SALT LAKE CITY — When Norbert Mao was 28, he decided to run for the Ugandan Parliament.
Some said he was too young, too poor, and didn't have the will to win. He was facing a powerful incumbent.
In his first campaign meeting, he spoke of his vision, which his 30-member audience liked, but someone asked if he had the means to win.
He believed he had the hearts of the people supporting him, and he also had about 60,000 shillings — about $30.
"The next day I had only 10 people in the meeting," Mao said. But the problem, he added, is that people only believe what they see, instead, they should believe "until they see."
And that's what Mao did, eventually winning that election to serve what he promised in his campaigns, two terms — 10 years — in parliament.
That kind of promise is what Mao is bringing to his upcoming campaign to become president of Uganda.
Friday, Mao was in Utah at the request of fellow Ugandan and Utah Valley University recruiter David Ssejinja. Mao called Ssejinja an "unofficial ambassador."
Mao, 43, is the current president of the Ugandan Democratic Party and chairman of Uganda's Gulu district, giving him the interesting nickname of "Chairman Mao." He spoke to university students at UVU and the University of Utah and met with Utah trade leaders and state senators Friday. Thursday, he met with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Mao recognizes his uphill battle against Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who seized power in 1986. But Mao thinks his integrity and track record, and a new wave of Ugandan consciousness, will sound a call to Uganda's young voters. He wants to fight against nepotism and unsanitary conditions while bringing a renaissance to Uganda.
"Uganda has seen too much violence," Mao said. "All our leaders, former leaders, have to run away when there's a change in government."
But he doesn't want that if he wins in February.
"I am hoping President Museveni can go look after his grandchildren," he said.
He called on Utahns to urge elected leaders in Washington to monitor the upcoming elections in Uganda.
He said the army and police have terrorized political parties and have broken up his party's demonstrations by shooting live ammunition. Silence from Washington, Mao says, could be a disaster for his country.
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