DP woos Lukwago to contest for Kampala mayorship

The Democratic Party has invited embattled Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago to pick forms to contest as the party’s flag bearer for mayorship in the 2016 elections.

Addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Kampala today, the party spokesperson Kenneth Kakande said that Lukwago was free to pick the forms and contest as a DP member for the Lord Mayor’s seat.

”We call upon Erias Lukwago to come and pick forms if he wants to stand for Lord Mayor,” Kakande said adding: “we as DP are ready to support him.”

Kakande stressed that it was time to put their differences aside so as to confront ‘the enemy’.

“We have to focus on issues that cause transformation, not disagreements,” Kakande said before criticizing the National Resistance Movement government for ‘choosing the Lord Mayor’.

He noted that the ruling party and government were planning to grant councilors the mandate to choose a Lord Mayor which, he said, is unconstitutional.

“Kampala residents have a right to choose their leader; we (DP) think the Lord Mayor must undergo the electoral process,” he said.

But when contacted for comment, the embattled Lord Mayor declined to comment on the issue of him standing as a DP flag bearer candidate for the city’s top political seat. “I have no comment,” Lukwago said.

The Lord Mayor and Mr Mao are involved in a standoff, with the former forming a splinter group within the DP, after claiming that Mao’s rise to party presidency was unconstitutional and accusations that the party president’s approach to issues had antagonized many members.

A controversial and daredevil politician, Lukwago has been denied access to his office at City Hall for close to two years now.

And, despite maintaining the Lord Mayor’s official car, Lukwago has also not been paid for the time out of office but Parliament last year appropriated Shs500 million to cater for his salary arrears.