About three months before Norbert Mao signed a cooperation agreement with President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the Democratic Party (DP) President General made it clear that he would never be bought by any amount of money.
On March 06, 2022, Mao assured DP members that he will never allow any person or government to ‘buy’ him. This was after President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also the Commander of the UPDF Land Forces, praised Mao for being the best opposition leader with potential to succeed Museveni.
“The President’s son praised Norbert Mao, did he say anything wrong? Am I not intelligent, don’t I have presidential abilities did he lie?” wondered Mao.
” I want to assure you, I know what I am doing and I will never be bought with money — that one you should be assured of — and I can never join the government and leave my party behind, that one is my assurance to you.”
But on July 20, Mao and his DP signed a cooperation agreement with Museveni’s NRM. Museveni saluted Mao for engaging in constructive politics — unlike other opposition politicians who have chosen destruction criticism and politics.
Mao described the signing of the cooperation agreement as “an unprecedented step” taken “in good faith.” He added: “There has never been something like this before.”
Mao and his fellow top leaders insist that the agreement has not yet fully been endorsed by the party’s top organs and that it does not mean that Mao has crossed to Museveni’s nor that the Democratic Party has ceased to be.
Already, some, such as NUP spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi and secretary general David Lewis Rubongoya are saying that the political marriage between Museveni and Mao is now official and that the DP leader should stop pretending that he belongs to the opposition. (Read Story Here).
As part of the deal, reports suggest that Museveni could soon appoint Mao to his cabinet, handing him a juicy ministerial position. (Read Story Here).
VIDEO: When Betty Nambooze Openly Called Norbert Mao a Pumpkin – Green Outside, Yellow Inside
