The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
đź”´ Cabinet resuffle
âśł Nobert Mao – Justice and Constitutional affairs
âśł Hamson Obua – Chief Whip
âśł Akello Beatrice – State for economic monitoring
âśł Peter Ogwang – State Minister Education & Sports
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | DP Chairman General Nobert Mao has been appointed Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, a day after his party signed a cooperation pact with the ruling NRM party.
Other changes have seen Hanson Obua replaced as the Minister of State for Education and Sports by Peter Ogwang. Obua is now the new Chief Whip.
The National Resistance Movement-NRM party on Wednesday signed a working cooperation agreement with the Democratic Party-DP at State House, Entebbe.
President Yoweri Museveni, also the National chairman of NRM signed on behalf of the party, while Mao, signed on behalf of DP which he leads as President General.
According to a press release by the Presidential Press Unit, NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong and Gerald Siranda of DP, witnessed the signing.
Speaking after the signing, Museveni congratulated Mao upon agreeing to work on steering DP to work with the NRM. He noted that this is something that should have happened at the top administrative level long ago.
“You know the history. I keep telling you that DP without Museveni is not a serious group because I was a very active member of DP,” Museveni said and added that he was very happy with this milestone. He said that although DP has been supporting opposition, they have been friendly and not destructive.
On his part, Mao appreciated the milestone on behalf of his party, saying that this is a continuous journey which started before some of them were born. He told Museveni that he now has the historical opportunity to gather party members scattered all over Uganda.
“You must look for them wherever they are in all the political parties and in all the corners of Uganda,” Mao said. He said that DP is committed to adhering to what has been agreed upon.
“This is a living document. It has to continue growing and we have signed it in a good faith,” Mao said adding that documents signed show that they have managed to resolve the contradictions that they have been having.
He saluted the courage President Museveni exhibited all through and the risks he has taken saying that he is the captain of the ship called Uganda and that it is important to pray for him as he leads.
It is not yet clear what is contained in the signed memorandum. DP, Uganda’s oldest political party joins Uganda People’s Congress to agree to work with the ruling NRM.
*****
URN
Who will check the government if most opposition parties are going into bed with ruling party amidst higher levels of corruption in the country. Ugandans let us remain calm and humble as we shall leave every thing happening in this country into the hands of God.
I have known the pary from the 1960s and observed the changes among its supporters. These range from the high energy of 1980 to some becoming members of NRM by stroke of a pen, when they were appointed campaign agents in 1996
A good number maintained faith in the party, occasionally voting for candidates who were likely to get a bigger number of votes, but never abandoned the Party.
Please bear with them, every five years the number of votes cast for the Party President kept reducing.
With so much attachment, it became unbearable to hear the talk from the President. He is too intelligent, there is no way he could have mistaken a vote of despair, to be one for a party that operated in the 1960s. This was an inner dislike for a group of people!
I now ask, honorable minister, the people you kept descibing in such a manner, should they expect fairness from you? I have seen the lemon green colour being donned by your close associates, this message conveys a deeper meaning. So what is the status quo?
On behalf of families expelled for supporting DP in 1980
Mao, another Oolanya ruckus….
While every relationship waxes and wanes overtime, the Mao – DP relationship started on rocky grounds. There was a lot of discomfiture that members spent more time arguing than enjoying each others’ company. …Nambooze came out and referred to Hon. Mao as a “pumpkin” (green on the outside but yellow in the inside). As the criticism and name-calling intensified, Mao turned the irascible character and returned the token of affection to whoever was in his awake….he referred to Nambooze as “watermelon” (green on the outside but red in the inside). But it has been Lukwango who has faced Mao’s knife-pointed end the more…he always pointed out that the lord mayor carried a swollen head like that of a blue iguana -lizard (e’kokome)…he was metaphorically speaking to the uncompromising ultra-ego of the mayor. Since then, Nambooze has moved on to join NUP (red), Lukwango joined FDC (blue) and Moa joins now the NRM (yellow). But as pundits are quick to predict the downfall of DP, there’s equal disquiet among the rank and file within the ruling NRM who continue to miss out on the rewards that they feel they’ve fought hard for… and this kills the cadreship… down playing on the morale and motivation within the party.
But even when Mao has decided to move on and join NRM (government), he insists, that he will continue to have a long-distance relationship with the DP. The purpose of this discussion is to find out whether Mao’s intended wishes will see the light of day…. Mao’s relationship with DP had run its full course before it even started.. There were irreconcilable differences from the beginning but like any new weds, Mao and DP were moonraking and taking on their relationship as “work-in-progress.” But as time has proven, the differences seem to be inherent. DP and Mao don’t jell…. DP is by formation a conservative party..a Catholic formation mainly dominated by the Baganda… following our political history, Buganda seemed to be the bedrock on which Ugandan politics would be played. The colonialist and in the face of the 1900 agreement, Protestantism was chosen as Uganda’s official religion… this officially licensed other religions into the opposition… and this is how the DP came into being…it has never left its ethnic base nor its religious realm. Following the fallout between the KY and UPC, when Milton Obote declared Mengo/Buganda as corrivals, Buganda found a willing partner in DP…., and Mengo became the defacto seat for Uganda’s opposition.. this continued into the IDD Amin junta and it were these sentiments around which Museveni rallied his 1980- 85 guerrilla warfare…. creating a diametric divide between the North and the South. It was always going to be an uphill climb for a person of Norbert Mao’s origin to be at the forefront of Uganda’s liberation given our political history. And, therefore, it should be considered that Mao’s failure at the helm of the Democratic party was mainly due to the rejection of his own conscious. But now that he has moved on into the Movement…. what are his chances of fulfilling his political ambitions….if any. For good measure, the move by Mao to leave the DP could have come late but it was a desired one…by both the DP and Mao himself…. Mao was considered “alien” in a party he superintended over… his allegiance was always looked at with suspicion. The collective guilt of being a “Northerner” hoovered large over his shoulders…. the DP -Mao relationship was unsatisfying as it was unfulfilling. But what does the future spell for Mao now in the Movement…. the Movement is another ethnic grouping but with the coercive instruments of the state that it’s now seen as a “massive party” not out of persuasion but rather conscription.. the Movement is a military outfit with outlier processes of democratic mockery geared towards legitimising their authority. Dr. Karyeija at the Uganda Management Institute (UMI) has subtly put it that, “the Movement is quick to co-opt individuals but slow on adopting ideas.” Meaning, there are a multitude of politicians that have joined the NRM but they have had little/no input to the way the movement has transacted itself. Will Mao have an impact…. considering from where he stands….no. Mao, like many he has followed….he’s going to be used and dumped… Museveni seems to have a plan for Mao…he is going to provide him with all the necessary authority (including unconstitutional powers) and equipment to execute Museveni’s plan….. and his plans may not be far from Mao’s plans….to persecute and harm those that they consider enemies…. and the execution of this plan could be ethnical in nature (tackle Mengo & NUP). If and when this happens, NRM will strategically annihilate “MAOISM” out of the NRM with whatever power they can exert. At the death of Hon. Jacob Oolanya, Hon. Norbert Moa echoed the words of Jacob’s father…. that Jacob was “poisoned.” The person/people who poisoned Jacob were never mentioned…. but Jacob had jumped ship from the UPC to NRM and he had attained the third most coveted position in Uganda’s political hierarchy…. Moa has taken on a similar path like that of his friend…. let’s hope that even when he gets overambitious and seeks to take up the reigns of power from his newly found master, the “echo” of poison will continuously reverberate at the back of his mind.
Rajab Kakyama
I appreciate this piece
I however do not understand why individuals equate DP to Mengo, what happened to the history of this region?
How did the DP evolve? I am privileged to have been born to a Catholic man from Masaka. My mother a serious DP activists had cousins who were not catholics, I know what they thought of DP ( may be even to date)
Growing up in Bulemezi gave me another angle to DP, when the group realised that the Catholic candidate of one of the constituencies had short comings they fronted a medical doctor. ( non catholic)
With regard to ethnic approach, I just pity this country, for all I know there are no minutes to prove that people so disliked by some politicians have a common decision in relation to political affiliation. I know of members of UPC who have not switched to other political parties. We have put up with this hatred for decades, it operates at all levels of society; let the occupants of this land get to be more objective
Those of us who bear scars from associating with DP will continue with its values, it is the only way we can respect those who sacrificed for its vibrant era
Brilliant,
Hon minister, you have spent one year discussing with the 11 member committee about this great achievement.
Congratulations
After watching a discussion on TV, where one can accept conditions of ” democracy, but practice something else, we have to move forward
We pray that you will remember to revisit a promise that you have always made on Television, that of revisiting the truth related to activities of your great friends as they gradually gained ground.
Do not forget to account for the other side too.
Then account for the population that had nothing to do with the two groups in terms of life property and disruption of society
Furthermore, make a well informed review of problems of Uganda. It does not make sense for a few individuals from a region to recommend forgiveness and reconciliation while ignoring the victims of the incidents. In some areas, even the act of talking of what happened has not only been blocked but is being premptied by initiating spiritual healing. The human being is silent but recalls every detail of pain.
Also remember the not so expressed but operational tendency of down grading certain regions by the progressive Uganda
We shall then believe your contribution to common good
In God we trust
Longlive Uganda
Request to honourable minister:
We have a grave of a female Ugandan, who had travelled to Kenya without official documents. She went in labour and the fellow traders opted to bring her back to Uganda in a canoe ( motorboat would attract …). She suffered a ruptured uterus and together with the baby, they could not make it(RIP). In the same period, any one could walk into a Ugandan hospital, school, and get a service.
On many occasions individuals being considered bonafide occupants of land do not speak the “real” language of the villages involved.
It is our hope that the description of occupants of this land is not only described, but respected in terms of implementing the law and or catering for equity
Other wise what is the benefit of such an identifier(nationality)?
What happened to who the case where students at Makerere University were beaten and thrown into prison for over one week?
Some are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress