The newly elected president general of the Democratic Party (DP) Norbert Mao has declared that he is not sure whether he is going to contest against President Museveni come 2026 presidential elections as resolved in the recent party delegates conference in Mbarara.
Kennedy Mutenyu the DP electoral Commission chairperson said that since Mao was elected the president general of DP, it automatically means that he is the one who is going to carry the party’s ticket to contest for president.
However, Mao insists that he is still have to make thorough consultations to guide his decision to contest for the highest office in the land and become Uganda’s Chief Executive Officer.
This investigative website can exclusively report that even though Mao says he is going to make consultations to stand as President, his eyes are fully focused on contesting as Member of Parliament in the coming elections.
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Sources within DP intimated to this website that there are plans for the party to stand behind President Museveni plus DP will not front candidates in some constituencies but will support the NRM candidates.
“In a recent meeting with Gen Salim Saleh and DP leadership in Gulu, we agreed to continue with the cooperation agreement Mao signed with Museveni. This means we are going to work together in the coming elections and the agreement will be fully executed as agreed. In the coming government, we will have our,” a senior DP leader said.
He added that Mao knew that he would face a hard time to compromise his national deputy president Fred Mukasa Mbidde to support the agreement that is why he took him to Gen Saleh to assure him that the cooperation agreement he signed with Museveni is going to be fully executed in the coming government.
His plan was to use this ground to arm twist Mbidde to accept to support him to retain his position as the party president general and that is why he was his campaign manager.
Sources said that Mbidde is expected to be appointed a minister in the coming government; others set to eat big include; Kiwanuka Mayambala the party’s national chairperson and George Kagimu the party national deputy president in charge of Buganda.
However, Mao is very scared that the infightings within his party can cost him and his boys from eating big in the coming government.
That’s why he assigned Kagimu to lead the talks with party leaders and members from Buganda with the aim of bargaining with them to work with him.
Kagimu has already started executing the directives of his boss and he is in the final stages of organizing a get together meeting at his Festino cite grounds in Mukono Municipality.
The get together will be attended by all DP leaders from Buganda with Mao and Mbidde also expected to attend. They plan to use the meeting to strategise on how to resolve their internal disagreements before the 2026 general elections.
“The problem Kagimu has are the ongoing insults his boss Mao is throwing at the people from Buganda. When he humiliated them in Mbarara, they approached Kagimu to explain why delegates from Buganda were given a quarter of the transport refund compared to what was given to other delegates from other regions. He just pleaded with them to stay calm and promised them that their issue will be solved at the get together meeting,” a source said.
This website has established that top bosses in Museveni’s government know very well what Mao is cooking and to save their political careers, some have decided to facilitate Bukoto Central legislator Richard Ssebamala’s campaigns against Mao to frustrate his political dealings with Museveni.
Mbidde claimed that Ssebamala’s campaigns were funded by two female top government officials who are very scared of Mao’s cooperation agreement with Museveni.
“ I know very well that many people in top government offices are not happy with me signing the cooperation agreement with president Museveni and they are the ones funding my opponents. But I don’t think what they’re doing is what Ugandans need right now,” Mao also said.
One of the delegates claimed that a number of them received phone calls from Micheal Lulume Bayiga who contested against Mao pleading with them not to vote for Ssebamala because he is being funded by two NRM women who are fighting Mao.
Ssebamala also claimed that Bayiga was compromised to enter in the race to legitimise Mao’s fraudulent win and it is the reason why in the Mbarara delegates conference, he refused to boycott the elections after Ssebamala and other leaders were denied the opportunity to contest because they were against the cooperation agreement.
Sources said that in the coming government, since Chief Justice Owiny Dollo is going to retire in January 2026 and there is no chance that the new Chief Justice will be coming from Acholi, to compromise the people of Acholi who are expected to vote Museveni and NRM overwhelmingly, Mao will be fronted to contest as a Speaker of parliament replacing Annet Anita Among.
Recently, this website established that Among summoned Mao to his office and grilled him on why he betrayed him and accepted to be used to oust her as a speaker of parliament without waiting for her to conclude her tenure of two terms.
Mao denied the allegations but sources insist that he has been lobbying for the position even though there are other members of the Deep State who are lobbying for Defense senior minister Jacob Oboth Oboth to replace Among who many claim is not fit to hold that office because of the scandals surrounding her including the sanctions on her head by the United States of America, United Kingdom, some European countries and Dubai who are good development partners with Uganda.
Sources divulged that since chances are high that the next Chief Justice Mike Chibita will be coming from East, Museveni is likely to retain Jessica Alupo as his Vice President.
“ What you must know is that Baganda are also fighting, people like Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Ruth Nakabirwa, Gen Katumba Wamala also want those top positions that’s why of the two; Among and Alupo, Museveni has to drop one because they both come from Teso,” a source said.
Sources added that if Mao misses the Speaker’s job, he may be appointed as Prime Minister to replace Robinah Nabbanja who is accused of creating many fights in cabinet.
However, for this to be done, Museveni has to save Matia Kasaija as the senior Minister of Finance.
Because of the said political calculations, sources claim that it is the reason why Ssebamala is still fighting Mao and he has formed a pressure group dubbed DP greater again.
In his preassure group, Ssebamala declared that he wants to make DP ungovernable for Mao and force him to surrender power to them so that he can officially join NRM and work for Museveni.
When asked about the alleged funding from two Museveni female government officials, Ssebamala denied the allegations and explained that the money he used in his campaign is his given that he is a hardworking man who prays a lot to his ancestors and God.
Sources in intelligence circles confirmed to this website that they have picked interest in the sources of Ssabamala’s funding claiming that he used more than Shs6bn in his campaign against Mao.
