The President General of the Democratic Party (DP) and Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao has taken oath as an Ex-officio Member of Parliament. Mao was sworn in during the plenary presided over by Speaker Anita Among.
Minister Mao took oath before receiving a copy of the Constitution and Rules of Procedure from the Speaker Anita Among. The Parliamentary Rules dictate that Ex-Officio MPs take oath before assuming their seats in the House. However, they do not have voting rights.
Last month, the DP signed a Cooperation Agreement with the ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM). The agreement was signed by President Yoweri Museveni and Mao. Mao was subsequently appointed Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
The agreement shows that one party member will be backed to join the East African Legislative Assembly, one MP will be appointed to chair the committee of parliament while others will be appointed to government agencies.
Mao was tasked to coordinate the National Dialogue and the whole of the government response on Constitutional Reforms with the mandate to coordinate Budget proposals in the Justice Law and Order Sector.
The cooperation is a new trend for Uganda however it is not a new trend in the world since many have been signed in many countries. The NRM and DP have since been criticized by Opposition bigwigs claiming that Mao has been working with the ruling party to frustrate their ousting president Museveni from Power.
The former Gulu District Chairman said the national dialogue will allure the building blocks of Uganda to come together and craft a new consensus on how we can live together in peace. “You can live in peace together with people you don’t like,” he said.
“National dialogue is different from our thing of Inter Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) where we are accused of taking tea and bribes. This one is national. I don’t think that you can bribe 45 million Ugandans,” he said last week.
