I am not responsible for those crossing to NUP - Mao

Aug 27, 2020

Mao said branch leaders found frustrating DP candidates for opportunistic tendencies, will be subjected to disciplinary procedures.

POLITICS|ELECTIONS

KAMPALA - The Democratic Party (DP) president Norbert Mao has explained that he is not responsible for the members who crossed to the National Unity Platform (NUP), saying it was just their hunger for political office.

‘I am not responsible but their appetite for political office. If you want to go where they eat chicken, you can go, but we shall be happy eating katunkuma (bitter berries) in our home," he noted.

Mao who was addressing journalists at the party's weekly presser at the party head offices in Mengo, a Kampala suburb, noted that it is not even the first defection.

"Some of those who left DP fear competition. DP is a place of competition. We do not ring-fence positions," he noted.

He stressed that: "DP is like a beautiful girl who sees these DJs passing but wait for the right man to come. We shall not go with those who are moving aimlessly all over when we have our faithfulls," he said.

He warned party members who cross to NUP that they will not be supported by the party.

The party president said there are members who have crossed to the other side but still claim to be DP candidates, which cannot be accepted.

"Those who think that they are still patrolling other parties and planning to come back; please you will need visas to come back. DP is not anybody's playground anymore," he noted.

Mao noted that the NEC which sat on August 19th , agreed that all those intending to stand for MP must fill nomination forms (three copies).

"You must have a reference letter from your branch. This is important as the only way we can show that the party is not a water hyacinth which floats on the lake without roots. We must show that DP has roots," he said.

Mao stated that he has already gotten information that some branches are making local alliances, with non-DP candidates, to frustrate DP candidates who want to stand in the same positions. He said this must stop.

He said anybody frustrated by such alliances should go to the party headquarters to be nominated directly by the party's electoral commission.

"It happened in Kira Municipality. You know the mayor of Kira Municipality won election on a DP ticket and has now joined NUP. There was a meeting where the matter of the candidature of that seat was discussed and he stormed that meeting to generally say they are still together. So I understand the meeting said there will be no DP candidate to contest against him even though he is not DP. So those who are interested should look for other positions," he noted.

"I called Julius Mutebi because he is my friend and told him to leave the matter of alliance to me and the principal of NUP. You can't make local alliances at that level," he added.

He said members of DP have a right to contest for any position they are qualified for.

"My own brother Dan Kidega was a candidate in 2006 on NRM ticket. I de-campaigned him and he lost. It almost became a family issue. If you are going to base your politics on blood relations and so on, get out of the party. Go and be a freelance campaigner because the party has expectations from you," he said.

He added; "If you have a brother in Kenya and he is Kenyan and you are in UPDF, you are required to kill him if we have a war. Yes, that is how serious it is, because he is an enemy. For the purposes of the war people kill their own brothers," he added.

Mao said branch leaders found frustrating DP candidates for opportunistic tendencies, will be subjected to disciplinary procedures.

"If you have left DP, goodbye…good luck! If you want a hoe and no one has claimed it, you can come and get it. If not, cooperation will be negotiated at the top," he added.

He said even those who are shamed of belonging to DP should leave the party.

"There are those who are ashamed of belonging to DP. If you are ashamed of belonging to DP, goodbye. Leave those of us who are proud of DP to remain in DP," he noted.

He said it is like having a wife or husband but you don't you don't want to be seen in public with them but "while after switching off the lights, you are there calling them sweetheart, darling and so on in darkness. Why don't you call them sweetheart when there is light?"

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