{UAH} Museveni pursues Lukwago as food shortage looms
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The by-election, occasioned by the death of Joy Karisa, is scheduled for October 31. We went together with Leader of Opposition Nathan Nandala-Mafabi. Buhweju is a one-county/constituency district carved out of Bushenyi recently.
The neglected road infrastructure in this hilly district makes movement between its sub-counties almost impossible. It is a district with no single kilometre of tarmac and its main town, housing the district headquarters, is no better than a rural trading centre.
The only visible infrastructure in the main town is the office of the president. The main health facility in the town is in need of more urgent care than the patients who visit it. However, there are two things that struck me most during this visit.
First was the level of tolerance among political actors. At all the campaign rallies for the FDC candidate, we were received by area councillors and LC chairpersons who are NRM.
They welcomed us and sat to listen to our speeches. I don't know whether this is a new development or it is only happening during this by-election.
Our politics is so polarized to the extent that one time, Bushenyi Woman MP Maria Karooro Okurut fled when an FDC councillor, now Bushenyi municipality MP, Odo Tayebwa, walked towards her at Parliament. Tayebwa was looking for Salaamu Musumba's office.
The second thing that struck me is the level of hopelessness in this area. We addressed four rallies but a quarter of the men who turned up for these meetings were drunk, some as early as midday.
This one visit may not be sufficient to draw conclusions but for able-bodied men to be totally drunk at midday is a big story.
The total budget for Buhweju last year was Shs 6 billion. A total of Shs 3.6 billion was for wages, Shs 1 billion for fuel and other none-wage expenses. Only Shs 1.4 billion was for development.
Interestingly, one of the residents asked why we in opposition, who had campaigned against creation of districts, were in Buhweju seeking to benefit from its fruits (a new parliamentary seat).
I think I don't have to labour much to convince you that creation of districts served a political and not a development interest. Just imagine, more than 65 per cent of the budget for the district is spent on wages and fuel and what remains to develop Buhweju is about 35 per cent.
Mind you, Buhweju is 100 per cent under NRM administration. There is no Erias Lukwago or Col Kizza Besigye to step onto people's tomatoes but there is nothing to show except the president's office.
Instead of providing leadership where it is urgently required, our visionary leader is in Kampala attempting to be a lord mayor. Just imagine if the head of state becomes the chief guest at inauguration of tomato stalls in Wandegeya market and parking slots in taxi parks, what will the lord mayor and councillors do?
Part of Mr Museveni's failure has been his appetite even for what he doesn't ordinarily consume. He wants to be a cultural leader, a soldier, a mayor and a religious leader.
I am told the main assignment of Frank Tumwebaze, the minister for the Presidency, is to ensure that Lukwago is removed. All known procedures and legal requirements have been violated in the name of removing Lukwago.
I have learnt that the tribunal set up by Museveni to facilitate the removal of Lukwago cannot submit its report because KCCA is not fully constituted. The High court has already ruled that for the council to discuss Lukwago's impeachment, it must be fully constituted.
Jennifer Musisi Ssemakula, the KCCA executive director, and Tumwebaze attempted to hold elections for the professional bodies' councillors but some [bodies] refused. State House is now pursuing those bodies that have refused to be part of this fraud including the engineers and the Uganda Law Society.
In fact the report recommends that Lukwago should be removed but this cannot happen before the election of the remainder of the councillors. All forms of manipulation that you can imagine have been set in motion.
But as all this is happening, the country is headed for a massive crop failure because of unstable rains. Some crops, especially maize, are drying up in some parts of the country and family heads are in trading centres drinking themselves silly.
An impending shortage of food is what should occupy the mind of responsible leaders but we are busy in hotel rooms plotting how to remove an elected lord mayor. He can only survive if he repents to the visionary.
semugs@yahoo.com
The author is Kyadondo East MP.
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