{UAH} What the Mbabazi candidacy offers us

What the Mbabazi candidacy offers us

Written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda

Last Updated: 24 June 2015

There is no politician I have harassed more in my last four years in parliament than former prime minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, these days also known as JPAM.

One of the strongest psychological weapons is anger. Make your enemy angry and you will see them making mistakes in quick succession. Angry people don't reason, they simply act.

JPAM's strength lies in his immeasurable ability to shock-absorb anger, which almost borders on arrogance. It is here that the man derives his pride. The man has capacity to withstand provocation and insults. And in this field, he has no equal! He has smiled a number of times in situations that require mobilizing anger. 

It is, therefore, not surprising that Museveni made him the engine of his politics and government. In fact, if there is anybody who has shielded Museveni from blame, it is JPAM. It is him that NRM MPs blamed for mismanaged party primaries, nonfunctional headquarters and district offices, intrigue, nepotism, etc.

With his departure, Museveni must find another shield. Very soon, the likes of Justine Kasule Lumumba, Tanga Odoi, Rose Namayanja, Moses Kigongo, Jim Muhwezi, Ruhakana Rugunda, and Saverino Kahinda Otafiire will know what it means covering up Museveni's inefficiencies.

Already, registration of NRM members, which is a simple civic exercise, has generated vibes. Tanga Odoi recently abandoned a meeting of Namayingo leaders at the headquarters as they hurled insults at him for mishandling party cards.

The real test for the new burden-bearers will be delivered during the elections of NRM leaders and flag bearers. Most likely, the new leaders will be dismissed as a bunch of mediocre, inefficient and corrupt officials. The revolutionary will then be required to storm the kitchen himself, like you saw him during the recent Namboole delegates' conference that ousted Amama.

Strongmen hate strong institutions. It is the reason NRM is still housed in rented headquarters and district offices. There was a fundraising presided over by Museveni towards the construction of a 27-storey NRM house. I doubt it will ever be resurrected.

The party must depend entirely on one man. Meetings must be summoned by him and held at his residence. There was a time NRM historicals held a meeting at parliament and asked former vice president Specioza Wandira Kazibwe to chair them.

The revolutionary stormed the meeting, questioned the motive and wondered why he had been excluded. The likes of Amanya Mushega, Matthew Rukikaire, Kirunda Kivejinja, and Tom Butime explained and concurred that such a meeting to discuss the future of Uganda was important.

He, in fact, offered to host the next one at State House Nakasero and, 15 years later, the historicals are still waiting. The Mbabazi candidature, therefore, offers NRM an opportunity to begin functioning as an institution.

If the Lumumbas and Richard Twodongs succeed, NRM will institutionalize and become more democratic internally.  This, however, will only happen if the revolutionary allows them to make mistakes and learn from them. The pending election, therefore, offers NRM an opportunity.

But most important for the wider public is the attempt by Mbabazi to rescue the state. Mbabazi knows that, practically, there is no party called NRM. It is the state that these fellows hijacked.

That is why when Mbabazi declared that he would seek NRM nomination, it was the state that reacted, not the NRM. Gen Kale Kayihura's police held several meetings and decided to pull down Amama's posters, confiscate his T-shirts, and arrest his supporters.

The Electoral Commission even forgot that its job is to organize elections and immediately went on the offensive against Mbabazi!

The most interesting reaction was from the new youth minister, Evelyn Anite, who issued a complaint against Amama on an official ministry of gender letterhead! And that is the tragedy for this country. The young Anites have been made to believe that the state is an organ of the NRM and it is their inherent right to deploy it in purely NRM matters.

Gen David Sejusa (Tinyefuza), who was a key actor in the 2006 elections melodrama, always asserted: "We must show the state exists." That was during the arrest of Col Kizza Besigye. Tinyefuza was behind the storming of court to have Besigye rearrested so he could prove "the state exists."

I hope you saw the same man being humiliated by junior police officers last week and he was pleading with the media to rescue him.

The battle on our hands, therefore, is not to dislodge NRM from power, but rescue the state from the revolutionary. Museveni, his wife, son, and brother think Uganda, or the state for that matter, is their family estate.

It is, therefore, their birthright to dispense it the way they like. When the wife wanted a degree, Makerere University lecturers ended up going to State House Nakasero to teach her. And when she had to do her final exams, the vice chancellor had to temporarily vacate his office for her.

The struggle we are engaged in, I emphasize, is not competition against NRM but a front to rescue the state. The Nigerians have succeeded. You remember the wealth of Nigeria under Sani Abacha was family wealth. The wealth of Congo under Mubutu Sese Seko was family wealth. You cannot offer services in such an unregulated environment.

If you are a friend of Kainerugaba, you can be offered tenders to supply UPDF, accumulate wealth, and then ask Mzee to give you a national stadium.


semugs@yahoo.com

The Author is Kyadondo East MP.

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Comments   

0 #1 Kasozi 2015-06-24 10:32

Thank you once again honourable for your master piece as usual.

The truth is, Mr Museveni and his family are almost responsible for the moral decay and many other ills that have befallen this once beautiful Land of ours.

This family owns almost the entire Country,they have bought and have allocated almost everything that belonged to Uganda as a Country to themselves and their next of kin.

The greed and selfishness and the careless way that they and their relatives and kinsmen have turned this Country is shocking.

Without a care in the world, they have degraded this Country and have looted it like no other people before.

So, when I see this girl Anite, I just laugh because she's being used and in being used, she is given some crumbs but those crumbs will someday turn sour, just observing.

So, Evelyn Anite, I will someday tell you what i think of you in person, I promise. Well, if they only knew how we feel about them, they would be in shock, the entire lot.

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0 #2 kainerugunda 2015-06-24 11:21

How will you remove NRM from the state without breaking it?

You must write a new constitution to get rid of that 1-man syndrome, period.

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