The Democratic Party (DP) President who also doubles as the Minister of Constitution Affairs Norbert Mao said that the long awaited political dialogue is planned to tackle the critical issue of the Buganda question and its stake in shaping the politics of Uganda.
Mao while addressing the media in a weekly press conference in Kampala on Tuesday 27th 2023, said that if Uganda is to solve the political challenges, the ‘Buganda question’ should be handled with great care because of it being in the heart of the country and ahead of other regions in almost all areas of development.
“ Buganda question make us have sleepless nights because if it’s left hanging the political challenges of the country will not be resolved very well. There should be a strong relationship between Buganda and Uganda.’’ Mao reasoned.
He further said, “ Buganda is ahead of other areas in terms of education, economic development and other aspects and it should be treated like the heart of the country because of its central location’’. “ When there are opposing forces between the heart and other parts of the body one can’t be alive , there must be coherent and normal functioning of all parts of the body being controlled by the heart.’’
‘Uganda can develop in also aspects when it uses Buganda as the engine and in our dialogue we will see that this question of Buganda is at the fore front.’’
According to Moa, other pertinent questions to be tackled will that of Kalamoja region because has been marginalized since the colonial era because the colonialist thought of having this region as a museum. The Rwenzori question is also equally important because the people living in that areas had thought of becoming a stated during the demarcation but where only frustrated by the colonial leaders
And finally the Northern Uganda which suffered the war for nearly 20 years and yet it had been also left behind in terms of development by the colonial leaders still because of their physical appearances, they thought they should just be joining the security forces and should engage in economic development activities such as agriculture and they lied to them that their land couldn’t support coffee production which wasn’t the case.
The Minister also warned Ugandans to wipe out that attitude of thinking that the security forces in the country are for an individual saying that is dangerous for the state. He also said that the dialogue is among other issues will also discuss on how best the state should be clearly separated from the influence of the ruling party.
The DP President also warned his critics who always abuse him and malign the party especially on social media saying what he deed was for the good of the country but not for job seeking as per say. He said that DP is still strong and this is manifested in the higher institutions of learning leadership elections where his party warn guild presidency in Kyamboga and Makerere University Business School (MUBS) recently.
He implored all the part members to begin preparing early enough for the 2026 general elections and they shouldn’t be afraid to run on DP ticket because even in the difficult times DP has warn in areas like Ibanda, Karamoja and Abim.
By George Bukenya