Prime
Mao should resign from DP, MP Lulume insists
Photo combo: Buikwe South legislator, Lulume Bayiga (L) and DP president Norbert Mao (R). PHOTOS/ DAVID LUBOWA/ FILE
What you need to know:
- NRM has a similar agreement with the opposition Uganda People’s Congress led by Jimmy Micheal Akena, the son of former president Milton Obote.
- Museveni’s critics have over the years accused him of only allowing a semblance of the opposition to boost his democratic credentials with donors.
A faction of the Democratic Party (DP) members opposed to the now Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Nobert Mao has demanded that he resigns his position as party president.
The faction through their leader, also the Buikwe South legislator, Dr Lulume Bayiga argue that Mr Mao should be relieved of his duties in the party because his actions have cast the country's oldest political party in bad light.
"We advise him to tender in his resignation as DP president to save DP from negative press arising out of court battles and political upheavals rendered by him at our party headquarters," Dr Lulume told journalists at Parliament on Wednesday.
This comes amid reports that President Museveni distanced himself from transition talk allegedly being peddled by Mr Mao.
To this end, Dr Lulume demanded that the details of the agreement signed between Mr Mao and Mr Museveni be made public.
"We would like to challenge him to disclose the transition agenda other than tweeting about a transition he never discussed with his boss, Museveni," Dr Lulume said.
According to Mr Mao, 55, it is better to plan for a transition rather being plunged into it.
“I’m glad that President Museveni’s recent interview cleared the air. We did not discuss details of transition. All we stated was our aspiration for a peaceful and democratic presidential transition,” Mr Mao tweeted on Wednesday.
Mao’s appointment as minister on July 20 came a day after his party signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
The former presidential contender argues his decision to work with the NRM – which he has for years criticised for its poor record on human rights, governance and rule of law – is a bid to create a better Uganda.
NRM has a similar agreement with the opposition Uganda People’s Congress led by Jimmy Micheal Akena, the son of former president Milton Obote.
Mr Mao, a lawyer who has led DP for nearly 12 years, has been accused by party members of poor administration, hobnobbing with the NRM and creating factions within the party.
In the run up to the general election in 2021, 11 MPs subscribing to DP defected to the new National Unity Platform party led by Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
Mao joins a growing list of opposition politicians that Museveni has wooed to his side in recent years.
They include Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, who was appointed minister for Youth and Child Affairs after losing the Kampala Woman MP seat on the DP ticket.
Mao had condemned her appointment and announced that his party would not work with her.
“We have had a very bad experience with those relations. Basing on what happened after the liberation war in 1986 in the gentleman’s agreement where DP members like John Ssebaana Kizito, Paul Kawanga Ssemwogerere joined Museveni and gained nothing, we can’t work with him (Museveni) again,” Mao had said.
Museveni’s critics have over the years accused him of only allowing a semblance of the opposition to boost his democratic credentials with donors.
