By Mulengera Reporters
Addressing reporters at DP headquarters in Kampala on Tuesday, Norbert Mao said that the absence of Police brutality had exposed to Ugandans that the leading opposition candidate for President Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu actually lacks a coherent message on the so-called “New Uganda” he claims to envisage.
Mao said that it’s apparent that Kyagulanyi expected a tear gas-stricken campaigning season during which he would keep getting media publicity for being a victim of state brutality, which hasn’t happened thus far. Mao said that this incident-free campaigning was good because it turns 2026 into a purely issue-based campaign.
He said what candidates must now do to get media publicity is to communicate their manifesto promises with extreme clarity so that voters can reject or vote for them based on purely that. That because the NUP candidate isn’t an effective communicator, yet all effective leaders ought to be, the lack of Police brutality had caught him off guard and his mainstream media publicity will most likely keep diminishing in absence of state violence.
He gave the example of the Nakaseke rally, which he said was a perfect opportunity for the NUP President to coherently articulate the changes he intends to bring to the ordinary Ugandans’ way of life and specifically in that part of Luwero triangle, which is in the heart of Buganda kingdom region.
Mao said that, having failed to prep enough around his message, Bobi Wine had resorted to attacking people who are supposed to be his allies in the broader opposition cause and thereby exposing the extent to which he is politically inept and unqualified for the position of President of Uganda. He said this would in the long term alienate and cost him as a politician seeking to be President of all Ugandans.
Mao said that the unprovoked attack on the President’s family while referencing on Gen Salim Saleh was ill conceived and portrayed Mr. Wine’s unfitness and unsuitability for the job of being President of Uganda, at least in the eyes of right-thinking members of the Ugandan society.
He said there is simply no way an issue-based candidate who takes the Presidential campaigning seriously and puts in time prepping ahead of major political rallies, would have veered off into the pettiness of going after Gen Museveni’s family instead of leveraging such a large crowd to articulate how differently the NUP-promised New Uganda would look like.
Mao also said that the attack on PDM, while promising to scrap it the moment he becomes President, is something Bobi Wine will live to regret. The DP President elaborated that, because it brings money directly into people’s pockets and households, PDM is currently a very popular intervention by the GoU and there is no way Mr. Wine or any other Presidential candidate can attack it without hurting and diminishing his electability.
Mao also cautioned Kyagulanyi’s supporters (the foot soldiers) to understand the difference between being popular and having large crowds coming to listen to you on one hand, and being right or delivering the appropriate message on the other. He said being in minority, like his DP is currently, doesn’t mean being wrong.
He called on Kyagulanyi to package his message and keep telling mammoth crowds coming for his rallies what they need to hear and not just what they want to hear, and is therefore capable of exciting and charging them up.
He defended NUP’s right to come on board in IPOD because in his view, the Museveni-era political madness will have to come to and end and that will have to be a negotiated ending of some sort-and not just through mere balloting. He called on foot soldiers and bloggers to stop misleading Bobi Wine and over contradicting NUP’s decision to come to the IPOD table in a bid to seek common ground and solutions to Uganda’s problems.
He called on Kyagulanyi to overlook all the contemptuous things he previously said about IPOD and just come to join the group because it’s the right thing to do. He added what Kyagulanyi must now do is to demonstrate leadership by joining IPOD as opposed to fearing foot soldiers, bloggers, cartoonists and other detractors who might be out to keep raising contradictions aimed at intimidating him not to join IPOD, which actually is the right thing under the current circumstances. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
