KAMPALA – A meeting of the Democratic Party (DP) in Masaka Town on Wednesday quickly descended into chaos as supporters of two-party rivals engaged in a fistfight.
The meeting was called under the DP bloc was part of the party’s attempt to strengthen the party structures. However, pandemonium broke out when supporters of DP Vice President Fred Mukasa Mbidde attempted to block those of Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga from accessing the meeting venue at Masaka Social Centre.
The rival groups exchanged punches, kicks and threw different chairs at each other, leaving several of them injured. Police intervened to restore sanity and the meeting continued.
Mr Mbidde and Mr Mpuuga missed the meeting that was also attended by DP Secretary-General Norbert Mao. The fighting stems from the fact that Mr Mbidde, who is one of the MPs in the East African Legislative Assembly, wants to contest against Mpuuga in Masaka Municipality in 2021.
Mr Mao blamed the infighting on self-seekers.
“I have heard that people were fighting before I came, but I want to inform young democrats that they should not fight for small political positions. No one has a monopoly on any political office, anyone with the required qualification is free to express interest,” he said.
This is the second time in a space of a year that Mpuuga and Mbidde’s supporters are fighting. On September 28, 2018, when the party convened a reunion at Masaka Liberation Square, loyalists from both camps starting fighting each other, leaving some people with injuries.
