On July 19, 2025, Ms. Sarah Achieng Opendi was officially declared the winner of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries for the Tororo District Woman Member of Parliament seat. The announcement came on the third day of vote tallying, with the NRM district registrar, Mr. Joseph Kadokech, confirming her victory at approximately 4:22 p.m. Opendi secured 65,750 votes, defeating her closest rival, Ambassador Phibby Awere, who garnered 29,536 votes.
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However, her win was not without controversy. Several candidates, including Ambassador Awere, raised concerns over the integrity of the election process. Awere accused the electoral commission of mishandling declaration forms, alleging that unauthorized individuals accessed them. She further claimed her team was denied access to declaration forms in numerous polling stations and that some results, particularly from Kisoko Sub-county, suspiciously went missing before reappearing under pressure from NRM secretariat supervisors.
The district registrar attributed delays in announcing the final results to persistent disputes and the logistical complexity of tallying votes across the two branches into which the NRM had administratively divided Tororo District. These branches were also managing multiple flag bearer contests, which contributed to the extended timeline.
In her victory speech, Opendi expressed gratitude to her supporters and reaffirmed her commitment to addressing socio-economic challenges in Tororo, such as healthcare access and social vulnerability. Seeking her fourth term in Parliament, she highlighted that the issues in her district mirror national struggles in service delivery and governance.
Opendi emerged ahead of 11 other candidates, including Ambassador Awere and other notable contenders. Her declaration followed the confirmation of Angura Fredrick and Simon Nicholas Owino as NRM flag bearers for Tororo South and North Counties, respectively.
Overall, the Tororo NRM primaries reflect both the competitiveness of internal party democracy and the recurring administrative challenges that continue to shape Uganda’s broader political landscape.
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