DP NEC suspends Kidandala as Organising Secretary; he fires back

The National Executive Committee-NEC of the Democratic Party has suspended the party’s organizing secretary Suleiman Kidandala from his duties with immediate effect.

This was reached at during an extra-ordinary meeting held on Friday at the party headquarters in Mengo to suspend Kidandala and replace him with his deputy, Shafik Dembe.

“Sitting as a disciplinary committee, we have decided that Suleiman Kidandala must come before the National Executive Committee to account but before that, he is suspended and his deputy now takes over,” DP president, Norbert Mao said.

The National Executive Committee accused Kidandala of defying its directive that saw him issue contrary registration forms that caused confusion as Mao recalled the green ones in favour of white ones as part of the party roadmap.

It is said that as part of the party’s roadmap ahead of the 2021 polls, there was confusion as some areas had registers whereas others didn’t have, prompting petitions from many.

Last week, Mao directed executive committee members, branch and sub-county branch executive committee members to disregard all registration forms being distributed by Kidandala referring to them as ‘counterfeits’.

“The only authentic materials for registration of members and the declaration of returns of branch elections are those issued by the party headquarters. For avoidance of doubt, the forms are white in colour and bear the party seal,"Mao said as confusion in the party's roadmap continued.

In Masaka, Kidandala was not reading on the same page as party vice president, Fred Mukasa Mbidde who wanted the registration to continue in his area, a move that Kidandala refused to heed to saying the process had been halted throughout the entire country.

This state of affairs put Kidandala on a collision with other party officials prompting them to summon an extraordinary meeting that sat on Friday but it turned rowdy with Mbidde surviving lynching.

However, according to Mao, Kidandala is the architect of all the confusion and chaos and the move to suspend him was inevitable.

“He started moving on with his own process that saw him present green registration forms yet we don’t know where the money to print them came from. He badmouths us and there was a need to end this,” Mao said.

“I issue a warning to all Democratic Party members to always heed to the committees of the party.”

Kidandala fires back

However, following the suspension, Sulaiman Kidandala has fired back to his bosses in the Democratic Party saying the president, Norbert Mao is the person to blame for the maladministration in the country’s oldest party.

“The maladministration in the party was orchestrated by Mao himself and his team. That meeting was illegal because you can’t convene a meeting under such circumstances, where at one point Police was part of it. Which decisions were they taking,” Kidandala said.

He accused Mao of deliberately sabotaging his job for his own selfish interests.

“It is a figment of their own imagination that probably if I conduct elections, I support Kyagulanyi Ssentamu(Bobi Wine).”

Kidandala insists Mao is a dictator adding that he is being witch-hunted for contradicting Mao’s views in regards the party constitution.

The current state of affairs is not new as the Democratic Party has for many years been embroiled in confusion and this has always increased in years leading to the general elections just as it is now.