, March 12 2016 at 02:00
The Rev Willy Kintu
Muhanga Ateenyi, 36, (Independent) is the new Fort Portal municipality mayor.
He took the town by storm when he was elected last week replacing Asaba Ruyonga
(NRM), who has been in office for the last 15 years. Hundreds of his supporters
jubilated for two consecutive days paralysing business in the town centre.
Rev Muhanga was born on June 19, 1980. He is the only child in the family of Steven Kintu and Kate Kezabu of Kigwengwe, Karambi, Burahya County in Kabarole District.
He went to Mukumbwe Primary School for Primary One
and Primary Two from 1990 to 1991, before he joining St Peter and Paul Primary
School Virika for Primary Three to Primary Seven from 1992 to 1996.
He was at Global Skills SS from S.1 to S.3 and later
Rukidi III SS, where he completed O-Level before joining Mpanga SS for A-Level
in Fort Portal.In 2003, he joined Uganda Christian University Mukono for a
Bachelor’s degree in Divinity and Theology and graduated in 2008. On January
10, 2009, Rev Muhanga got married to Ms Rosette Muhanga, a teacher, and the
couple now has three children.
After university, he became the Chaplain’s Bishop of Rwenzori Diocese between 2009 and 2010 before he became a youth worker at Rwenzori Diocese in 2011.
He later became the Parish priest for Kagote Church of
Uganda and Kidukuru from 2011 to 2014.
When asked to describe himself, Rev Muhanga says: “I am God-fearing, humble, with a lot of listening skills and friendly to everyone.”
He believes that the secret of good parenting is creating an environment that is child-friendly and giving much time to children.
“Because children learn a lot from their parents and imparting the fear of God upon their lives, I take my family as my first priority,” he says.
During his leisure time, Rev Muhanga likes watching television, especially watching football and he is an Arsenal fan. He likes listening to gospel music and also likes being with his family.
From church to
politics
His dream to join politics started from a tender age when he was still in primary school.
“I aspired to join politics because I love politics and politics is my passion.
I was the class captain from primary three to primary seven,” he says, adding:
“I like being with my people, serving them and working with them and that’s why
I decided to go for mayoral seat”.
He was inspired by the Bible, especially Proverbs chapter 29: 2, which says,
“When the righteous are in authority, people rejoice but when the wicked rule,
people drown”.
Rev Muhanga says politics and church go hand in hand.
“Right away from creation, man was created as a leader. Genesis 1:26-28, God commanded man to rule all creation ‘dominion’ and in theology they train the whole man both physically and spiritually,” he says.
Rev Muhanga says politics and church go hand in hand.
“Right away from creation, man was created as a leader. Genesis 1:26-28, God commanded man to rule all creation ‘dominion’ and in theology they train the whole man both physically and spiritually,” he says.
During his term in office, Rev Muhanga expects to be a servant of the people; to serve and not to be served and bring service delivery to the people of Fort Portal municipality.
Apart from being a priest, Muhanga is the youngest mayor Fort Portal has ever had.
“I want to be a role model to the youth because I am not far from the youth age bracket,” he says.
His priorities and plans
Bringing together the people of Fort Portal for the development of the area, the religious and business community and Tooro kingdom at large is his dream in his first year in office.
“I want to bring together the people of Fort Portal municipality and I will cooperate with all other leaders in Fort Portal Municipality and Tooro region at large,” he says.
He adds: “Development of infrastructure like roads,
health centres and schools in the municipality, lighting the city because it
has been in darkness for the last 15 years and also completing council chambers
are my priority”
He also plans to extend water to all corners of the municipality in collaboration with NWSC because it has been a big problem.
In his manifesto, he promised to bring unity among all leaders in the municipality in order to achieve Vision 2040 of Fort Portal becoming a Tourism city.
“There has been bickering and disagreements among the leaders in the current regime which retarded the development of the city status,” he reasons.
He also promised transparency and always give
accountability to the people he serves.
“I will be an engine for development of all, youth, women, orphans and widows and always lobby for them through Saccos and community development fund,” he says.
“I will be an engine for development of all, youth, women, orphans and widows and always lobby for them through Saccos and community development fund,” he says.
He also promises to lobby for bursaries to needy students and best performing students in their respective schools and create a forum for the business community of Fort Portal, which will cater for their issues.
How he won the tight race
Despite the mayoral race having four candidates, Asaba and Muhanga remained in
a tight race leaving Mr Johnson Mwanguhya Kadama (Independent) and Mr Patrick
Baguma (FDC) as under dogs.
This was finally seen in the final tally as Rev Muhanga polled 8,903 votes against Asaba Edson Ruyonga’s 8, 296 out of 17, 359 votes cast at 65 polling stations while Kadama and Baguma polled 80 votes each. Some residents say Asaba foul lost because he allegedly used abusive language during campaigns - a thing that worked against him. Most religious leaders and the business community backed Rev Muhanga.
No comments:
Post a Comment