Last week the police blocked a meeting by the DP faction led by Samuel Lubega at Nsambya Youth Sharing Hall in Kampala. The meeting was to discuss terms under which they would join the Interparty Cooperation, a loose alliance of five political parties (UPC, FDC, CP and SDP). The faction relocated the meeting to Kabusu suburb and resolved to join the IPC.

The officially recognised DP led by Norbert Mao later said at a press conference that they had summoned the five leaders of the Lubega faction to the party’s disciplinary committee.

Simon Peter Ochieng, the Deputy Secretary General of the Lubega faction, said they had not received any letter calling them to appear before the disciplinary committee.

Mao’s group, he said, only summoned them through a press conference for publicity purposes and that none of the five-Samuel Lubega, Gertrude Nakayenga, Hajji Sserunjogi Ali, Dr Lulume Bayiga and Simon Peter Ocheing would comply with the summons.

Ochieng, said Mao’s group loves media attention. He said they pulled the same stunt on August 18 when they went to meet the IPC leaders and called journalists to escort them.

Salaam Musumba, a member of the IPC steering committee, concurs that Mao’s group went to meet the IPC for publicity purposes. 

Musumba described Mao’s decision to meet IPC leaders as a juvenile stunt to attract publicity and to stop the Samuel Lubega faction from joining the IPC.

The Mao group’s sudden change of attitude was very surprising given that they have been publicly disparaging the IPC.

“We are not interested in indulging in juvenile politics,” Musumba said.

She said the IPC had written to the Mao group to join IPC but they refused and started attacking them through the media.

She said that when the Lubega faction sought to join the IPC, the latter decided to examine the legal and political implications of accepting one faction of DP when the other is out.

The IPC then subjected the issue to a legal and political audit. They consulted their lawyers and the public, but no conclusive decision has been made on the matter.

 “It was then that Mao and his group came accompanied by journalists to meet the IPC,” Musumba said.

She said it appears Mao’s DP is neither interested in joining the IPC nor cooperating with them on anything. Mao had said after the IPC meeting that DP was till exploring the form in which they could cooperate with IPC. The Mao group wants to field their own presidential candidate but can cooperate with the IPC on other areas like having joint candidates for parliamentary and Local Council  elections.

Mao also said he supports the IPC position to have the current Electoral Commission changed.

Musumba said this was Mao’s trick to derail the IPC from considering the option of accepting the other DP faction.

However Mathias Nsubuga, the secretary general of the Mao DP, said it’s IPC who invited them for a meeting. Musumba dismissed Nsubuga’s claim. She said the invitation was sent a long time ago but had never been honoured. She said Mao’s group came for other reasons other than the invitation because they had long ignored it.

Some members of the IPC say they have put on hold the decision to accept one DP group until they can unite both.  Dr Frank Nabwiso believes the two groups can reconcile. But the Lubega faction is looking at admission into the IPC  rather than reconcile with the Mao group.

In an interview with Lubega before the Mbale conference early this year, his position on joining IPC was the same as Mao’s. He said DP would not join IPC because the party always lost their members in such coalitions. He has since changed his mind. No apparent reason has been given. Some observers say he has found it hard to unilaterally take his DP faction into the 2011 elections without the backing of other opposition parties. They are also facing a lot pressure from the Mao group.

The Mao group has ruled out reconciliation with Lubega faction. Nsubuga says court has declared Mao the rightful leader of DP. He says the Lubega faction has to succumb to Mao who was elected in the Mbale Delegates Conference.

Both DP groups have been holding parallel activities since the Mbale conference.

Last week Mukasa Mbidde, the Legal Secretary for the Mao DP, told The Independent that they asked the police to block the meeting of the Lubega faction at Nsambya Sharing Hall. He referred to them as impostors. 

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