HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I Nobert Mao, the president of the Democratic Party (DP) has recounted the day Gen. Salim Saleh saved him from losing his parliamentary seat due to what he called vote rigging.Currently the minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mao was a Member of Parliament representing Gulu Municipality for ten years, after which he became the Gulu LCV chairperson.
Addressing delegates during the Uganda Development Forum Annual Conference 2024, he said he was a 28-year-old candidate for parliament, and his votes were being rigged through a process called voting in restricted areas. This was during the insurgency in Northern Uganda.
“I gave him a call and said General, kindly intervene. My people want me in parliament, but there is gross vote rigging. On the one side, the system he was in was saying that boy must not go to parliament. Since he had fought wars and has the scars that come out of fighting against vote rigging, he stood his ground,” Mao said at the function held recently at the Pakuba Safari Lodge near Pakwach.
He said Saleh’s right decision to intervene earned him a lot of enemies, adding that during that time, when the normal had stopped and ballot boxes had been delivered, the soldiers were voting and putting their votes in envelopes.
“Their total votes were going to be over 3,000. I was leading by about 2,000. Powerful people were assuring the other candidates that don’t worry, your victory is coming by helicopter,” he said.
He added that the helicopter eventually landed and the votes were poured onto the ground, and the counting process kicked off.
Nobert Mao, Uganda’s Justice minister and DP president addressing delegates during the UDF Annual Conference 2024 at the Gulu Logistics Center
“During the process, one of my agents heard the name of his brother who had passed on. He said, what? So my brother came out of the grave, went and voted. He demanded for the list which was used for voting,” he said, adding that it was discovered that they had used the army payroll, not the voters register.
He said there were so called ghost soldiers, and the voter’s register was substituted with the army payroll, and that these serial numbers.
“Some of the payroll papers had been photocopied. Because the electoral commission had sent the numbers based on exactly those who were supposed to vote.
The culprits wanted to multiply the number of voters, so they photocopied some payroll sheets. And each payroll paper is supposed to have a serial number.
“So my team walked away. My opponent, who is currently a great friend of mine, is Honorable Betty Bigombe, Uganda’s ambassador to Malaysia. So they remained alone with the returning officer, who also eventually got annoyed and walked out.”
Gen Salim Saleh addressing delegates
Mao said the returning officer got stranded with the votes. He called Stephen Akabway, who was the then Electoral Commission chairman, who nullified the election, and called for a re-election. Mao later won.
He said calling General Saleh and asking for help made a big difference, although he had never met him before.
Mao, who has been president of the Democratic Party since 2010, and three-time presidential candidate, served on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and the Public Accounts Committee while in parliament. He resigned from Parliament in 2006 and was elected chairman, Gulu District.
