19YEARS OLD TEENAGE GIRL WINS PARLIAMENTARY SEAT IN UGANDA
Posted on
Sep 15, 2012
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| Ms Oromait |
One of the country’s longest serving constituency representative, Sam Kuteesa (Mawogola), had been in active politics for 13 years by the time Uganda’s youngest MP-elect Proscovia Alengot Oromait was born in 1993.
Mr Kuteesa, the present foreign affairs minister-designate, joined Parliament in 1980, having been elected member for Nyabushozi on the Democratic Party ticket. In that election, he defeated President Museveni who had been in power for seven years by the time the new Usuk County MP was brought into this world. A few months ago Ms Oromait was sitting her A-Level exams. Now she is headed to Parliament to represent the people after controversially winning Wednesday’s by-election.
The 19-year-old becomes the youngest MP in the country’s history, taking up the seat on the ruling party ticket after it fell vacant following the death of her father.
“It is not the age that matters,” she said on Wednesday in an interview with NTV Uganda. “I knew I was going to win because I had the support of the people. So I was not worried.”
She was declared winner of the race by the Electoral Commission with 11,059 (54.2 per cent) votes against her nearest challenger, independent and former MP Charles Oleny Ojok who returned 5,329 (26.1per cent). Forum for Democratic Change’s Charles Okure took 2,725 (13.3 per cent) in the nine-horse race.
Opio Edekep, who managed Ms Alengot’s campaign, says the MP-elect is supposed to join Uganda Christian University Mukono this year but will now have to divide her time between the lecture room and the parliamentary chambers.
Despite her age, Ms Alengot is not a stranger to politics; her campaign manager says she was closely involved in her father’s campaign as well as the projects he had promised to initiate in the constituency, including lobbying for education and health infrastructure.
Mr Kuteesa, the present foreign affairs minister-designate, joined Parliament in 1980, having been elected member for Nyabushozi on the Democratic Party ticket. In that election, he defeated President Museveni who had been in power for seven years by the time the new Usuk County MP was brought into this world. A few months ago Ms Oromait was sitting her A-Level exams. Now she is headed to Parliament to represent the people after controversially winning Wednesday’s by-election.
The 19-year-old becomes the youngest MP in the country’s history, taking up the seat on the ruling party ticket after it fell vacant following the death of her father.
“It is not the age that matters,” she said on Wednesday in an interview with NTV Uganda. “I knew I was going to win because I had the support of the people. So I was not worried.”
She was declared winner of the race by the Electoral Commission with 11,059 (54.2 per cent) votes against her nearest challenger, independent and former MP Charles Oleny Ojok who returned 5,329 (26.1per cent). Forum for Democratic Change’s Charles Okure took 2,725 (13.3 per cent) in the nine-horse race.
Opio Edekep, who managed Ms Alengot’s campaign, says the MP-elect is supposed to join Uganda Christian University Mukono this year but will now have to divide her time between the lecture room and the parliamentary chambers.
Despite her age, Ms Alengot is not a stranger to politics; her campaign manager says she was closely involved in her father’s campaign as well as the projects he had promised to initiate in the constituency, including lobbying for education and health infrastructure.
