Kampala — THE race for Kyadondo North is on. The seat fell vacant after Dr. Kibirige Ssebunya passed away last month.

A by-election is being planned soon and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) is determined to retain the seat. It has reportedly picked Robert Ssebunya, the late Kibirige's son, as the candidate.

Word wafting in from the opposition has it that the inter-party co-operation, grouping the Conservative Party, Uganda People's Congress, JEEMA and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), plans to field one candidate.

However, there are complaints that FDC is behaving like the boss and bullying others into backing its own candidate. The Democratic Party (DP), which reportedly refused to join the cooperation citing FDC as unreliable, will have its own candidate.

Since FDC reneged on an agreement to back one candidate in the Kalungu East by-election last year, DP does not trust it. According to rumours, Nasser Takuba is tipped to be the DP candidate.

The inter-party co-operation will use the by-election to test the strategy of using a sole candidate to win elections. The plan is to strengthen opposition parties' union with a possibility of fielding a sole presidential candidate in 2011.