{UAH} TOLD THE BABOON TO CREATE OWN PARTY: NRM CEC to reject Mbabazi

NRM CEC to reject Mbabazi

Written by Sulaiman Kakaire

 Last Updated: 01 July 2015

 

Amama Mbabazi is set to be rejected by NRM's top organ

If the voices coming out of the Central Executive Committee are anything to go by, Amama Mbabazi's bid to become the NRM presidential candidate are doomed to fail.

According to an Observer survey, several CEC members insist the former prime minister is out of order for declaring that he will ask the party to ditch its chairman, President Museveni, and anoint him for next year's elections. CEC, the party's second highest decision-making organ, will vet and recommend candidates for party flag bearer to the National Executive Committee for consideration and approval by the delegates' conference slated for October 4.

If Mbabazi wants to run for president on the NRM ticket, he must win the CEC endorsement. Asked last week whether he would back Mbabazi, Sam Engola, the NRM vice chairperson for Northern Uganda, said: "He [Mbabazi] is a senior cadre of the party and he knows the procedure you go through before you claim to be unopposed.  He signed on to a resolution and his signature is there. He should not jump the ladder. It is CEC which approves who is to contest. He has not yet been vetted."

Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire, a CEC member, said that while the Kyankwanzi resolution did not necessarily block Mbabazi's aspirations, the former premier should follow the party rules.

"We have rules and procedures. He [Mbabazi] drafted those rules and he should abide by them. Otherwise, it is his democratic right."

Dennis Namara, chairperson of the NRM Youth League, also branded Mbabazi out of order.

"The procedure is very clear and he has to wait for the NRM Electoral Commission to announce the offices that are available," Namara said. "If someone appended a signature to the Kyankwanzi resolution, how can he turn around to declare his candidature? This shows inconsistency on his part and indeed if he cannot keep a promise to a small group, then one wonders whether he will keep the promise he is making to the whole nation."

The February 2014 Kyankwanzi resolution publicly adopted by the NRM parliamentary caucus declared President Museveni the presumptive NRM sole candidate going into 2016.

Hajji Abdul Nadduli, vice chairperson, Central, said that although Mbabazi has a right to stand he should wait: "We would have embraced him. But if he just comes to fight our father when he is still around, then we cannot embrace him. He does not have any single chance now. We have continuously advised him to act wisely but he is stubborn."

In an interview with The New Vision of June 18, Moses Kigongo, who is the NRM national vice chairperson, said: "When he [Mbabazi] says we must join those nations where a change of guard happens regularly and through the ballot, which nations is he talking about? I live in Uganda and what is in those countries does not concern me…When he says it is time for a peaceful transition, who determines the time? That is his time. It does not mean anything to me."

In separate interviews with other media outlets, other CEC members have denounced Mbabazi's presidential run. They include: Justine Lumumba the NRM secretary general; Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi, the chairperson of the Veterans League, and Rosemary Namayanja, the NRM treasurer.

Interviewed at the weekend by The Observer, Charles Bakkabulindi, chairperson, Workers League, said:

"He [Mbabazi] is a former secretary general and knows very well the rules of this party. I do not expect him to be the first abuser of those rules like he is doing. We should not even waste time on him. In fact I have been meeting workers urging them to be steady and not to be deviated by money."

In a separate interview on June 27, Dr Tanga Odoi, the NRM electoral commission chairman, said: "We have no candidate yet. We have not even issued guidelines and advertised any post. So, he [Mbabazi] should hold his fire."
Richard Todwong, deputy secretary general, declined to comment about Mbabazi's candidacy.

Francis Babu, vice chairperson, Kampala, described Mbabazi's candidacy as hypothetical, telling The Observer: "You only bid for what is available. NRM has made a roadmap starting from the grassroots. Everybody will vie for the positions available. So, when we get to Namboole [venue of the delegates' conference] they will tell us which positions are available. Let him follow the right processes. For now it would be speculative to talk about his candidacy because it has not been approved as provided by the procedure."

Mike Mukula, vice chairperson, Eastern, said: "He [Mbabazi] is jumping the procedure and the queue like he has always been telling us. He must play according to the rules of the game...You cannot eat your cake and have it. He is saying he's unopposed yet he signed the Kyankwanzi resolution. But at the same time his sister-in-law [Hope Mwesigye] has represented him at The Democratic Alliance [opposition coalition] and at the same time his lawyers are saying he is independent of any party. So, which is which? Nobody is demonising him but he has to follow the procedure."

Rosemary Namayanja told Daily Monitor on June 16 that NRM already had a candidate called Museveni. "The NRM members will soon confirm their sole candidate for the presidency. If there are people interested, it is up to them but I am sure the NRM members are not credulous and they do not move in circles. They know the qualities of a good leader," she said.

In a New Vision report of June 18, Jim Muhwezi expressed his concern that Mbabazi was violating the rules of the party: "NRM has a road map and time-table...He criticised Besigye for [jumping the queue] but he is doing exactly the same."

Dr Kenneth Omona, deputy treasurer, said candidates' individual discipline and party continuity was key. "From what I know, I highly doubt that Mbabazi can be accepted based on his discipline. He just wants to provoke members but he also knows that he cannot be approved. In fact the other day the National Executive Committee rejected his name when the president nominated him to be a member of CEC," Omona said.

However, in a recent interview with The Observer, Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza, the NRM vice-chairman for Western Uganda, said there was nothing wrong with Mbabazi's bid, suggesting that Museveni would easily defeat the former premier.

"Anybody is free to contest against anybody because it's a constitutional right, but people seem to be overexcited that [Mbabazi] is standing against [Museveni]," Kyaligonza said. "In fact, he delayed to make his declaration; but he is free and I don't know why people are dramatizing Mbabazi's declaration."

skakaire@observer.ug 

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