Mao must face the demons haunting DP

Norbert Mao

What you need to know:

The issue: Democratic Party feuds
Our view: As a leader, he should have had the courage to face his demons instead of hanging onto the coattails of the police.

To many bystanders, the inflammatory war of words raging inside the Democratic Party (DP) will have left the outsider suitably perplexed because the DP has generally been mild-mannered, almost docile in its politics.
Today, party leader Norbert Mao finds himself encircled by an unrelenting protagonist in what he sees as an extension of Ssuubi, a tribal enclave inside his party, which has so aggressively turned against him.
This group is, regrettably, known to glorify the insular notion of Buganda first. They want Mr Mao, whom they accuse of selling out to the Museveni regime, out. He will not go quietly though given the bellicose ripostes he has been firing off at Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, the de facto leader of the insurrection.
Political parties must encourage contestation within their ranks for it is this almost violent coming together of opposed views which assures their self-regeneration.

But when a contest takes on sectarian tones, it reveals an unfortunate loss of direction.
Uganda’s oldest party has long wandered in the political wilderness. Instead of retreating into tribal fights, its leaders ought to be enhancing the DP’s national appeal.
Inside Parliament, DP has 15 or so MPs, all of whom excepting the two chaps from Tochi and Gulu Municipality constituencies in Acholiland, are from Buganda region. This will not do.
It shows how narrow its base has become. The party essentially has no foot in many parts of the country. Its Truth and Justice gospel has not been taken to wider Uganda.
Which makes it particularly distressing to see how the internecine strife has unfolded.

Mr Mao isn’t blameless. He has not disabused democrats of the suspicion that he is with the police as it goes about the dastardly business of bludgeoning and teargassing his rivals.
As a leader, he should have had the courage to face his demons instead of hanging onto the coattails of the police. This police has a nasty record of partisanship and is no ally in the quest for good governance.
All democrats must stick with those who fight to exorcise that dark force, lurking in the shadows as it undermines the growth of a credible alternative to the incumbent government. Overcome the political sorcery bewitching your ranks and fomenting the factionalism, which has thrown Ms Nambooze and Mr Mao into this death dance.