By George Murumba

11^th June 2012:

Mao whispers to Museveni: FILE PHOTO

Democratic Party [DP] President Norbert Mao is facing severe criticism from a cross section of Ugandans on facebook who appear to have been deeply offended by his “below the belt” attempt to portray the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Rt Hon. Nandala Mafabi as a violent and erratic leader.

The DP president, whose political relation with FDC’s Nandala Mafabi hit an all time low following the controversy that surrounded the East African Legislative Assembly [EALA] elections, posted a picture from the 2011 elections in which a sweaty “fresh-from-battle” Nandala is seen standing on top of pick-up truck raising his hands victoriously.

Along with that picture on his facebook page, Mao wrote: “Nandala’s ranting should not surprise anyone”.  A combination of that statement and Nandala’s picture on his facebook page appears to have offended many Ugandan, as a selection of their reactions below will show.

Kinyera Alfred thought Mao had changed for the worse.  “I am so disappointed in you Mao.  You are not the Mao who defeated [Betty] Bigombe for MP of Gulu Municipality.  What’s up?”

“I take exception Mr Mao.  I have been partisan to DP’s ideology for long.  But you attacking Nandala Mafabi makes you a persona non grata.  You attacking him means you are emotionally immature”, said someone who goes by the alias “Supaman Kj”

“Mao has been exposed! If you are interested in knowing the truth about EALA, go to Akwanya Awichu’s page.  He has brought everything into perspective”, Winter Ricky-Darrenz said.

Again, in reference to DP’s decision to offer a candidate for the EALA elections, and the crisis of confidence that has befallen Ugandan politics, Peter Bwire said, “…all these posts change nothing in my mind. Chairman Mao you seem guilty! Could it be that you actually cut the said deals with NRM?  Politicians are leading us nowhere and it is high time we took charge of our country.”

For his part, Wamala Gyavira said, “Mao, you are in a big post which you don’t deserve. You can serve as a mere L.C. 5 chairman of Gulu at least than spoiling the opposition. Voting you to that Chairmanship of DP is the second biggest mistake DP has ever made in history.”

Aimos Twesiga said, “…Mao, I used to know you as a patriotic person who loves the country so much.  But where is all that now?  I am ashamed of you as a fellow man…even when Mafabi is wrong in your opinion…but you shouldn’t have brought yourself so low to this level of posting such.  You are doing harm than good.  We didn’t get carried away by the cheap politics…please have class and respect to your fellow men as leader…”

Suggesting that Mao may have already been compromised by the ruling NRM party, Didi Gargash Musa, who sounded very angry said, “…Mao you [are] just another high class fool of yesterday, tomorrow and years to come. Don’t forget your shaky DP seat. We now have two parties in Uganda…I don’t need to mention them. Poor you succumbed to the sweetness talk of NRM”.

Barbra Natifu said, “…honestly, this is low politics…very low politics of personalised attacks.  Focus on issues and logic…I am disappointed in Mao…thought he was better than this…personalised attacks?

The picture posted is clearly out of context…and coming from a man of your stature is so disappointing to say the least.  It speaks volumes of how disorganised, simplistic and superficial some leaders of the opposition have become…exactly what Nathan Nandala-Mafabi was underscoring”.

By press time, there were over two hundred such comments, the majority of which were expressions of deep disappointment and disgust with Mao’s “below the belt” attack on Nandala Mafabi.

Mafabi Picture Context

Don Innocent Wanyama then attempted to lay out the circumstances under which Nandala’s picture was taken and said: “Here is the context for that picture. It is Feb 18th 2011, the NRM seeking to unseat the popular Budadiri West MP deploys a battalion of soldiers to intimidate voters and aid rigging. Over 10 RDCs are deployed with the same mission.

A few minutes before this picture was taken, Hon Nandala had been shot at, the bullet instead got a journalist called Odeke. The voters are scared and Hon Nandala turns up to ‘defend’ his people and votes. As a result, not only is he able to retain his seat but wipes NRM out of Sironko. Ladies and gentlemen that is the background to this photo.

Of course in the eyes of the spineless and pretentious politicians, this is cheap. But for those who understand the African political terrain, they know that hadn’t Nandala done this, FDC would have lost three MP seats and an LC5 slot. At least now we know why some people prefer to wear green suits and look aside as their votes are stolen or as they help the incumbent regime steal votes. This picture tells us exactly who is ready to die in defence of a people’s will”.

Mao’s Defiance

All the above criticisms of actions notwithstanding, Mao came and defiantly defended his decision to do what he did and said, “…I still insist that Mafabi’s conduct is not the conduct of a leader. What if he had real power rather than its shadow, would he not charge all those who dosage with him of treason? Mafabi should calm down and lead our team in parliament. It is fine to disagree, but let’s not become disagreeable.

To clear the air about the EALA issue I will post a scanned copy of FDC Secretary General’s letter to Parliament asking for nomination forms and also seeking more time for FDC to hold primaries. Let’s deal with facts. Mere arguments will not do”. END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.