A Vote for Mao is a Vote for Museveni

For those Northerners who see a Great North Hope in Mao, when will you ever learn? Think again. For the Baganda and others who think a DP led by Mao would deliver them from Beelzebub, don’t be duped. I was once also dazzled by the Mao phenomenon—but no more.

I developed my awareness of Uganda politics in the 90s when Mao’s oratory and writings were legendary. In fact, he never fails to remind others how powerful his class of parliamentarians was in the so-called 6th parliament—the days of no-party and individual merit. But individually what did Mao achieve, and what price did he pay for his stances, if any? For example, Museveni never targets him on the controversial Bujagali dam impasse’. Instead, names of people, like Lukyamuzi comes up, and he paid the political price. Reagan Okumu paid with jail time on some trumped-up charges.

During this period, star struck, in an online chat group, I proposed a Mao Scholarship. In hindsight, I am glad that those who knew better shot the idea down. Later on I collaborated with him on one or two projects. In time I peeled the onion of Mao’s personality and got smatterings in my eyes. It is all slick and slyness, and about Project Mao.

You can see Project Mao heading to Yale for a one-year junket even at the height of great sufferings in his constituency due to the LRA war. Is this the man you would want on your side in times of your greatest need? The Yale experience is a wonderful one, but the timing speaks of the man.

And speaking of the LRA; now he is seen as a champion of the peace process. On the same online group I once asserted that the LRA had already lost and should give up and stop the sufferings. They did not occupy any piece of real estate in Uganda and were venting their anger on the people they alleged to liberate, so I innocently opined. I opened a hornet’s nest. The level of hostilities surprised me, and Mao was no exception. Surprisingly now he gets the credit for bringing peace, while many I know who worked behind the scenes to curb the LRA atrocities are instead vilified.

In parliament Mao was part of a shady “Christian” MPs. A similar group of US state legislators once invited him, and that was where I first met him. He was forceful and assertive with his views. My LRA stance was still in his mind, and he sought to correct me that the LRA was not defeated since theirs was a hit-and-run strategy. Duh! I did not pursue the matter further. To the audience of his host family he lauded his sponsoring of school children in Uganda. What was that about? I left disappointed.

There are many incidences that make me distrust Mao completely.

Some Acoli group had invited him to grace their meeting in Toronto. Instead Mao chose to attend the Banyakigezi function in Washington DC. There is no problem with that; after all he is a Munyankole nephew and aspires to national leadership. How would you have handled it? Even a political novice would have found a solution without spurning one group: a simple drop-in at each venue. Apparently he saw no political leverage with the Acoli group, and he shamelessly did what he did just as he is behaving now.

If Mao and Museveni had their way, Museveni’s concentration camps would have become towns, leaving vacated lands for commercial farming. The idea of consolidating land for large-scale farming was a concept floated by a Museveni’s American advisor. Mao fell in lockstep with the inimical plan that would have made millions destitute.

Who will not remember Museveni’s brother with his schemes for Acoli land? Thanks for the outcries; he is now doing it quietly, and at smaller scales through Acoli sisters who find him attractive. No problem with that. Acoli always believed in strengthening the gene pool from without. We don’t marry cousins. But that is another story.

The original vehicle for land acquisition was Divinity Corporation of which Mao had a role. Mao only resigned when it became public knowledge, and he sensed that, while Acoli could be easily divided in other areas, land was a no-go area.

Appearance and perceptions are important for confidence, or lack thereof, in public service. No politician does anything for nothing. So, if you are an opposition heavyweight, how can your wife be employed by your opponent’s wife, who is also politically active? Mao’s wife is or was employed by Museveni’s wife. What is going on here? Some dark stories are already in the air, and Mao maybe at ransom to do Museveni’s biddings.

And the list goes on. Ugandans, Mao candidature is not about you; it is about himself. He is a spoiler, who is beholden to Museveni: Museveni’s win is his win. Don’t be fooled by his slick language. Kill the Mao Project for your own good--abort it still-born!