The Publicity Secretary of the Democratic Party Alex Wasswa has warned party stalwart Betty Nambooze and advised her to call off the meeting of select DP leaders from Buganda region that she had scheduled.
Last Friday Nambooze, the DP Vice President for Buganda and Member of Parliament for Mukono, in the company of singer Ronald Mayinja, convened a meeting at the Cardinal Nsubuga Leadership Centre, and launched the ‘Bad DP’, a parallel faction opposed to party president Norbert Mao and his deputy Mukasa Mbidde. Nambooze’s faction later scheduled a meeting for March 31, a matter that has threatened to divide the DP.
“The Constitution of Democratic Party doesn’t avail her with powers to call leaders meeting. Therefore, party members are willing to drag her to the disciplinary committee if she doesn’t obey President’s commands,” Wasswa said today, adding that Nambooze’s actions are aimed at polarizing the party along ethnic lines.
According to Mr. Wasswa, in a bid to foster cohesion, the party president (Mao) went to MP Nambooze’s home on Sunday for mediation talks, which bore no fruit.
“I call upon all Ugandans who believe in the party to stand and defend the party against its diminishing challenges among which is the planned overthrow of lawfully elected party leaders by the so called Bad DP,” Mr Wasswa added.
Meanwhile, the DP has sent congratulatory message to the Ugandan team that participated in just-concluded IAAF World Cross-Country Championships on Sunday, with particular mention of teenage sensation Jacob Kiplimo, who clinched a gold medal in the Under 19 category.
Mr. Wasswa however, decried the reluctance of the government to honour the youngster, who he said, ‘just’ boarded a bus back home after the competitions.
“The state should not only use helicopters to carry caskets of dead bodies but also this medalists who put our country on world map of athletics,” he said, making the scant inference to the late Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi, whose body was flown by helicopter to his ancestral home in Lwengo for burial last Tuesday..
“Kiplimo boarded a bus at 3pm heading home as if he had not been performing on behalf of the nation; we are only waiting for updates from the media to see whether he has reached home safely,” Mr Wasswa said.
