Bruised and Betrayed: inside the DP’s blood-stained delegates’ conference

What was supposed to be a routine delegates’ conference for Uganda’s Democratic Party (DP) in Mbarara quickly unravelled into a tense, chaotic showdown between rival factions—one loyal to party president Norbert Mao, the other backing his vocal challenger, Bukoto Central MP Richard Sebamala.

Amid the heated atmosphere, Kennedy Mutenyo, head of the DP electoral commission, found himself at the heart of the storm.

“We had a heavy police deployment to keep law and order,” Mutenyo said in a candid and wide-ranging interview.

“The pro-Mao group focused on winning fairly. But the other side, those rallying behind Sebamala, had a different playbook—chaos.”

The conference, attended by over 1,000 party delegates, was originally slated for three days—May 29 to 31—but extended to five due to repeated disruptions and attempts to hijack the agenda. According to Mutenyo, the core of the dispute centered around Sebamala’s eligibility to contest for party president.

“The math didn’t add up, and his camp knew it,” Mutenyo said. “But instead of following the constitution, they chose to provoke violence.”

Under DP’s constitution, a candidate for party president must have been an active member for at least 10 years or served on the National Executive Committee (NEC) for a minimum of five. Sebamala, Mutenyo noted, had only clocked four years and eight months as a party member, falling short of both requirements.

The tensions escalated in the days leading up to the Mbarara conference. Mutenyo recalled being assaulted at the party’s Kampala headquarters by what he described as “hooligans” from Sebamala’s camp.

“That Tuesday, they came looking for me because they’d heard I was going to release the names of nominated candidates,” he said. “They pushed me, I fell, and injured my arm. I’m still recovering.”

In the aftermath of the attack, Mutenyo claimed he received phone calls from Sebamala’s allies, pressuring him to bend the rules and allow Sebamala onto the ballot despite his ineligibility. Throughout the extended conference, Mutenyo said his priority was upholding constitutional integrity, regardless of political pressure. Of the 180 individuals who picked nomination forms, only 120 returned them.

“I maintained neutrality,” he said. “Even Mao’s people accused me of being unfair. That, to me, was evidence that I did my job impartially.” He didn’t mince words about what the violent and divisive scenes revealed.

“There’s a lot of corruption in opposition parties—probably on par with what we criticize in the NRM,” Mutenyo said. “How do you demand to be a candidate when you don’t meet the requirements?”

For his part, Sebamala has publicly defended his actions and criticized the direction the party has taken under Mao’s leadership. Speaking to NTV in a recent interview, he painted a bleak picture of a divided and disillusioned party base.

“It’s true we are in pain,” Sebamala said. “It’s true a few regions have decided to get married to Mao, not the Democratic Party. But I assure you, we shall clean this party.”

Sebamala is now one of six DP members who have dragged Mao to court over the latter’s controversial cooperation agreement with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM)—an accord that was reportedly signed without consultation or endorsement from DP’s internal structures.

Despite the turbulence, Mao emerged from the Mbarara conference with another five-year mandate as party president. But the wounds from the bitter fallout remain fresh, and many within the DP question whether the party can recover its unity or moral authority anytime soon. The battle for the soul of Uganda’s oldest political party may be far from over.