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Mao launches presidential campaign today in Kasese
Democratic Party presidential candidate Norbert Mao unveils his posters that were designed by youth at the release of his campaign programme in Kampala yesterday.PHOTO | SHABIBAH NAKIRIGYA
What you need to know:
- When asked if he can withdraw from the race in case Opposition comes to a certain agreement, Mr Mao responded that he is in the race and is going to stay until the end.
The second time presidential contender, also Democratic party (DP) president general, Mr Norbert Mao, is set to launch his presidential campaign today in Kasese.
Speaking to the media while releasing his campaign programme in Kampala yesterday, Mr Mao said DP decided to start with Kasese with the aim to dry their tears because they have been treated as step-children and orphaned district of Uganda .
“As president , I take the oath to protect the country, ensure peace and tranquillity but above all, I will not be a president that relies on rumours which is then referred to as intelligence,” he said.
Mr Mao added that there is a difference between rumour mongers and intelligence gatherers. “To be honest the tragedy in Kasese would have been avoided because as DP we believe in dialogue,” he said.
“You have seen we bent over backwards as DP leadership to have dialogue with everybody even when we were attacked at our headquarters twice, we turned the chin the other way round ,” he added.
Mr Mao said it is the duty of the president to ensure that there is law and order, adding that those who are lawless will be dealt with.
“Indeed, when you’re the president, the Constitution mandates you to use force to enforce the law but that force must be exercised lawfully,’ he said.
Mr Mao added that there must not be excessive force. “We must deploy force after assessment of the threat that would be my policy if I become a president of Uganda,” he said.
He also revealed that although the ground is not levelled well in this campaigns, they trust Ugandans.
“The days we have are not enough but we are going to be creative in the way we campaign, we may not reach everybody but we will reach as many voters as possible through multimedia approach of campaigning,” he said.
When asked if he can withdraw from the race in case Opposition comes to a certain agreement, Mr Mao responded that he is in the race and is going to stay until the end.
“I am in this race not by choice but it’s my destiny,” he said, adding: “I will not have gotten nominated, therefore whatever discussions may be going on will be discussions to take a common stand on issues that affect candidates and make campaigns different.”
Mr Mao, however, said they should confront police brutality together and have observers to monitor elections.
“Covid-19 pandemic has been used to deny international observers the opportunity to come and visit. They said international observer must be quarantined for two weeks which is not fair,” he said.
Artists awarded
During the same function, DP awarded the best three artists who won the presidential poster campaign competitions.
While handing over the prizes, Mr Norbert Mao urged all young people to dream big because the future of Uganda will be built on their dreams.
“It’s our duty as older people not to discourage their dreams. Our goal is to ensure that we promote creativity among the youth and as DP, we have achieved a lot, now we have close to 200 graphic designers,” he said.
The best graphic designer Bruce Niwagaba from Mbarara was awarded Shs1m. The first runners-up got Shs500,000 and the second runners-up received Shs300,000.
