Rival faction calls polls a fraud

Feb 21, 2010

MEMBERS of the DP national executive council opposed to the Mbale delegates’ conference have dismissed the DP elections as a fraud.

By Henry Mukasa

MEMBERS of the DP national executive council opposed to the Mbale delegates’ conference have dismissed the DP elections as a fraud.

“Mao is a beneficiary of a fraud. His credibility has been sacrificed at the altar of his political expedience to become president of a DP faction,” said Lulume Bayiga, the deputy secretary general in the “old” executive.

Mao, the youthful and outspoken Gulu district chairman, defeated Kampala mayor Nasser Sebaggala to become the party’s fifth president. Mao polled 708 votes against Sebaggala’s 321 votes.

Lulume and his group maintained that the people who gathered in Mbale were a break-away faction who elected party officials illegally.

“There is a dividing line between a party and a faction. That faction of the mainstream party went to Mbale. They will find us in Kampala and negotiate for legitimacy and a certificate of occupancy,” he said.

He described the elected officials as a crop of people who have for many years been rocking the party and confusing its centre-right ideology with a socialist monetary-driven ideology.

He said the situation was exacerbated when out-going party leader Ssebaana Kizito failed to choose which ideology the party should follow. “He wanted to eat with both hands. Consequently, our international linkages and funding were curtailed.”

Lulume accused the new officials of having made deals with the NRM Government in the past.

“The man who claims to be chairman was reinstated as mayor after negotiations with the Government,” Lulume said.

Jinja mayor Kezaala was arrested on the orders of former IGG Faith Mwondha on charges of corruption but he was later acquitted by court.

“Mbidde was sacked by the Uganda Young Democrats for his closeness to the NRM, while Kakande, who stood as DP candidate in Nakawa, is a quasi personal assistant of Freddie Ruhindi, the NRM MP who defeated him. They work in the same chambers.”

Lulume Bayiga predicted that drama will ensue this week as the elected officials try to legitimise themselves.

He also announced that their faction will announce the location of its new offices and give way to “violent thugs recruited by MP Isa Kikungwe to beat up party leaders”.

The Lulume group plans to organise its own delegates’ conference on April 24. Former party leader Paul Semmogerere continues to try and unite the party, according to Lulume.

But even when the talks succeed, the Mbale elections will not be embraced, he stressed. “We cannot embrace an illegality.”

Asked for a reaction, Mathias Nsubuga, who was elected secretary general in Mbale, insisted that the delegates’ conference was convened in a legal way and organised successfully.

Ssebaana referred to Lulume’s group as disgruntled Kampala-based members.

“You should not be deceived by what you read in Kampala. The confusion among members of the national executive council does not reflect what is at the grassroots,” he said.

He boasted that over 1,400 delegates attended the Mbale meeting and the few who did not had received text messages discouraging them. He singled out delegates from Rakai, Kalangala, Lyantonde and Sembabule as victims of the intimidation.

New legal adviser Mukasa Mbidde said he would embark on a process to amend the party constitution.

He said DP had been reduced to a Kampala-based party but the new leaders will market it across the country.

“People are waiting for a new Uganda. The oldest party has given leadership to young people. Many youth will be recruited because we are the oldest party with the newest hope.”

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