NORBERT MAO: Why I am ‘unrealistic’ 

Sometimes people wonder why I’m “unrealistic”. If I were “realistic” I would not have set my mind to leading DP and repositioning it as a national party! If I were “realistic” I would not have sought the Makerere Guild presidency at a time when I was was an “Anyanya” studying law between 1988 – 1991! If I were “realistic” I would not, as a young MP in his 20s, have insisted that the government of Uganda talks peace with the rebels of the LRA, pass an amnesty law, reopen diplomatic relations with Sudan, close the so called IDP camps and return the country to multipartism! If I were “realistic” I would not have dared walk miles in the bushes of Garamba in Congo to pursue peace! If I were “realistic” I would not have left parliament after two terms to go serve my people as a District Chairman! If I were “realistic” I would not be running for President of Uganda today.

I’m therefore not a “realistic” man because I know that the world is not changed by realistic or even reasonable people. It is changed by those who see beyond the horizon, walk the unbeaten path and listen to a Voice above the noise of popular currents.

I’m unrealistic because I focus not on the multitudes with their shifting sentiments. Those multitudes are not my main audience. I focus on a AUDIENCE OF ONE – The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

I’m on a path that many have walked before me. It is not an easy path. It is stony and thorny. It has unexpected twists and turns. It is uphill and exhausting. It is a long road. It gets very lonely. Many times you feel like turning back. But you know it is worthwhile because the stakes are high. You keep badgering on (in the words of Churchill). Why? Because as the lads in The Lord of the Rings said ‘There’s some good in the world and it is worth fighting for’!

I’m therefore unreasonable because as RFK said “Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” I’m unrealistic because I know that sometimes if it is to be, it is up to me!

And so I keep striving and badgering on regardless…