Museveni: "My deal with Mao does not include political transition"

President Museveni has said the Memorandum of Understanding that the NRM signed with Democratic Party in July did not include any agreement on political transition.

In an interview with NBS TV which will be aired tonight, Museveni said Norbert Mao, the DP president general, was brought on board as a strategy to "bring the opposition into government" but not to oversee any form of political transition.

"So thats our doctrine to unite as many as possible so that the ones who are not with us are fewer. Maybe Mao is presenting it the way he is presenting it but thats our own old way of uniting anybody who agrees to unite with us. That is his approach but we have discussed broadly unity," Museveni said

Museveni, who has been in power for 36 years, was responding to a question of whether part of his deal with Mao was to pave way for a political transition, like Mao had claimed.

Mao, who was appointed to cabinet after the July handshake, has constantly been quoted as saying that one of his major tasks is to help lay the groundwork for a political transition.

Museveni's revelation vindicates those who warned Mao not to trust the president claiming that he never respects agreements.

Mao has already come under fire from a section of DP leaders, who want him to step down for leading the party into an unclear working arrangement with the NRM.

But Museveni insisted he lured Mao because he was part of a group of Acholi leaders "who were fighting the NRM", after the overthrow of the Tito Okello Lutwa regime. Okello, an Acholi, was president of Uganda from July 29, 1985 until January 26, 1986 when he was overthrown by the Museveni led NRA.

Museveni said the NRM will choose his successor in accordance with the party's values and ideology.

Watch Museveni's exclusive interview with NBS TV at 10.00 PM