MUKASA MBIDDE: My brother Mao’s Speakership bid is just a function of empleomania

By Fred Mukasa Mbidde

By its very translation empleomania is an uncontrollable craze for public office that has developed from 22nd July 2022, the date of his first appointment to the position of a minister to date.

I have been elected by this parliament twice and Hon Mao, despite his earlier membership to it, has never been voted for by parliament. Iam therefore more proficient on matters of elections that take place at the floor of parliament. He cannot be elected the Speaker of the 12th parliament but the Rt Hon Anita Among will.

When I made my first public pronouncement of my stand he quickly came up with defenses of my election to EALA with less than 15 DP members of parliament. For each of the instances, I had the green light to run by His Excellency the President of Uganda which he does not have. I fact the last green light culminated into my invitation to attend one of the Terehe Sita celebrations at Masindi where he declared me a good DP.

These instances are special and my brother is at no chance of having got closer to any such consent from the high office to run.

My brother wants to lead a parliament of over 500 leaders with varying opinions yet the party he has led for 3 teams has always been divided into a faction for each opinion that is found to be against his.

Creates a divide between conformists and those with divergences are usually advised to go to hell. How many factions can we therefore expect in the u likely event that he is elected speaker?

For my support to the Rt Hon Anita Annet Among, he has unleashed social media bollocks against me trying to insinuate that my departure from his bid is a function of meal card politics. Well, let my brother be fair to himself by telling the while world that I have leaved a fairly comfortable life dating back beyond even my first encounter with him in 1999.

Hon Mao is divisive, too sensitive to ethnic demands over national interest, guileful, separatist predatory and quite self-centered that I don’t think is fit and proper to lead parliament.

 The cooperation agreement:

A purposive reading of this document is to the effect that it was intended to carry the weight of a contract that was intended to serve and last for the lifetime of the 2021 NRM manifesto.

The portfolios available to the Democratic Party were expressly provided for in the agreement which were never followed up by my brother the moment he got his appointment as a cabinet minister

.

The positions assigned to the Democratic Party were:-

1. Nobert Mao to be appointed the minister for justice and Constitutional Affairs
2. Another DP leader to be appointed to a junior cabinet office when the opportunity availed itself
3. DP MPs to be appointed to chair standing committees
4. DP leaders to be appointed to lead 4 statutory bodies
5. Securing the continuity of the position of EALA for DP

The speakership position in not Among the positions available for the DP and this election is not under the 2021 manifesto. In fact, the cooperation agreement cannot by any wildest of imaginations apply to the elections of the Speaker that is the subject of a completely different term of office not covered by the agreement.

The Democratic Party isn’t a sole proprietorship, at the service of just one man’s quest for government jobs NO. It’s a political party of men and women each with a mission for Uganda.

The role of a Speaker:

One of the best qualities that endeared me to Hon Mao was his oratory skills, he was a member of parliament while I was pursuing my first degree in mass communication. We were later to be closer even when I became the guild president of Makerere university.

However, under the rules of the house the Speaker is forbidden from talking, so eloquence is clearly not part of the requirements.

If my brother were to act in good faith and in the interest of the whole party the Rt Hon Speaker Anita Among should be an ally than an opponent in the pursuit of review, renewal and full implementation of the DP Cooperation Agreement.

His bid for speakership is completely personal and a furtherance of his attempts to obambulate through all positions of authority in government.

Hon Mao should be worried that his ministerial appointment under the agreement was to expire with the current term of office and any further appointment without review of the agreement shall have been done under no ascertainable arrangement. His focus should be finding ways and means of having the agreement reviewed than fermenting wild ambitions.

The Rt Hon Anita Anet Among: 

Known for her dependability before allies, nanomanagement of missions to logical conclusions, empathetic nature, mobilization skills and her style of work that seeks to empower her teams, has managed the house without the necessity of state intervention.

The 11th parliament was the first of its kind where a whole central region had been taken over by a new breed of refractory and completely un compromising young leaders but she managed to intermittently forge consensus for government business to sail through.

One the other hand my brother is remembered to have formed a one Man’s Army to exchange a  matador of insults with the young leaders. He did that while a distance from them, it is anarchist attempting to give him an opportunity to govern them.

I will support the Rt Hon AAA and shall accordingly be the chairperson of the public gallery at voting day because I believe it’s the right thing to do for the country. The author, Hon Dr Fred Mukasa Mbidde, is the DP Vice President. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).