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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2025
The nominations for the various electoral positions in Arua City have ended with the electoral commission registering 45 candidates, four of whom sailed through unopposed.
Those declared without opponents are the two youth councilors, the male elderly representative and the Female workers’ representative all of whom ascribe to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Following their declaration as councilors, Gift Magezi and Hope Perry Nyadi said they will work tirelessly to ensure that young people’s voices are heard both in and outside the council.
Osman Ezale, the Arua city returning officer said apart from two people who were turned away – one because he failed to raise the five required supporters to second his candidature and the other for lack of academic qualification- all who showed up were nominated without hiccups.
The NRM registered 18 candidates, the Democratic Party registered four, the National Unity Platform, the Forum for Democratic Change and the Peoples Front for Freedom each registered single candidates while 20 people nominated as independents.
Ezale disclosed that the office of the City Mayor attracted three candidates, Gasper Pirio of the DP, Lawrence Alionzi of the NRM and Trinity Caesar Draecabo, an independent candidate.
“I have a clear agenda to transform Arua City to be for prosperous people,” Draecabe declared after his nomination.
The Municipal and City Development Forum chairman said he is on a mission to stop “commission agents who have an agenda of transactional leadership.”
“Arua City is not for sale. Our people do not just need city cleaners with handouts but a fixture to address livelihoods, better road networks, healthcare and good governance,” he said.
Draecabo said he is coming as an independent candidate because service delivery should not be tagged to political party colours.
He defended his choice of a clock as a symbol saying that both politicians and civil servants need to be marked to ensure that the people are not delayed services.
On his part, Alionzi thanked the people of Arua city for the trust they show in him, declaring that he is only the apex of a generational movement that is people centered and driven by the desire for change.
He told his supporters that the nomination marks the beginning of the second phase of the journey following the hot primary elections.
“Let us stay united and complete the journey. We will deliver services to the best of our ability,” he said.
