The appointment of Hon. Norbert Mao, the President General of the Democratic Party, as the Minister designate for Justice and Constitutional Affairs is part of government’s efforts aimed at keeping Uganda stable and strong, President Yoweri Museveni has said.
The President was speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed ministers at the Office of the President today (Wednesday). The event was witnessed by the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, Ms Lucy Nakyobe Mbonye.
“The appointment today is in two categories. Beatrice Akello was one of my most favourite Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and she did a very good job. She was one of the most successful RDCs in managing her district. She is one of the young people coming up. There was a different logic behind Mao’s appointment. He has his own capabilities as a leader and his appointment is part of the NRM efforts to make Uganda a stable and strong country,” President Yoweri Museveni said.
President Museveni recently appointed Mao Justice minister while Akello was named State for Economic Monitoring.
The President gave an in-depth background of Uganda’s political history, saying that patriots have on four occasions attempted to unite Ugandans in vain, citing Ignatius K. Musaazi and the Uganda National Congress Party which later split to create the Democratic Party for Catholics and the UPC for Protestants as well as the Kabaka Yekka party which sprang up later.
“All these were mistakes of not achieving broad unity. They fragmented the people and it is the reason they failed to succeed,” he said.
President Museveni said the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), a political group comprising Ugandan exiles opposed to Idi Amin’s rule, had the same ideas but it broke up creating another season of fighting.
“When NRM came to power in 1986, we formed resistance councils and people joined on a non-tribal basis. The broad-based government helped achieve peace,” he said.
The President, however, said that with the agitation for multi-party politics increasing, there were people who wanted to opt out of the movement and had to be given chance.
“We didn’t want to be harassed by those who wanted to leave. We said Mubaleke bagende, but the majority stayed. NRM succeeded in keeping two-thirds of Ugandans together,” he said.
The President, however, said that in Christianity, you leave the 70 and go to look for the 30 per cent who left.
“My job is to bring them back. I am glad that some people have come back including Betty Kamya, Jimmy Akena ad now Mao. It is a deliberate effort to unite and solve the problems of Uganda because we all have the same problems like improving roads, water, education security etc. The only difference is the opportunist politicians who don’t want to see a stable country,” he said.
President Museveni urged the new ministers to help solve people’s problems in their service to the country. He cited the new Minister of State for Sports Peter Ogwang who has been doing a great job of monitoring government programmes and urged the new ministers to be accountable to the people.
The new Ministers will be inducted into the Public Service on Thursday, July 28 and will later take over their respective offices.
