Not Much Choice

A faction of DP delegates had gathered to choose, among other officials, the person who would lead them to the Promised Land—State House—a piece of real estate that is the sacred symbolism of Uganda’s presidency. The choice of the party’s flag bearer was between an ambitious convicted thief and a slick chameleon—not much choice for the oldest party that aspires to shed its old skin and become competitive in the scramble for state house.

Would we have been treated to more drama and might we have had different outcomes had the principals of the other faction been in the fray? I feel cheated! For now, however, we wish Mao well and not rain on his parade. He is a formidable orator, and his heart is in the right place despite behaviors that at times suggest an opportunistic flimflam.

It is suggested that Mao’s selection heralds DP to a new era—a more national character since Mao is a northerner by paternal heritage. This kind of reasoning is flawed in explaining the prevailing DP’s current tepid character. UPC of long ago and the NRM today, while being regional in their core leadership structure—the kitchen cabinet of sorts—, managed to capture the imagination of the humblest in the remotest parts of Uganda. While it may have been Buganda based in the last few decades, DP’s failure to reach out nationally has been more a function of lack of organizational ability of the leadership. They lacked the wherewithal to get into the mud and get dirty even as various population centers were in anguish. Besides, DP was nearly dead in Buganda as a consequence of Kabaka Yekka’s hijacking of the region’s plebiscite earlier on. It was the other regions of Uganda that carried some semblance of a DP in comatose to be revived post-Idi Amin under a different sets of circumstances and realities.

Uganda has not yet been able shake off the tendency of centrifugal forces to throw political parties to the periphery of the center, and may never. The present weird man of the house preaches non-sectarianism, but his house is packed only with his kind. Mao’s coziness with his wayward uncles in power may be out of filial imperatives, but may also show a tendency to compromise and bring people together. Let us see if Mao, who touts a mission for those born after independence, can build a party organization that is worthy of our vote.