{UAH} Mulindwa@Baganda had rejected PRA and wanted M7 to wage the rebellion from his home area in Ankole[BWINO]

Mzee Tom Mboijana the forgotten hero who drafted the agreement between Museveni and Lule:
The bush war that brought President Yoweri Museveni to power in 1986 seems to have created as many heroes as it has grumblers who feel they were betrayed in the revolution. The five-year guerilla war in Luwero appears to have thrived on many unwritten agreements that were later reversed by the leaders of the group after capturing power.

This group of the grumblers includes, but is not limited to, the Buganda monarchists who accuse Museveni of using Prof. Lule's name to galvanise his rebel movement and mobilise both support and manpower to launch a successful guerilla campaign. The group further accuses the National Resistance Army rebel leader Museveni of riding on Buganda's back to get to power but later abandoning its interests.

On his part, President Museveni has dismissed those claiming that he rode on Buganda's back to capture power as liars. He insists he never made any promise to restore Buganda's federal status or monarchy during the war. The public may never know exactly who is telling the truth, half truth or outright lies. But various pieces of information indicate that had it not been for Prof. Lule's role, the NRA would have left the Luwero bushes as villains and bruised.

A bush war historical and former member of the NRA's External Wing Tom Mboijana, gives credence to this version of
history. He narrates how Museveni was desperate for Lule's support at the beginning of the rebellion after his Popular Resistance Army (PRA) had been rejected in Luwero.

Contrary to what had been said about the Museveni group receiving outright support from Buganda at the beginning of the struggle, it was only after the joining of Lule that the now constituted NRA as a merger of PRA and Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF) was accepted to fight on Buganda's soil.

Mboijana says the Baganda had rejected PRA and wanted Museveni to wage the rebellion from his home area in Ankole, which was then a hotbed of the ruling UPC party. He says it would have been suicidal for Museveni to take the rebellion to Ankole given the presence of UPC strongmen like Edward Rurangaranga and Chris Rwakasisi.

Mboijana says Museveni went to his late brother, Chris Mboijana, in early 1981 desperate and complaining that the war was not working; the Baganda were so hostile and he didnt know how to overcome it. Chris was based in Nairobi where he owned an airline. Being a long-time friend of Yusuf Lule, he suggested that Museveni enters into an alliance with Lule to gain acceptability in Buganda. He jumped at it like it was a lifeline.

According to Mboijana, Lule was however reluctant to join forces with Museveni's PRA. Lule was unhappy that Museveni had been part of the group which had overthrown him after barely 60 days in power as leader of the first post- Amin UNLF government. But equally important, some Baganda in his UFF were warning Lule that Museveni could not be trusted; that he merely wanted to use him as a stepping stone.

Eventually Lule was persuaded to accept the alliance and the two groups merged to form the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) with Lule as its chairman and two vice chairmen Yoweri Museveni (operations) and Hajji Musa Kigongo (political). With this agreement, Museveni was now able to knock on peasants doors and say he was fighting under Lule, who would become president again when they defeated Obote.

That was the critical moment because from that point on, Baganda peasants started concealing Museveni's rebels from government troops and supplying them with food.

 According to Mboijana, who sat through the late hours of the night with his brother and others like Mathew Rukikaire and Amama Mbabazi drafting the agreement, the final document did not have the issue of restoration of federalism and monarchy for Buganda for two reasons; First, they did not want to rattle the rest of the country and give Obote a propaganda tool, and second, it was generally understood that Lule was a monarchist and federalist and as president, he would naturally restore the two for Buganda. This would work out conveniently for Museveni's NRA.

It is interesting that even after agreeing to merge with Museveni's PRA at Chris Mboijana's house in Nairobi, Lule refused to issue a statement declaring an armed rebellion against the Obote government for fear of being labelled, internationally as a terrorist. Mboijana admits that Lule involvement gave the NRA the critical boost and acceptance they desperately needed to survive.

Mboijana also delves into Museveni's character in the early years of the revolution and how he has undergone a complete metamorphosis since he came to power in 1986. He remembers a revolutionary Museveni of the bush war time who despised luxury life compared to the Museveni of today who has taken a U-turn and adopted one of the most luxurious and lavish lifestyles on the continent. But he also accuses his former guerilla boss of being ungrateful to those who helped him come to power, the ideals of the revolution he has betrayed and a string of these grumblers Museveni has left in his trail.

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H.OGWAPITI
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that  we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic  and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt