The Democratic Party (DP) is a conservative moderate political party founded in 1954 and led by Norbert Mao. It has a meagre 15 representatives in the national assembly of Uganda that is composed of over 400 members.
Despite being Uganda’s oldest party, the DP currently has no single popular and reputable enough figure to cause a “political tsunami” necessary to challenge the status quo and threaten to unseat President Museveni and his NRM government from power.
Top leaders like Mr.Mao,Mr.Mukasa Mbidde,Mr.Mike Mabike among others are only focused and working to win parliamentary seats. The DP became a basket of mediocrity characterised by seasonal alliances as further explained in the following analysis.
Basket of Mediocrity
On the 4th April,2019, the DP held a signing ceremony announcing what they called the”DP bloc” that will wrestle state power from Mr.Museveni and the NRM.
The DP bloc saw the return of self exiled DP stalwarts like Dr.Abed Bwanika of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mike Mabike of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) among others. This was a fragile attempt by ailing politicians with personal motives of relaunching their failed political campaigns come 2021.
Chairman Norbert Mao
Youthful Mao was elected member of parliament for Gulu municipality in 1996 at the age of 29.In 2006,Mao resigned from parliament and consequently elected chairman of Gulu. Mao was elected president of the DP in 2010 under controversial circumstances that led to a bitter split with Uganda Young Democrats(UYD) founders Mabike and Bwanika considering Mao of being with a lesser DP pedigree. UYD is the youth wing of the DP. Mao contested the 2011 presidential elections as flag bearer for the DP collecting a mere 1.86% of the total ballots cast.
In 2016, Mr. Mao who had not registered for a national identity card was ruled out of the 2016 polls at the embarrassment of the DP. He desperately attempted to contest for the Gulu municipality seat, but also ruled out.
On June 21,2019, the family court dissolved Mr.Mao’s 16 years marriage to Ms.Naomi Achieng on grounds of the former’s cruelty and desertion to the latter. Mr. Mao will not contest the 2021 general elections as Presidential candidate,but rather parliamentary hopeful for the Gulu municipality seat.
Dr.Abed Bwanika
Dr. Bwanika is a perennial loser that has contested for the presidency and lost three consecutive times.
The trained veterinarian supported Mr. Museveni in 1996, Dr.Besigye in 2001.Bwanika stood for the presidency as an independent in 2006 collecting 0.95% of the votes cast (65,874). In 2011,he stood as a candidate for the PDP which he founded, collecting 14,000 votes less with 0.65%(51,708) of the vote and in 2016,he collected 89005(0.9%) of the total votes cast.
It is evident that Dr. Bwanika hardly possess the political numbers required to win the presidency. Bwanika aims at using the DP bloc to resurrect his dead political career as he sets his eyes on the Bukoto South parliamentary seat in 2021.
Mike Mabike
Mabike left the DP in 2005 after disagreements with the then DP president, the late John Sebaana Kizito who he accused of being a conservative sectarian with no space for vibrant party members.
In 2006,he contested for the Makindye East parliamentary seat, which he won as an independent.
In 2010,he founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and in 2011 contested for the post of Kampala Lord Mayor, losing miserably.
In 2015, Mabike joined the Democratic Alliance with former premier Amama Mbabazi and in 2016,he returned to Makindye East to contest for the parliamentary seat, losing miserably again.
Mabike is the father of the “one to one” utopian ideology of the DP bloc. The one to one model visions fronting one opposition candidate against Museveni in the 2021 presidential elections and one candidate for both local government positions and parliamentary slots across the country.
DP resort to populist and celebrity politics
The DP in a colourful ceremony held on 4th July,2019 at Nsambya sharing hall unveiled musician Joseph Mayanja alias Dr.Jose Chameleon as their national mobiliser.
Mr.Joseph Mayanja is interested in the Kampala Lord Race come 2021.The musician is a political prostitute who will sell his appeal to the highest bidder. The chameleon cannot be trusted.
Mr. Jose at one time flirting and praising the people power movement and the next time confidently putting his thumb up and worship the NRM. Mr.Jose is looking at politics like a business venture and has no plans of serving the people.
The current DP leadership, Mike Mabike, Dr.Bwanika among others have nothing to offer Ugandans come 2021.They are only interested in resurrecting their personal political careers.
Political analysts have noted that the DP’s 2021 plan involving Mabike and Bwanika aims at confusing yet another singer cum politician Hon. Kyagulanyi of the people power movement, whom they intend to use as a convenient vessel to relaunch their failed political careers.
