A hollow win, perhaps, but congratulations nevertheless are in order to Norbert Mao for extending his tenure as President General of the Democratic Party (DP). The ever-jocular Mao, also Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the NRM government, just won a landslide to retain, or rather continue his controversial leadership of the DP, born in 1954 but still struggling to find its way in Uganda’s politics. Mao’s high political ground has been ebbing slowly for a while now although he doesn’t admit so, which is all fine in the market of free thought, speech and association.

Mao’s close allies in DP’s long-running obfuscated internal political disagreements, Mukasa Mbidde and Gerald Siranda also easily retained their seats as vice president, and Secretary General respectively, leaving their main nemesis Lulume Bayiga and MP Buikwe South gnashing teeth. It is still too early to know how deep the political fallout will be, but in any case, DP is now, only a shell nestled, more as a tribal enclave mainly in Buganda.

But before it all ended, fist-fights, first at their headquarters hidden on Balintuma road, in Lubaga, Kampala, and later at what passed for DP delegates conference in Mbarara, set the pace, which was rounded up with ballot boxes being snatched away. It has remained unclear if the police that were seen carrying away the ballot boxes were rescuing, or aiding in a possible irregularity. For those untrained in DP history, what has just replayed last week, has been the main trend in DP since its founding seven decades ago.

The 1984 Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere’s DP delegates conference, birthed Tiberio Okeny Atwoma’s National Liberal Front that never saw light. Since 1986, DP has had splinter factions named DP Mobilizer’s Group led by Michael Kaggwa, Tap Dialogue of Omulongo Wasswa Zziritwawula, and since 2010 when Mao outwitted Hajji Nasser Ssebbaggala (RIP) in Mbale, DP has been in a free fall.

Unsympathetic people on X, formerly Twitter, were left to derisively mock DP, and Mao’s win saying ‘democracy has fled the party’, although I know my friend Mao, will say otherwise. Some in DP and the wider political opposition accuse Mao of being a ‘sale-out’ to the NRM, but more appropriately President Yoweri Museveni for a meal ticket. Mao sees himself as a ‘bridge-builder’ in what he calls a peaceful transition of power from the President to another person in the near future. We, in the NRM laugh off or just sneer at his suggestions that he is the one to change our political course.

Meanwhile, the tremors in NRM so far, going by the past one month of elections to renew party leadership from the grassroots, punctuated by shoving, fist-fights and open shouting matches, portend what may happen during the coming primaries to select MP and Local Council 5 (LCV) flag-bearers will be. The upbeat, at collection of nomination forms during this week, and past records, indicate enthusiasm and strong liking for the party which attracts close to five thousand candidates contesting for the 529 parliamentary and 146 district chairperson seats available respectively.

Ugandans are holding their collective breath, but it is neither too much, nor too late to ask NRM members, especially the candidates and their principal agents to redeem NRM’s electoral image that has been tattered with every electoral circle. Hopefully too, NRM has this time round, mapped out the usual election trouble spots like Sembabule, Kazo, Namutumba and Tororo districts for easy management. And NRM internal election registrars, perennially either out of incompetence or personal petty greed have accustomed to fiddling with processes and poll results, ought to style up, if the party and its collective membership are to avoid unnecessary embarrassments. Otherwise, let there be a robust and tranquil electoral contest within political parties.