By Dennis Matanda | www.unaatimes.com | If, and when, he becomes President after the 2011 Uganda Presidential Elections, Norbert Mao knows who is going to form his cabinet. He has already picked out a Vice President, a Prime Minister, cabinet ministers – and if he has his way, he’ll maintain Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, [currently Minister of Economic Planning] in the same portfolio. The 43 year old who herded 30 goats after each primary school day also intends to ensure that Cabinet or Ministers of State do not enter parliament. This, he hopes, will prevent politicians from entering the Legislature just so that they can make it to the short list as members of the Executive.
My conversation with the Presidential Aspirant from one of Uganda’s oldest political parties – DP – was not a formal interview. In what he described as an interview where the questions snuck up on him from behind, Mr. Mao, currently LC V Chairman of Gulu Municipality spoke from the heart. There was a quick flash of professional emotion when he mentioned Naomi – the mother of his two sons – and then there was the naughty twinkle in his eye when he alluded to the fact that for the past elections to unseat incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, the other main challengers [Dr. Kawanga Ssemwogerere in 1996; and then Dr. Kiiza Besigye for 2001 and 2006] had only managed to wound the snake. In his estimation, what will make him Uganda’s next President is the fact that he intends to ‘slay the serpent!’
But this does not mean that he compares his rival Museveni to a cold-blooded bottom crawling creature. Using one word, Mao believes that the President is ‘resilient;’ Dr. Col. Kiiza Besigye from FDC is ‘no nonsense;’ while Olara Otunnu – the Uganda People’s Congress candidate – is ‘brilliant’ and Dr. Abed Bwanika, the other aspirant, is a ‘nice guy.’ In saying this, there is no doubt that there are distinguishing factors on the Democratic Party candidate who spent 10 years in Parliament. For his part, he says he espouses the resilience of Museveni, the no nonsense of Besigye, the brilliance of Otunnu and of course, he, himself, is actually a nice guy.
And Norbert Mao is funny too! From casually making anecdotes and references to the different things, he does have a quirky sense of humor that could be interpreted by some as unpresidential. However that does not seem to be the essence of the man. He was candid when he needed to be – and dignified when his picture was taken. There was not an ounce of nervousness when he moved from pose to pose – and neither did one notice a flinch in the seamless oozing between conversations. In simple terms, like we mentioned before, although we were trying to catch him in the true sense of ‘gotcha’ journalism, we failed. He was prepared; he was ready and it seemed as though the time had come for him to take on his political rivals and ascend to the apex of Ugandan politics as its next don of dons.
In Part II, we shall continue the interview and delve into the Interparty Candidate Question, present what Norbert Mao thinks is Uganda’s problem, what he will do on his first day as President, support from different parts of Uganda and of course, what his beautiful wife Naomi thinks about him running for public office.
By Dennis Matanda for UNAA Times Online | www.unaatimes.com
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