In an exclusive phone interview with Ono Bwino, Fred Mwesigwa the longtime henchman and also the personal spokesperson to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Norbert Mao has narrated and boasted how his boss is going to give the current Speaker of parliament Annet Anita Among a surprise defeat in the 12th Parliament speakership race.
He insisted that for him and others who understand Mao, they will not be surprised if Mao wins because they have become accustomed to his good political calculations that have helped him and his party survive Uganda’s muddy political waters.
He noted that it is the reason why he has helped Democratic Party leaders including Fred Mukasa Mbidde and Gerald Blacks Siranda to win positions in the East African Legislative Assembly in a parliament which is dominated by National Resistance Movement (NRM).
He said that when President Museveni and Gen Salim Saleh advised him to get a constituency and contest as a Member of Parliament, he first declined because he was very sure that the forces in government which felt that his return into government will threaten their offices were ready to fight him so that he is defeated as they attempted to jeopardise the DP Delegates Conference in Mbarara where they facilitated his opponents so that he is defeated.
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“When he explained everything to the President, he summoned the NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong and directed him to help Mao to get a constituency so that he is supported. Because of that reason, that’s why he told NRM supporters that he does not regret supporting opposition and independent candidates in the region, he knows who directed him to do so,” Mwesigwa said.
He added that there were a lot of forces fighting to make sure that his boss losses the Laroo Pece MP race. He divulged that these forces supported the incumbent Rev. Father Charles Onen who for a longtime has been a good friend to him.
He claimed that after Mao was declared a winner, he received a lot of phone calls and messages from big people in government who were pleading with him to contest for the office of the speaker to save the August house’s public image which has been in bad light since the death of Jacob Oulanyah and he accepted.
“Parliament needs a speaker who can travel around the world, not one who is restricted to traveling to African countries because of sanctions which resulted from alleged criminal activities. What I can assure you, Mao is very clean and suitable to hold that office” Mwesigwa said
He added that being close to Mao, he got the opportunity to engage powerful people in government including Gen Museveni, his son Gen Muhoozi and his brother Gen Saleh and discovered that those people love Uganda from the bottom of their heart and don’t want the country to descend into anarchy because of bad leaders who are very selfish and they all agree that the person who can help return sanity right from parliament is Mao.
He proposed advised Speaker Among as a national NRM second vice chairperson in charge of women to concentrate on that job and do political grassroot mobilization and guide President Museveni on the long waited political transition.
Even though the deputy speaker Thomas Tayabwa warned that giving Mao the speakership job is very dangerous to the ruling party, highly placed sources in the corridors of power disclosed that the current leaders of parliament are under pressure and are spending billions lobbying to save their political offices.
“Because they are desperate for political survival, they have started making silly mistakes like what was done in the Masaka city vote recount, one of them was behind that move to prove to the president that they can help him by continuing to limit the number of opposition MPs. They were planning to remove more but the President and other leaders were not happy with that strategy because it continued to create questions on the NRM win,” a senior state house boss told Ono Bwino.
However, speaker Among through the weekend vision, assured her supporters that Mao is not in the caliber of candidates who can give her sleepless nights.
