Mbidde’s group defies DP, holds village polls

A section of Democratic Party (DP) members allied to party vice president Fred Mukasa Mbidde has defied the official party position and organised grassroots elections in Masaka District.
Unlike Wakiso, Mukono and Kampala districts where elections were suspended, in Masaka, the exercise was conducted between last Thursday and last Friday.
The election of new village party leaders in three constituencies of Bukoto East, Bukoto Central and Masaka Municipality was conducted in disregard of a circular issued by the DP national organising secretary, Mr Sulaiman Kidandala on January 30, suspending the elections.
Mr Kidandala halted the exercise, citing irregularities pointed out by some grassroots party members, including the use of uncertified voter registers.
Mr Kidandala said for the effective implementation of the decisions of the party’s national executive committee and to have legitimate electoral process, he had decided to recall all election materials which had not been dispatched by his office.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr Kidandala said the new printed electoral materials will today be dispatched to all districts ahead of party grassroots elections.
However, in a dramatic twist of events, Mr Mbidde, who also doubles as the Masaka District DP chairperson, dismissed reports calling off the exercise.
“An individual [Kidandala] cannot take a decision to halt a roadmap for the party. If there were irregularities as some party members claim, NEC has to sit and look into such issues,” he said.
According to the DP returning officer for Masaka, Mr Patrick Ziiwa, they could not halt the elections because by the time they received the communication from the party organising secretary, members at the village level had already started voting.
“We just heard over the radio that the elections had been called off. We wondered why an election roadmap released by the party NEC could be halted without prior notice. It is irregular and we could not go by the decision made by a single individual without approval of the entire committee [NEC],” he said.
To resolve this impasse, Daily Monitor has learnt that party top leaders have today called a crisis meeting at the party headquarters in Mengo, Kampala, to forge a way forward on the botched internal elections.
Mr Denis Lukanga Majwala, the Masaka DP party spokesperson, said Mr Kidandala did not have any right to call off the elections.
“The tenure of office for many grassroots party leaders expired and we cannot risk having our party de-registered because of lack of leadership,” he said.
Party intrigue
The DP party branch in Masaka has been shrouded in endless political fights since 2018 when Mr Mbidde declared interest to challenge Mr Matthias Mpuuga in next year’s parliamentary elections. DP, the country’s oldest party has lived a fighting life, battling with both internal and external challenges. Most disagreements usually occur at a time when members are expected to unite for a common cause.