{UAH} Ssebagala announces plan to oust Museveni

Ssebagala announces plan to oust Museveni
Publish Date: Jan 10, 2015

Ssebagala: "We are going to work with everybody who is yearning for a political change in this country."

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The former Mayor of Kampala City, Hajji Nasser Ssebagala, announced his resignation from the Government this week. In 2011, President Yoweri Museveni appointed him as the presidential adviser on general duties. BRIAN MAYANJA met Ssebagala, the president of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at his home in Munyonyo and discussed his political plans and how he looks at the future of Uganda. 

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What disappointments made you resign?

I thought the only way to bring reforms to the NRM Government was to work with them and introduce new ideas. But for the three years my LDP allied with NRM, the situation has been worsening. For example, many Ugandans cannot afford lunch and supper.

The consistent poverty in the country is a result of poor policies. I advised the President that the best way to solve unemployment was to popularise and invest more money in vocational education, as opposed to the white collar education system.

I opposed the idea of involving UPDF in the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme. Soldiers have no experience in modern agriculture. Modernising is beyond giving out seeds and farm tools. It must be handled by experienced people. I told them to reinstate Cooperative Bank, so that farmers can get loans at low interest rates.

From the oil money the country is expecting to get, I suggested to the President that the Government buys land from peasants, to create a middle-class economy. In Uganda, a big chunk of land is not utilised because peasants are settled on it. I wanted the Government to buy it from the landlords, set up farms and agricultural industries.

Many of the peasants will be employed by these industries and farms. We need to make this country the leading exporter of agricultural products in Africa. But now, the economy is largely surviving on trade. That is why taxes are high. All my proposals were never considered. I had no option, but to quit.

However, I consulted my fellow party members and a few friends. Above all, I left because of the highly sophisticated corruption. There is no will to arrest the corrupt individuals. It is the Government offi cials who are behind the Mokono-Katosi road scam. Corruption is blocking the revamping of the railway. We will end up constructing a railway at $8m, which will be the most expensive compared to the other East African countries.

How do you assess the President in the three years you have advised him?

He is a statesman, but now he is exhibiting some dictatorial tendencies. How can the chairman of a party give himself the powers to appoint the party's secretary general and other senior members? This is why I declined to attend the NRM's delegates conference convened last month. I had been invited by the President. I pray that NRM does not face the problems UPC faced in the 1960s, when then president Milton Obote was given too much power.

How many times did you meet the President to advise him?
 

In administration ethics, I am not supposed to reveal the number of times I met Museveni. But I advised him. I even told him to return term limits and have a small government. He refused to take my advice and gave me his reasons, which I cannot reveal.

But the presidential press secretary, Tamale Mirundi, said you were not among Museveni's advisers. He actually challenges you to show the public your appointment letter.

Next time you want to discuss serious issues with me, never talk about Mirundi. He was hired to abuse people and he has done his best doing that. He is ever abusing Robert Kabushega, the Vision Group CEO and Peter Mayiga, the Katikkiro of Buganda.

I am glad they do not respond because he is of low class. Rich people do not talk about their wealth the way he is doing. So, how can I respond to Mirundi whose associates are bodaboda cyclists?

You are now joining a camp to oust Museveni; how will you do that?

Voters want better alternatives on education, health and agriculture. We have responded by trying to set up a political team. I was assigned to sweet-talk politicians into a coalition. We are going to work with everybody who is yearning for a political change in this country.

When I attended the home-coming party of Gen. David Sejusa last month (pictured below), I wanted to reassure the opposition politicians that Sejusa is part of us who are longing for a regime change. I am going to talk to Dr. Kizza Besigye, FDC president Mugisha Muntu, Norbert Mao, Olara Otunnu, Abedi Bwanika and Beti Kamya.

Even within the NRM party, I have to talk to the former prime minister Amama Mbabazi to join us. In June, we are going to announce a political coalition, which will include all the major political players in this country. We want to start the Kenyan culture, where politicians rally behind a common goal. In 2016, Uganda's opposition parties have to take over power from the NRM Government. Opposing Museveni cannot be a career to opposition politicians.
 

How will they trust you when recently, the media quoted you saying you were hired to spy on Dr. Kizza Besigye in 2001?

I was misquoted. I said I worked with Sejusa to bring harmony. Because I was Besigye's campaign manager at that time, I was assigned by our campaign team to go and talk to Government offi cials, assuring them that we had no plan of launching a guerrilla war after the 2001 elections.

Sejusa and others thought we were recruiting people to engage in subversive activities. Therefore, I had to sit down with Sejusa to convince him that we wanted to take state power through democratic means.

DP has put conditions for you to return 

I am not interested in DP affairs. I belong to another political party, where I am the party boss. Very soon, we are also going to organise our delegates' conference. In the 2016 elections, we are strategising to have 50 MPs and 20 district chairmen.

But your party, LDP, has not been active since its inception in 2010

Do you live in this country? We have branches in all the districts of Uganda. LDP members were in charge of the Sejusa welcome party at his Naguru home.

Having been the mayor of Kampala twice, how do you assess the performance of KCCA? 

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is under the Office of the President. The defunct KCC was a district under the local government. Under my leadership, Kampala had a population of three million people, but getting sh40b from the central government, the same amount of money that the Government was giving Bushenyi district, which had about 800,000 people.

KCCA gets sh280b annually. With a lot of funding from the central government, the authority has managed to change the face of Kampala city. Jennifer Musisi and her team have beautifi ed the city and all the streets are clean.

However, to develop a city, you do not have to evict and demolish people's properties, when you have not set up other alternative areas. KCCA must set up alternative areas where those with low capital of sh10,000 can operate from.

They cannot afford to pay sh100,000 in market dues. What KCCA should do is to set up markets in the city divisions, charging vendors low dues. Also, street vending should be introduced every Sunday and on public holidays.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

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