{UAH} TIMOTHY KALYEGIRA SUMMARISES THE WEEK FOR YOU:
|
6:15 AM |
No comments |
Kampala Press Review Saturday Dec. 6, 2014 By Timothy Kalyegira
President Yoweri Museveni appeared on the Capital FM national affairs talk show, the "Capital Gang" to discuss the current situation within the ruling NRM party.
In a show recorded at State House Entebbe and hosted by Oskar Semweya-Musoke, the president was the first to speak and opened with his familiar ramblings about the historical role of the NRM, which somewhat inaccurately and dishonestly he claimed had began as a party or political movement in the 1960s.
The show was also simultaneously aired on Capital FM's sister station Beat FM.
At 10:20 a.m, Museveni mentioned a number of party goals which he and the Secretary-General would include in their report to the party conference on Dec. 15, 2014.
It was the first hint that he and the Secretary-Gener al, Amama Mbabazi, still maintain a kind of working relationship.
"Capital Gang" panelist Abdu Katuntu when his turn came, said at 10:33 a.m that what Museveni was recounting as 1960s "NRM" strategic goals, the president was not really saying anything original because, said Katuntu, the 1960s UPC party and government pursued exactly the same goals that Museveni seemed to suggest were uniquely conceived by the "NRM" in the 1960s.
Katuntu at 10:37 a.m also noted that even though Museveni was trying to portray the NRM's ideology and gaols in grand, strategic terms, what had been unfolding across Uganda since the Feb. 2014 Kyankwanzi retreat and the resolutions that followed was something much more basic and embarrassingly feudal -- the advancement of the "sole candidacy" of Museveni for the party's presidential bid in 2016.
Museveni, as Katuntu spoke, was quiet.
As would be expected, at 10:54 a.m, when his turn came to speak, panelist Ibrahim Nganda Ssemujju narrated the background to the NRM's Luwero guerrilla war said it was this fear of another group taking to a civil war that many like he, Nganda, have been urging Museveni to step down.
Nganda, one of the few Ugandans who speaks without fear in the physical presence of Museveni, described what has been going on since Kyankwanzi as a "coup" staged by Museveni against his opwn party and its Secretary-General.
Several messages from Twitter and Facebook users coming into the Capital FM show also expressed the view that it is about time that Museveni stepped down from power.
"I don't need power, for what?" stated Museveni at 11:02 a.m, a statement that will surely be widely quoted and joked about on social media and in political circles for many weeks to come.
At 11:11 a.m, Museveni described the Kampala city executive director Jennifer Ssemakula-Musisi as a "cadre" whom he recruited while she was still at Makerere University and praised her for the changes she has brought to "this rotten city" Kampala, once run by the political opposition.
On KFM's "Hard Talk" show was the former FDC party president and three-time presidential candidate Col. Kiiza Besigye, hosted by Chris Obore.
At 10:24 a.m, Besigye inaccurately stated that the FDC is ten years old, when in fact it was officially launched as a party in Oct. 2005. Also on KFM was presidential advisor Moses Byaruhanga.
Besigye praised the way the current president Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu is steering the FDC.
At 10:31 a.m, Obore, the Investigations Editor of the Daily Monitor, brought to the attention of Byaruhanga that Amama Mbabazi is currently on "forced leave" and not the voluntary leave as the Ugandan public has thus far been made to believe.
At 11:05 a.m, Byaruhanga conceded that the UPM party led by Museveni did not contest the 1980 general election results because it hoped or believed it would have won. He said unlike today, in 1980 when a DP parliamentary candidate won, a UPC candidate was declared the winner, only for Besigye to quickly interject and state that since 2001, this too has been happening, in which Besigye would win, say 500 votes, but the Electoral Commission would declare that he, Besigye, had got no vote at all.
Radio Simba's "Gasimbagane ne Abamawulire" journalists' show, hosted by Peter Kibazo, featured Haruna Kanabi and the New Vision's News Editor John Kakande.
Kanabi opened his remarks by discussing the recent spate of incidents in the United States involving Black youths and White policemen and pointed out that despite the highly charged emotional atmosphere, President Barack Obama did not interfere with the judicial process, unlike what would have happened in a country like Uganda.
Kanabi at 11:25 a.m discussed the 2016 general election and remarks made at a public forum by Besigye and moderated by Kanabi, at which Besigye said that for the opposition to take part in the 2016 vote without the electoral laws first being revised, would be an exercise in futility. Kanabi suggested that Besigye and some other opposition figures are contemplating a boycott of the forthcoming general election.
If true, it would be ironic considering that in late 2010 the UPC party president Olara Otunnu had called for just such a boycott but the FDC and other parties did not heed his call and went into an election heavily weighted in favour of the NRM.
On CBS FM (Radio Buganda), two-time former presidential candidate Dr. Abed Bwanika at 11:14 a.m said emphatically that Amama Mbabazi has exactly a month from the Dec. 15, 2014 NRM delegates' conference to strike. If by Jan. 15, 2015 Mbabazi has not declared his presidential ambition or future plan one way or the other, it will be the end of his political career, at least at a national level.
Also on CBS' political discussion show was the lawyer and opposition activist Yusuf Nsibambi and the NRM-leaning lawyer and party activist Mary Muteesi.
The guest on Pearl FM was the presidential press secretary Joseph Tamale Mirundi, discussing the political developments in the country. Mirundi mentioned the Vision Group Managing Director Robert Kabushenga as part of the Amama Mbabazi faction of the NRM party.
At 10:42 a.m, Mirundi said he believes that Mbabazi's wife, Jacqueline Mbabazi, must be the force behind Mbabazi's presidential ambition because, said Mirundi, knowing the Mbabazi he knows, Mbabazi did not harbour presidential ambitions and it is only his wife who has been pressuring him to seek the presidency.
At 10:45 a.m, Mirundi claimed that Kiiza Besigye had paid NTV 500 million shillings to pitch the news bulletins to frequently mention the 2016. Mirundi also claimed that Amama Mbabazi has the Daily Monitor, the Observer and the New Vision newspapers under his influence and these three newspapers are pushing his agenda.
Mirundi said, in Luganda, that "Mbabazi has money", and said Mbabazi is going to hold a powerful delegates' conference that will astonish Uganda.
He also said the one person whom Besigye fears on the political landscape is Mbabazi and right now is panicking at the prospect of a Mbabazi presidential bid, which said Mirundi, is why Besigye is trying to influence the media to give more coverage of the FDC in its news.
Mirundi, who described himself as a "riolist" (meaning realist) outlined the true extent of what he said was Amama Mbabazi's political and financial reach in Uganda and seemed to suggest that the Aga Khan might be hedging his bets by discreetly backing Mbabazi.
He also said that Bank of Uganda has come under the influence of Mbabazi, stating that State House has a list of pledges by President Museveni which Bank of Uganda has never honoured but every pledge made by Mbabazi during his countrywide tours as Prime Minister, Bank of Uganda made sure it honoured and cleared.
The most intriguing of the morning's talk shows was probably the one on Pearl FM, if only because of the intriguing claims and allegations made by Tamale Mirundi. Even factoring in possible exaggeration, Mirundi's claims carried a ring of plausibility to them or at the very least provided the kind of leads to intelligence information the Ugandan public is anxious to learn about.
--
-- President Yoweri Museveni appeared on the Capital FM national affairs talk show, the "Capital Gang" to discuss the current situation within the ruling NRM party.
In a show recorded at State House Entebbe and hosted by Oskar Semweya-Musoke, the president was the first to speak and opened with his familiar ramblings about the historical role of the NRM, which somewhat inaccurately and dishonestly he claimed had began as a party or political movement in the 1960s.
The show was also simultaneously aired on Capital FM's sister station Beat FM.
At 10:20 a.m, Museveni mentioned a number of party goals which he and the Secretary-General would include in their report to the party conference on Dec. 15, 2014.
It was the first hint that he and the Secretary-Gener al, Amama Mbabazi, still maintain a kind of working relationship.
"Capital Gang" panelist Abdu Katuntu when his turn came, said at 10:33 a.m that what Museveni was recounting as 1960s "NRM" strategic goals, the president was not really saying anything original because, said Katuntu, the 1960s UPC party and government pursued exactly the same goals that Museveni seemed to suggest were uniquely conceived by the "NRM" in the 1960s.
Katuntu at 10:37 a.m also noted that even though Museveni was trying to portray the NRM's ideology and gaols in grand, strategic terms, what had been unfolding across Uganda since the Feb. 2014 Kyankwanzi retreat and the resolutions that followed was something much more basic and embarrassingly feudal -- the advancement of the "sole candidacy" of Museveni for the party's presidential bid in 2016.
Museveni, as Katuntu spoke, was quiet.
As would be expected, at 10:54 a.m, when his turn came to speak, panelist Ibrahim Nganda Ssemujju narrated the background to the NRM's Luwero guerrilla war said it was this fear of another group taking to a civil war that many like he, Nganda, have been urging Museveni to step down.
Nganda, one of the few Ugandans who speaks without fear in the physical presence of Museveni, described what has been going on since Kyankwanzi as a "coup" staged by Museveni against his opwn party and its Secretary-General.
Several messages from Twitter and Facebook users coming into the Capital FM show also expressed the view that it is about time that Museveni stepped down from power.
"I don't need power, for what?" stated Museveni at 11:02 a.m, a statement that will surely be widely quoted and joked about on social media and in political circles for many weeks to come.
At 11:11 a.m, Museveni described the Kampala city executive director Jennifer Ssemakula-Musisi as a "cadre" whom he recruited while she was still at Makerere University and praised her for the changes she has brought to "this rotten city" Kampala, once run by the political opposition.
On KFM's "Hard Talk" show was the former FDC party president and three-time presidential candidate Col. Kiiza Besigye, hosted by Chris Obore.
At 10:24 a.m, Besigye inaccurately stated that the FDC is ten years old, when in fact it was officially launched as a party in Oct. 2005. Also on KFM was presidential advisor Moses Byaruhanga.
Besigye praised the way the current president Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu is steering the FDC.
At 10:31 a.m, Obore, the Investigations Editor of the Daily Monitor, brought to the attention of Byaruhanga that Amama Mbabazi is currently on "forced leave" and not the voluntary leave as the Ugandan public has thus far been made to believe.
At 11:05 a.m, Byaruhanga conceded that the UPM party led by Museveni did not contest the 1980 general election results because it hoped or believed it would have won. He said unlike today, in 1980 when a DP parliamentary candidate won, a UPC candidate was declared the winner, only for Besigye to quickly interject and state that since 2001, this too has been happening, in which Besigye would win, say 500 votes, but the Electoral Commission would declare that he, Besigye, had got no vote at all.
Radio Simba's "Gasimbagane ne Abamawulire" journalists' show, hosted by Peter Kibazo, featured Haruna Kanabi and the New Vision's News Editor John Kakande.
Kanabi opened his remarks by discussing the recent spate of incidents in the United States involving Black youths and White policemen and pointed out that despite the highly charged emotional atmosphere, President Barack Obama did not interfere with the judicial process, unlike what would have happened in a country like Uganda.
Kanabi at 11:25 a.m discussed the 2016 general election and remarks made at a public forum by Besigye and moderated by Kanabi, at which Besigye said that for the opposition to take part in the 2016 vote without the electoral laws first being revised, would be an exercise in futility. Kanabi suggested that Besigye and some other opposition figures are contemplating a boycott of the forthcoming general election.
If true, it would be ironic considering that in late 2010 the UPC party president Olara Otunnu had called for just such a boycott but the FDC and other parties did not heed his call and went into an election heavily weighted in favour of the NRM.
On CBS FM (Radio Buganda), two-time former presidential candidate Dr. Abed Bwanika at 11:14 a.m said emphatically that Amama Mbabazi has exactly a month from the Dec. 15, 2014 NRM delegates' conference to strike. If by Jan. 15, 2015 Mbabazi has not declared his presidential ambition or future plan one way or the other, it will be the end of his political career, at least at a national level.
Also on CBS' political discussion show was the lawyer and opposition activist Yusuf Nsibambi and the NRM-leaning lawyer and party activist Mary Muteesi.
The guest on Pearl FM was the presidential press secretary Joseph Tamale Mirundi, discussing the political developments in the country. Mirundi mentioned the Vision Group Managing Director Robert Kabushenga as part of the Amama Mbabazi faction of the NRM party.
At 10:42 a.m, Mirundi said he believes that Mbabazi's wife, Jacqueline Mbabazi, must be the force behind Mbabazi's presidential ambition because, said Mirundi, knowing the Mbabazi he knows, Mbabazi did not harbour presidential ambitions and it is only his wife who has been pressuring him to seek the presidency.
At 10:45 a.m, Mirundi claimed that Kiiza Besigye had paid NTV 500 million shillings to pitch the news bulletins to frequently mention the 2016. Mirundi also claimed that Amama Mbabazi has the Daily Monitor, the Observer and the New Vision newspapers under his influence and these three newspapers are pushing his agenda.
Mirundi said, in Luganda, that "Mbabazi has money", and said Mbabazi is going to hold a powerful delegates' conference that will astonish Uganda.
He also said the one person whom Besigye fears on the political landscape is Mbabazi and right now is panicking at the prospect of a Mbabazi presidential bid, which said Mirundi, is why Besigye is trying to influence the media to give more coverage of the FDC in its news.
Mirundi, who described himself as a "riolist" (meaning realist) outlined the true extent of what he said was Amama Mbabazi's political and financial reach in Uganda and seemed to suggest that the Aga Khan might be hedging his bets by discreetly backing Mbabazi.
He also said that Bank of Uganda has come under the influence of Mbabazi, stating that State House has a list of pledges by President Museveni which Bank of Uganda has never honoured but every pledge made by Mbabazi during his countrywide tours as Prime Minister, Bank of Uganda made sure it honoured and cleared.
The most intriguing of the morning's talk shows was probably the one on Pearl FM, if only because of the intriguing claims and allegations made by Tamale Mirundi. Even factoring in possible exaggeration, Mirundi's claims carried a ring of plausibility to them or at the very least provided the kind of leads to intelligence information the Ugandan public is anxious to learn about.
--
UAH forum is devoted to matters of interest to Ugandans. Individuals are responsible for whatever they post on this forum.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment