Mao is Cooking Hot Air in His Electoral Reforms Kitchen - Mpuuga

In a heated debate on NBS Morning Breeze on Monday morning over the long-awaited electoral reforms, Nyendo Mukungwe MP Mpuuga accused Minister Mao of misleading the public with hollow promises.

Former Leader of the Opposition Mathias Mpuuga has said Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Norbert Mao is carrying around empty voting ink cans and selling it for electoral reforms.

In a heated debate on NBS Morning Breeze on Monday morning over the long-awaited electoral reforms, Nyendo Mukungwe MP Mpuuga accused Minister Mao of misleading the public with hollow promises.

Mpuuga said Mao has yet to present any concrete proposals, describing the minister's assurances as "hot air."

"Mao's words are simply a tactic to silence the hopeful while delivering no real progress," Mpuuga said. "The reforms he speaks of have yet to materialize, not even on paper."

Defending himself in a phone interview, Mr Mao insisted that the reforms would soon be revealed as official government bills.

"Mpuuga should refrain from using my name to advance his own agenda. Ugandans should be patient; the reforms are coming," Mao said.

The debate grew more intense when Government Chief Whip Hamson Obua denied knowledge of the existence, at Cabinet level, of electoral law amendments allegedly proposed by Mao.

This denial has further fueled public speculation about whether Mr Mao's proposed reforms are genuine or merely political rhetoric aimed at maintaining hope among citizens.

Mr Mpuuga, meanwhile, has pledged to push for his own set of electoral reforms. He plans to introduce seven bills in Parliament, including a proposal to reinstate presidential term limits.

"We must uphold the tradition of law-making in Uganda, despite the doubts raised by some of my fellow reform advocates," Mr Mpuuga said.

The Supreme Court first ordered for electoral reforms in 2001 after Dr Kizza Besigye of the Reform Agenda contested the results.

There were more orders from court in 2006 but with nothing done including ignoring calls from various stakeholders in years that followed, the 2016 elections looked like it had nailed down a platform for reforms.

This time is was President Museveni's erthwhile ally Amama Mbabazi in court challenging the results after his dismal showing and the Supreme Court pronouncing itself in with some air of authority.

However, none of its orders, which included change of the time frame upon which a petition can be lodged from the current 30 days to 60 days, had been met.

Mr Mao, also the president of the Democratic Party, claims to be in the kitchen and that the citizens will soon smell the aroma of his cookies wafting in the air.