High level National Officials of the Democratic Party met the AlHaji Muhammad Baswari Kezaala on Saturday January 28, 2017 in Jinja. I was part of the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to get the position of the National Chairman on the Announcement of his appointment as Deputy Ambassador designate and to discuss the implications of this appointment to the National Chairman’s position as a top ranking leader in our Party.
After a lengthy discussion we concluded as follows:
1. The National Chairman informed us that he has decided to accept the Appointment and that he considers it a civil service position.
2. We informed the National Chairman that our preference and indeed that of the vast majority of our members would be that he rejects the Appointment but ultimately the decision should be his according to his conscience.
3. We agreed that a Public Service position cannot be held concurrently with the position of National Chairman of the Democratic Party. Upon receipt of the instruments of appointment to the said ambassadorial position, the National Chairman will have to relinquish his position as a leader in the Party. As of now the National Chairman has resigned. With deep regret, we accept his resignation! The Deputy National Chairman Dr. Kiwanuka Mayambala will perform the duties of that office with immediate effect.
4. We also agreed that the departure of the National Chairman from the leadership of the Party should in no way lead to the imputing of improper motives on him given his years of faithful service of the Party. The party should stay focused on its historical mission of instituting a government whose foundation is Truth and Justice.
We face a conundrum. A conundrum is an intricate and difficult problem with no apparent solution.
The Democratic Party is at a defining moment. According to the dictionary a defining moment is “a point at which the essential nature or character of a person, group, etc., is revealed or identified”. The days ahead will reveal what the Democratic Party stands for, what it is made of and where it is destined to go.
Others have called our predicament a Catch 22. A Catch 22 is “a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.” An example is the show-business catch–22 – “no work unless you have an agent, no agent unless you’ve worked.” A Catch 22 is “a contradictory or self-defeating course of action.” We have to take time and reflect.
The Chinese write the word crisis with two characters. One character means danger. The other one means opportunity. What is happening in DP is an opportunity for true believers in the values of DP and not self-seekers motivated purely by ambition for political office.
I find consolation in the words uttered by Thomas Paine in 1776 during the American Revolution. He said “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
We call upon all members of the Party to stay focused on our historical mission to institute in our country a government whose foundation is Truth and Justice. In the next few days and weeks the National Organs of the Party will convene and deliberate on measures to deal with the challenges we face. Let us not be diverted by those who seek to distract us. The Democratic Party was built to last. Our foundation is strong.+
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