Mao seeks fourth term as DP president
Democratic Party president and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Norbert Mao (second right) during the nomination exercise at the party offices on Balintuma Road in Kampala on April 29, 2025. PHOTO/SHABIBAH NAKIRIGYA
What you need to know:
- He has been president of the Democratic Party since 2010, three time presidential candidate and served as the Local Council 5 chairman for Gulu District.
The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr Norbert Mao, yesterday picked nomination forms, seeking re-election to serve a fourth term as the President General of the Democratic Party (DP) .
Mr Mao has been at the helm of one of the oldest parties since 2010. He is seeking another five years in office. The deadline for picking nomination forms for all interested candidates is April 30, and elections will be held between May 30 and June 1 during the party’s delegates conference scheduled to take place in Mbarara City. This comes amid criticism from some party members, who have vowed to dislodge him, calling him a traitor.
“I am still the strong man who will drive DP out of these turbulences, that is why I am here today to pick the nomination forms,” he said during a press conference yesterday.
He announced his National Vice President as Mr Mukasa Mbidde, his campaign manager. He added: “I want to warn the people who want to destroy the DP that it will not happen… as long as I am still the DP president, we will confront those playing the politics of tribalism and I am sure we shall defeat them.”
The party is currently embroiled in internal wrangles that have cost the party its membership across the country. Some MPs quit the party and joined other parties. The disagreements escalated ahead of the 2021 elections when several DP members crossed to the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party.
These include Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mathias Mpuuga, Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, Mr Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala County), Mr Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West), Mr Medard Segona (Busiro County), Mr Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West) and Mr Ssempala Kigozi (former Makindye Ssabagabo), among others.
Tensions further flared when Mr Mao signed a cooperation agreement with the NRM in 2022, which saw him being appointed Justice minister by President Museveni. The party Secretary General, Mr Gerald Siranda, also secured an East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) job. Several Members of Parliament and other party officials have since opposed Mr Mao’s leadership, causing more to abandon the party.
Kyotera District Woman representative Rose Fortunate Nantongo and her Kyotera County counterpart John Mpalanyi, officially joined NUP on April 16. These joined the Masaka District Woman MP Joan Namutawe, who also recently crossed to NUP. The Bukoto Central MP Richard Sebamala, who has criticised Mr Mao since the signing of this cooperation agreement last week, accused him of orchestrating DP’s decline. “Mao is presiding over the death and funeral of DP. We need a new physician to save us,” he said as he positioned himself as a champion of DP’s independence. But in response, Mr Mao yesterday described these criticisms as mere petty squabbles which should not waste the time of “rightful thinking busy Ugandans”.
He said the only disagreement that existed was between him and Mr Mbidde over the cooperation agreement, which they have since handled amicably. Mr Mao called on members who left DP to stop lamenting and return home so that they can rebuild the party together.
“We want to invite those who disagree with us to embrace the spirit of sober deliberations. I am convinced that our members know how decisions are made in the party and that’s under three ways, including the guidance of the party constitution, tradition on how we do things and reasoning,” he said.
But Ms Sarah Birete, the executive director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance, said: “The challenge however is how Mr Mao will separate himself from the collective responsibility of Cabinet to be able to offer credible leadership to his own party and the perception of the citizens about DP and its allegiance to either the regime or the forces of change.” She said the corporation agreement doesn’t stop him from engaging in internal party politics. “Mr Mao is one person playing two contradictory roles.
As an opposition leader, he is incapable of holding the executive, which he is part of, accountable,” Mr Birete said. NRM senior manager-in-charge of Information, Communication and Public Relations Rogers Mulindwa said the defiant DP party members did not understand the cooperation agreement.
“The cooperation agreement is well articulated and it does not in any way bar Mao from engaging in the DP internal politics and working with NRM did not mean that he crossed. That is why as NRM we are okay with him, except when the cooperation was misconceived by the DP members,” he said.
Mr Mao reminded the defiant members that the DP has survived more storms than now and that the only sensible thing they can do is to return and build it together.
“Unlike in 2005 and 2010 when the sitting [DP] presidents went to the National Delegates Conference with a tiny fraction of members, I am pleased to report that amidst turbulences, I have captained the ship (led DP) and will take it to the delegates in Mbarara [district in the delegates’ conference and it will be upon them to decide if they entrust me for another five years or have found another person who is suitable than me,” he said.
