DP refutes Mbidde's statements on supporting Kyagulanyi

ELECTION WATCH 

The Democratic Party has refuted claims by the party's vice president that he had been okayed by the party's president general, Norbert Mao to support the National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate.

While launching his campaign program in Masaka on Sunday (November 15, 2020), Fred Mukasa Mbidde, told the gathering that he had talked to his boss, requesting him to allow him to campaign for Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.

"I talked to my boss the president general of DP, Norbert Mao. I requested him to allow me to campaign for the NUP's presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi and he accepted," he said.

Mbidde is vying for the MP seat for the newly created Nyendo-Mukungwe constituency in Masaka City.

In a statement issued by the party spokesperson, Okoler Opio Lo Amanu, the party says the statement by the party's vice president is false.

"The statement by the DP Vice President that the party president okayed his decision to support the NUP presidential candidate is totally untrue and it should not only be ignored but also treated with the utmost contempt it does deserve," reads the statement.

Amanu stressed that the party president cannot endorse support for another party's candidate when he himself is a presidential flagbearer, in the same manner, Mbidde wouldn't endorse support for Mathias Mpuuga by agreeing with some members of his team to support his rival.

"That said, we strongly believe that no party member can in good conscience support a candidate from another party for any position when DP has a candidate," Amanu noted.

He said party members have to take responsibility for their decisions save where there's collective responsibility based on a formal decision by a party organ.

He added that DP respects the freedom of members to hold opinions and make decisions, stressing that if such decisions are to be construed as being unreasonable then members should be prepared to shoulder the burden of guilt without tagging the party president ‘as is the case at present'.

He said DP shall not be distracted from pursuing its goals for which it was established in 1954.

Amanu noted that DP has candidates in various positions and it is the duty of all members of the party to back the party candidates.

He warned that members who back candidates from other parties undermine the unity and solidarity of the party.

He further noted that while political pressures that compel conflicted party members to get derailed into supporting candidates from other parties are understandable, they are unacceptable and contrary to the provisions of the party constitution.