DP refutes NRM links with Mao
Jun 11, 2008
GULU LC5 chairman Norbert Mao has never been a cadre of the ruling NRM party, the Democratic Party leadership in the district has said.
By Cornes Lubangakene
GULU LC5 chairman Norbert Mao has never been a cadre of the ruling NRM party, the Democratic Party leadership in the district has said.
At the weekend, the Third Deputy Prime Minister Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, told student cadre trainees at Gulu University that Mao was among the NRM cadres who had gone astray and the party was trying to bring him back to the system.
However, in a strongly-worded press statement issued on Tuesday, Gulu DP chairman Kerubino Uma said Mao, who is also the party’s vice-president for the greater north, had never been an NRM cadre.
“The Mao I know and whose campaign team I headed during the 2001 parliamentary elections has ever been a faithful and die-hard member of DP which party has made him what he is today,†Uma said.
“The Mao I often interact with is honest, principled, extraordinarily brave, anti-corruption-minded and not a political prostitute.â€
He noted that Kivejinja was not the only one in the NRM ranks trying to persuade Mao to cross over, but some other big shots in Kampala and Gulu had also tried.
“I call upon the NRM leadership to groom their own young men and women in the manner DP did to Mao and many others the party is continuing to prepare for national leadership.â€
Uma, who is also DP regional coordinator for the northern region, said the ruling party should be grateful to them because DP has many people serving in the current government because “it is the oldest party with great skills in training and producing political leaders.â€
“Instead of requesting Mao, who has never been a member of NRM to ‘return’ to it, it is more logical for us to invite all those senior members of the Cabinet who were trained by our party, to resign from NRM and rejoin the true fold which nurtured them politically,†Uma added.
He cited the vice-president, the speaker and his deputy.
The idea of cadre courses was welcome if it was meant to bring together youth and other Ugandans to resolve common problems affecting their country but loses meaning if it is instead used as a recruitment ground for new cadres of the ruling party, he pointed out.
According to Uma, the leaders of other political parties should also be allowed to address the trainees in cadre courses.
GULU LC5 chairman Norbert Mao has never been a cadre of the ruling NRM party, the Democratic Party leadership in the district has said.
At the weekend, the Third Deputy Prime Minister Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, told student cadre trainees at Gulu University that Mao was among the NRM cadres who had gone astray and the party was trying to bring him back to the system.
However, in a strongly-worded press statement issued on Tuesday, Gulu DP chairman Kerubino Uma said Mao, who is also the party’s vice-president for the greater north, had never been an NRM cadre.
“The Mao I know and whose campaign team I headed during the 2001 parliamentary elections has ever been a faithful and die-hard member of DP which party has made him what he is today,†Uma said.
“The Mao I often interact with is honest, principled, extraordinarily brave, anti-corruption-minded and not a political prostitute.â€
He noted that Kivejinja was not the only one in the NRM ranks trying to persuade Mao to cross over, but some other big shots in Kampala and Gulu had also tried.
“I call upon the NRM leadership to groom their own young men and women in the manner DP did to Mao and many others the party is continuing to prepare for national leadership.â€
Uma, who is also DP regional coordinator for the northern region, said the ruling party should be grateful to them because DP has many people serving in the current government because “it is the oldest party with great skills in training and producing political leaders.â€
“Instead of requesting Mao, who has never been a member of NRM to ‘return’ to it, it is more logical for us to invite all those senior members of the Cabinet who were trained by our party, to resign from NRM and rejoin the true fold which nurtured them politically,†Uma added.
He cited the vice-president, the speaker and his deputy.
The idea of cadre courses was welcome if it was meant to bring together youth and other Ugandans to resolve common problems affecting their country but loses meaning if it is instead used as a recruitment ground for new cadres of the ruling party, he pointed out.
According to Uma, the leaders of other political parties should also be allowed to address the trainees in cadre courses.