The Justice and Constitutional minister has said his failed bid to become Speaker of the 12th Parliament underlines deep divisions that pose an existential threat to northern Uganda. Mr Norbert Mao, who is also the president general of Uganda’s oldest extant party, the Democratic Party (DP), says he was dismayed by how his own kinsmen disowned him once he declared his candidacy.
‘How we messed it up, we shall discuss it in confidence as elders, but I want only to caution that we as Acholi need not read/speak from different pages; if that happens, things get messed up,’ Mr Mao told Mega FM, a local radio station in Acholi Sub-region.
‘Two hardworking and great Acholi women (MPs) were proposed to contest for the deputy speakership among themselves; unfortunately, some of the people who were consulted, they bad-mouthed these two women terribly, our very own Acholi,’ Mr Mao added, referring to Omoro District Woman Representative (DWR) Catherine Lamwaka and Kitgum DWR Lillian Aber.
Mr Mao said the ‘slander and witch-hunt’ did not start this year. He pointed out that, a few years ago, when East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) Speaker Dan Kidega’s name was proposed to lead the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) headquartered in Djibouti, intrigue took centre stage. This was after ‘senior Acholi leaders in government badmouthed Kidega’.
Reacting to incidents when several lawmakers openly recorded themselves on social media disowning his candidacy, Mr Mao said he has always built a virtue to forgive and work with others. ‘I never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity; we must desist from the politics of ‘all men are equal’; it is outdated today. I listen to and work together with every leader and even opponents and reconcile with them.’
Moment of introspection
Among the fights being catalysed by the Acholi leaders in Mr Mao’s assessment is one to oust the sitting Paramount Chief.
The Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister says he has also seen a memo from a group of leaders addressed to Gen Salim Saleh, the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) national coordinator, that is ‘against me’.
He added: ‘[…] but all of you know that I am the vice chairperson of Gen Salim Saleh Foundation for Humanity. I am also vice chairperson of Gen Saleh at Uganda Development Forum. He (Saleh) told me about those documents and served me a copy, for which the authors know I have been served a copy by Gen Saleh, which contained so many bad things about me, including so much slanderous and malicious stuff.’
Minister Mao, whose parliamentary win of Laroo-Pece Division is no longer facing a court petition after Tony Kitara opted out of the legal proceedings on Thursday, says Acholi leaders should have a moment of introspection. ‘I think we, the Acholi, should have our bedroom where we can settle our grievances, private matters and secrets. I know people want to be elected MPs, councillors, etc, and others were promised ministerial posts, etc, but if we are to take Acholi forward, let’s have a bedroom where we can talk our private things.’
The DP leader attributes President Museveni’s strong performance in the Acholi Sub-region during the 2026 presidential poll to a cooperation agreement his party entered into with the ruling NRM.
‘That success was greatly due to my sweat and the few we fought with. Ever since, Museveni has never scored averagely 50 percent in Acholi […] we convinced the population to vote Museveni since he still owes us the cattle we lost during the past insurgencies in the region, among others,’ Mr Mao said.
Casting lots with Museveni
In December 2025, Mr Mao, a three-time presidential candidate on the DP ticket, disclosed that he would for the first time vote for Museveni. The DP president general said this was to grant Uganda’s octogenarian leader one more chance to fulfil all the political pledges he made in the Acholi Sub-region.
Mr Mao believed that by voting for NRM, the Acholi people would be guaranteed their livestock compensation and other war reparation packages with Museveni in office. While on the campaign trail, as he looked to get back into Parliament, Mr Mao always hinted that he wanted both the NRM and DP parties to elect the best. His open support and mobilisation of the Acholi to vote for President Museveni did yield dividends.
In the 2021 election, President Museveni secured 23,683 (47 percent) of the votes in Gulu District against Mao’s 11,223 (22.3 percent). The National Unity Platform’s Robert Kyagulanyi polled third with 9,764 (19.41 percent) of the 54,088 voters who cast their ballot out of the 141,423 registered voters in the district.
Back in 2021, Museveni also won northern Uganda with 1,219,352 votes, translating into 68.26 percent, while Kyagulanyi (NUP) came second with 389,584 votes (21.81 percent). Patrick Amuriat Oboi of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) polled 47,912, with Norbert Mao (DP) managing 40,688.
The Electoral Commission is yet to officially release presidential results from the 2026 poll, but there are indications that President Museveni performed better in Gulu and northern Uganda vis-a-vis 2021.
In 2021, Mr Mao and his DP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ruling NRM. The pact resulted in Mr Mao’s appointment as the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister.
The agreement seeks to establish a government of national unity as a base for a peaceful transition to minimise a recurrence of the violence that has previously dogged the country. Mr Mao reasoned that the move was not only to avoid fragmenting the Opposition vote but also to promote peaceful and credible elections.