By Mulengera Reporters
During his speakership bid declaration media event at DP headquarters in Kampala, Norbert Mao was asked to state whether he would prioritize calling back and readmission of NTV and Daily Monitor to resume Parliamentary coverage but he didn’t answer the question unequivocally.
A journalist from Spark TV had raised this as part of his broader question as to why Mao wasn’t afraid of having to run against a powerful person Anita Among who isn’t used to being competed against. The journalist gave the example of Bukedea woman MP race where she has twice returned unopposed.
Mao made it clear that this is David vs Goliath situation whereby he will unexpectedly prevail as he has always done-namely, being underrated only to defeat giants. He gave the example of Betty Bigombe who he defeated to become MP Gulu Municipality at the age of 28 and army officer Noble Mayombo who he defeated to famously become Makerere guild president in the early 1990s.
He also spoke about beating then Kampala mayor Nasser Sebaggala who had fame and a lot money at the 2010 Mbale delegates conference to become DP President. That even in Loro Pece in the just ended elections, he stood against invisible giants who were backing one of his opponents but he still prevailed. Mao predicted that even on Speakership, he is equally going to disapprove skeptics and become Speaker for the 12th Parliament.
But he equivocated and didn’t give a straight answer as to whether calling back NTV and Daily Monitor will be his priority as new speaker or not. This certainly was calculated to avoid coming off as being antagonistic towards the current leadership at Parliament under whose watch the two eminent media houses had their accreditation revoked and their journalists suspended. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
