Mao Reveals Walk Secrets

The Observer (Kampala)

Michael Mubangizi

18 May 2011

interview

DP President General Nobert Mao has lately been in the news for his participation in the walk-to -work protests, for which he and FDC President Dr Kizza Besigye, among others, have been in and out of detention.

In an interview with Michael Mubangizi, Mao reveals the agenda of the walk-to-work campaign, and tells of how he and Besigye stealthily mapped out their plan of action under the guise of soccer matches in Nakasongola prison, under the careful watch of prison guards.

There seems to be a change in Mao and DP, from being civil, moderate and non-militant to rebellious people now fighting with police on the streets instead of courts of law. What has led to this change?

The Mao and DP that you say have changed is a stereotype. I have been engaged in struggles for human rights and democracy from the time I was a student.

Was it not this Norbert Mao who led the student strikes at Makerere, evicted a cabinet minister (Betty Bigombe) from a parliamentary seat in Gulu (municipality), walked on foot to Garamba forest to meet LRA’s Joseph Kony, denounced state terrorism and corruption in Parliament, and led the censuring of key ministers?

How can you say you don’t know this current Mao? If anything, this current Mao is very moderate. I think the media has defined our struggle very narrowly by confining it to mean an internal struggle of NRM; namely Museveni Vs Besigye and I think this is a disservice to Ugandans.

The Democratic Party has also always been militant. It is our DP leaders who took on the colonial government to fight for the right by Africans to organize cooperatives and sell their produce to the outside world. DP has since 1964 been on the side of the downtrodden.

That’s why we are a party of truth and justice. Most importantly, people at DP helm now have largely been through the crucible of the Uganda Young Democrats; so, our experience is different from those who have been less militant and have been leading a fairly tame struggle.

But as far as I am concerned, Norbert Mao is still the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Won’t the party lose some members because of your new approach to politics?

The essence of power and might is flexibility. I have been working very well with NRM officials in Gulu to return our people (from camps) and to pursue peace talks. This is the flexibility that we need.

I am only rigid when it comes to core principles; and not any difference of opinion is a difference of principle. Support depends on results and as long as we are delivering results, people will always support us.

Is walk to work the best medium of addressing your grievances, with all its dark sides like death of people and others that have been injured?

There are many actors of walk to work – like heads of political parties like myself, MPs, civil society, our activists and NRM and its security apparatus. The murders, destruction and beatings have always happened whenever police and military use lethal force against unarmed civilians.

We take responsibility of ensuring that our supporters don’t misbehave, and they have never misbehaved, destroyed property or even thrown stones unless the police have, without provocation, used lethal force against them.

Walk to work is just one method; the core issue to me is that we have a government devoid of any legitimacy because of the manner in which the election was conducted. We didn’t have an accurate voters’ register, an independent electoral commission, state coffers were raided to bribe voters, and there was widespread ballot stuffing.

Which means the issue is not the high fuel and food prices as you claim?

Of course. The high fuel and food prices are symptoms of an uncaring government whose foundations are greed, corruption and incompetence. If you have free and fair elections, then you’re responsive to the needs of the people.

So, walk to work is like a fire alarm. It doesn’t put out the fire; it draws attention to the fire. We in the opposition must challenge the NRM’s bogus argument that the high fuel and food prices are due to international factors.

Is it the international actors who raided our national treasury to flood the population with money, creating inflation; and who are fostering corruption?

Walk to work is an important way of drawing attention to the problem, but as political party leaders, we need a government that is legitimate, responsive and cares about the people. So, while we treat the symptoms of high fuel and food prices, we must continue rocking the foundations of this illegitimate government so that Ugandans get a better government.

It doesn’t matter whether you have been sworn in two days ago; the people reserve the right to hire and fire government any time. The five-year term is not there to be taken for granted. A president and government serve at the pleasure of the people.

At any moment, if the people decide that you are no longer suitable to serve them, they can raise a red card for you to get out.

Does walk to work aim at raising that red card to government?

Walk to work has played a role in exposing the nakedness of government, but we also think that after 25 years, President Museveni is tired and has run out of new ideas. That’s why he is making one mistake after another.

If government deals with the high food and fuel prices; will that end the walk-to-work campaign?

We’re political parties with a broad agenda. The current NRM government is a dictatorship, which has to be dismantled. They are invading the independence of courts, presiding over the most corrupt government in the history of Uganda, and turning the country into a police state.

There are many other issues to be dealt with, like the need for free and fair elections, an independent electoral commission, a verifiable voters’ register, restoration of presidential term limits, and a probe into what went wrong in the last election.

When you realise that you are not legitimate, you step aside. When Mubarak was thrown out, he had just won with ‘80%’, and so was the case in Tunisia. So, the question of legitimacy is very important.

Where do you see President Museveni in the next five years?

I don’t know. My job is to continue checking the foundations of a dictatorship until it falls. Besides, it is not about what Norbert Mao sees. I think the people of Uganda must decide either to leave President Museveni behind, or he holds us back.

Personally, I hope that this government will fall because of the pressure that we will apply to it through a variety of non-violent defiance campaigns, which will create internal stress. Already, security chiefs are clashing, which is a sign that what we are doing is having an impact.

During the demand for multi-partyism, it was our external pressure on NRM which caused people like Col Besigye to jump ship and join us. So, as we continue to put pressure on NRM, we are going to continue to hear more voices from inside the NRM also speaking our language.

What explains the non-participation of people like Beti Kamya, Bidandi Ssali and Fred Mukasa Mbidde in walk to work?

Mbidde has been out of the country; Mzee Bidandi Ssali can’t be vigorous on the road due to advanced age; our sister Beti Kamya believes mistakenly that struggles like walk to work don’t work. Obviously, she needs to re-read history.

We have a duty to reach out to such leaders and explain to them. They may not join walk to work, but we need their support. We can’t just dismiss them. I don’t like the language of some of our colleagues in the opposition who dismiss anyone who disagrees with them as a Museveni stooge.

Even me, I’ve been a victim of that, but because my history of political struggle against this regime is longer than some political parties, I have been able to withstand that pressure.

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