Nambooze reveals why DP has no candidate in Kyadondo By-elections
DP Buganda region president and Mukono municipality Member of parliament and leader of ‘Make DP great again’ campaign Nambooze Bakireke Betty has written to party members explaining why the party will have no ‘participatory’ candidate in the Kyadondo East by-elections.
In the dossier she out lines weaknesses within party which has dragged it to a level of ‘just participating’ in elections and administrative flows that forces some members to demand a candidate from her instead of party structures. Bellow is a copy of it:
Receive my warm greetings.
Gone are the days when candidates would fight for the DP ticket in an election. The few of us who can still carry the DP flag proudly into an election surely deserve a pat on the back. I mean those who dare it and win or lose because of vote rigging. There is also members who lose honourably having flown our flag competitively or dust candidates who really raise the dust. Such candidates are good for the party.
Unfortunately in some cases DP can only attract jokers whose only intention is to appear on the ballot paper. They go in an election,register and go home and sleep.
A few months ago a brave young man took a shot at the candidature for the by-election race in Aruu on a DP ticket. He had stood in the same area in the general elections earlier as an independent candidate and scored 4000 votes but when he returned as DP with the Party President general as his campaign manager he garnered a humble 400 votes. In that election DP was branded a malicious saboteur out to spoil the opposition vote.
The DP NEC accurately reflects this. The Ag Party Chairman on three occasions tried his luck at becoming a division Councillor and lost miserably.
The Ag Secretary General, Mr. Siranda Gerald also made an attempt for an MP seat in the last general elections and managed 270votes!
Mr Waiswa Mufumbiro is an old hand at losing having collected 290 votes in 2011 in Jinja East then 292 votes when he went back in a by-election. In 2016 elections he acted as campaign manager for the NRM candidate.
The DP President for Eastern Uganda picked party money for nominations but stood as an independent, the list of examples is endless.
Such stories don’t make our party attractive to young politicians. They instead opt for other political shades where they have more chances of building a sound political career.
I personally sat Bobi Wine to convince him stand on DP card after realising that he was more promising than Kamoome and that they had sat in the presence of Dr. Ssemogerere and the latter had withdrawn from the race. Bobi told me that his family was DP but couldn’t risk his candidature to stand as DP.
He told me that he fears that if he went DP, influential people in that constituency like Lukwago, Chairman LC3 Ssempebwa of Nangabo, senior citizens Ssebuliba Mutumba, Muwanga Kivumbi,and even I Nambooze may not be part of his campaign because we stand suspended from the Party.
On the other hand he said that, just a facebook post showing him meeting Mao almost cost him the vote and subjected him to the defensive.
Rushing to get any person to be a candidate can’t work because if we do that just for symbolism that DP has a candidate we shall annoy voters as we will appear to be just spoilers. This will dent the party image further for it’s unlikely that a new candidate can take the vote or even be among the top two since the battle lines are already drawn.
MunnaDP since the concept of dust candidates doesn’t apply in by elections,we shall have to settle for one of the opposition candidates in Kyadondo East at least to have him work with our party as we convince him to join us fully or as we prepare a viable candidate for that constituency in 2021.
Munna DP politics is about perception and for now, DP by the actions of our chief executive is perceived as an extension of NRM . And it’s not only in Kyadondo East, DP has failed to attract people ready to stand on the party ticket in all but one of the by-elections so far, refer to Kamuli,Moroto,Toroma, Kagoma
MunnaDP, the good news is that,we have not just sat down to lament or throw our hands in the air in resignation. We started a campaign as an answer to this predicament that lies in the 6Rs.
In summary, we need to enhance our image as a party in order to attract new players and have real chances at the ballot.
MunnaDP, I find it strange that people who have curtailed my efforts to mobilise for the party are maliciously turning around to demand candidates from me!
The resolution of NEC is that I shouldn’t transact any business on behalf of DP and even where I have tried my meetings have been brutally dispersed by police… So which is which?
I have never been absent in any by-election in Buganda, anyone doubting this should ask Dr. Bayiga but at the moment I have been declared a persona non grata by Mr. Mao.
I went to Masaka for Masaza cup and it took six police patrol vans to herd me out of Masaka and bring me back to Kampala under heavy escort. I hope this will prove how incapacitated I am at the moment.
About Kalungu,MunnaDP enyoonyi Enkulu yeyigiriza ento okubuuka, I have received reliable information that the prospective candidate got disoriented and may be negotiating with the regime on how to become a “good DP”.These things happen, don’t you know of a senior DP politician who recently sat with his NRM opponent and withdrew from an election appeal.
My proposal is that, when we reorganise, the party we will assess petitions through the office of the legal advisor whose role we propose to elevate to a full autonomous department to take full charge of legal matters instead of just advising. He or she will be responsible for all election petitions instead of leaving it to individuals. Election petitions are very challenging to lodge and it’s unfair that the party leaves this burden to an individual member.
Still, am trying to engage but of course silently the people in Kalungu to see if we can counsel chairman Musoke not to get frustrated with what he has gone through and convince him to stand in the bye election. Or get a right replacement in this small time. The biggest thing is to assure Kalungu that we shall all be available and that we shall treat this as a party and not a candidate election. This means fundraising and camping in Kalungu to campaign.
MunnaDP tell everybody concerned about the state of affairs in the Party to join the Members party rejuvenation caravan knowing that we have to act now to save DP.
NAMBOOZE BAKIREKE BETTY
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