Dr Olive Kobusingye, a sister to FDC President Dr. Kiiza
Besigye recently published a book which ‘exposes’ the bad side of the
Museveni regime. By 1996 while Besigye was still fervently serving in NRM, I
was 11/12 years old, but I had already studied the character of the then Lt.
Gen Yoweri Museveni and as it later turned out, I had by then predicted that
Museveni will do everything to stay in power –including switching political
systems to multi-party politics that he castigated at the time. I have also consistently
said that if “Federo” turns out to be the vote winner, then Museveni will
promise to hand it to Mengo! Events like President Museveni’s support for
multiparty politics, amendment of the constitution to erase term limits and the
recent reopening of CBS came as no surprise to me –that is the Museveni I have
always known and he has not disappointed.
H.E. Gen(Rtd) Yoweri Museveni is a living Political legend.
He is a shrewd Politician who deserves the highest accolade in the field of
Politics. I suggest the University of Dar-es-Salaam should award him a Honorary
PhD and Professorship in Political Science. The General understands societal
dynamics in Africa and has also excelled at playing Global Politics as
evidenced in his interventions in regional politics and security. Museveni has
over the years told people, albeit in jocular mode that Politics is a game of
lies and hypocrisy. I am surprised that people like Dr. Besigye and her sister
were not able to read this part of Museveni’s character earlier on despite
being closer to him than some of us ordinary folks. They now come riding
on the fact that they want to hold Museveni accountable to his statements in
the early days of the regime. In the first place, at the time when Museveni
made all those promises, he was not a democratically elected President and as
such had no contract with the People of Uganda! He was in power because the
all-powerful formerly rebel outfit called NRA/M wanted him there. Secondly,
History has shown that leaders who are not flexible only sink nations just as
was the case with the late Mwalimu Nyerere’s Ujama policy in Tanzania. Had he
been as dynamic, he should have abandoned it in its early stages. Resigning did
not make Tanzania better than Ugandan economically. So was Mwalimu Nyerere’s
resignation a wise move? This is debate for another day!
Besides, Politics is not a natural SCIENCE, since it has no
laws that can be proved to hold true always. Politicians are supposed to be
dynamic and able to adjust depending on societal dynamics and this is where I
disagree with the medical doctors –Besigye and his sister. Should
we also say Besigye is a liar because he is not campaigning on the message of
restoring the 10-point programme, which he accuses Museveni of ‘forgetting’? If
Besigye was as trustworthy and principled as he wants us to believe, he should
have been saying that himself and FDC are fighting to be in power in order to
implement the 10-point programme to the letter.
I also find the argument of Dr. Besigye and his IPC that the
Electoral Commission is biased to be flawed. It actually carries truth in it,
but they are not trying to address the problem, they are complaining about one
of the symptoms and not the cause of the disease. The actual disease is; we
adopted and passed a very ambitious and unrealistic Constitution in the first
place. The most annoying thing is that Besigye, Njuba and Kanyeihamba were all
powerful men in the establishment at the time of making this constitution. They
were not strategic thinkers to realise that idea of vesting power of appointing
Electoral commissioners in the President in a poor country like Uganda had
flaws in it. “A poor man actually has no right and conscience, even if he
had them, they can be traded for a few pennies!” It is as simple as that.
This means that once the President has the powers over the national piggy bank
and also has the desire to stay in power, he can have things his way. This is
something that I know Museveni and his most trusted Lieutenant –Hon. Amama
Mbabazi knew from the beginning and it was always going to be a question
of what comes first.
Why Museveni can now give Buganda Federo? Given the
discovery of vast oil resources in Bunyoro. Museveni can systematically turn
Bunyoro into the most powerful region with less resistance; thanks to the
absence of a superiority complex in Bunyoro like in Buganda. With the Bunyoro’s
relevance to the economics and politics rising, Mengo’s ego will be smartly
brought under check and Federo will not grant them the Superior status they
have always craved for. The Banyoro are generally people you can trust more
than the Baganda in Mengo and this would play in Museveni’s favour. I therefore
find it a miscalculation for Besigye to ride on top of Federo promises to
Buganda. Besigye is actually going to suffer from the Ssemwogerere effect. As
he may realise after the elections in 2011, you do not win the Presidency by
winning more of your votes in Buganda alone –you need a national victory.
I am also inclined to believe that Museveni may have a hand
in the candidacy of Kamya, Bidandi Ssali, Lubega, Bwanika and at least am
not the first person to say this. This is how I look at it; Realising that some
conservatives in Buganda were not going to give him the votes for issues such
as Federo, removal of Term Limits and being a non Muganda, Museveni may have
chosen to deny his closest rival, Besigye these votes by ‘sponsoring’
BAGANDA candidates who have chosen to ride on such issues as Federalism, term
limits– which in reality are not as central to national development to warrant
Presidential candidacy of individuals like Kamya, Bidandi Ssali and Lubega.
As many other great thinkers like Aristotle on
Evolution and others, Museveni has had to abandon some of his earlier perceptions
of Politics and marched on with the dynamics, this is where I challenge people
like Dr. Besigye, Dr. Kobusingye, Prof. Kanyeihamba, Prof. Oloka Onyango
to face reality and distinguish academics and medicinal sciences from the
‘dirty’ real world of Politics. As for me, the way forward, is for IPC and
other pressure groups to advocate for redrafting of a realistic and a
not-too-ambitious constitution, which takes into account the fact that a
country like ours need to go through crawling before walking on the journey to
democracy. I advise these intellectuals to pick a leaf from God’s plan for the
human being. You first learn how to crawl, then stand, walk and then run. It
was therefore TOTALLY wrong to draft a constitution largely resembling those of
democracies that are over two centuries old yet our nation was just being BORN.
Our Constitution would have served as an excelled PhD thesis for the Justice
Odoki Commission, but not as supreme law for the Banana Republic!
“For God and My Country”
Ronald Leonard Egesa