{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Mushega-Besigye clash is dilemma for Opposition - Commentary
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Mushega-Besigye clash is dilemma for Opposition
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party is in the process of selecting someone who will be the party's presidential candidate in the 2016 general election.
There are two candidates: Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, the party President, and former party president Col Kizza Besigye.
Until they recently blamed each other for the weak party structures and fading footprint, they have been civil to each other.
Enter Col Nuwe Amanya Mushega, the former FDC vice president for western Uganda. In an interview in the Observer, Col Mushega expressed discomfort over Dr Besigye's bid for the party flag bearer.
Mr Mushega accused Besigye of turning on his word and that he had not supported his successor (Muntu) as expected.
True, Dr Besigye had said he would not run in any electoral race organised by the current Electoral Commission. So, by seeking to run in the next elections, Besigye is indeed turning on his word. And it is true that Dr Besigye has not offered the expected 120 per cent support to his successor.
However, Dr Besigye's candidature is legal and legitimate. So, morality is the only place on which Mr Mushega (and many others by the way) can place his discomfiture with Dr Besigye's bid.
Without being detained by Mr Mushega's highly moral demands from Dr Besigye, what the media has now called the Mushega-Besigye clash represents more than just personalities but schools of thought. Let us call these two positions the Besigye school of thought and the Muntu school of thought.
What unites these schools is their commitment to regime change. However, the Besigye school looks at elections, particularly when they are not free and fair, as meaningless endeavours in the objective of regime change.
The Besigye proponents, however, recognise that electoral processes offer an opportunity and some kind of open space in which to protest and intensify political activism against the government.
That is why Dr Besigye has concentrated on attacking President Museveni who is not even a candidate in the process of electing the FDC flag bearer. After losing three times in circumstances he claims were not free and fair, one would understand where Dr Besigye is coming from.
Besigye the martyr
Dr Besigye's abrasive activism has led him to near martyrdom; and the people always want to listen to him.
The Muntu school of thought (to which I place Amanya Mushega as a proponent) argues that Ugandans should spend all their energies in organising political parties as the main vehicles for regime change (through elections).
Parties should have respectful and respected party leaders. Change party leadership constitutionally. Leaders come, serve and go. There is no heroism but service to the party.
Whereas the Muntu School has a strong point, it is shot down by the fact that political parties have been rendered hopeless by the environment in which they operate.
'We' in the NRM just gave up on that 'building strong party structures' mantra and sought refuge in the State structures.
What can strong party structures in FDC or DP or UPC do when faced with bribery from the State coffers? Nothing captures the two schools of thought like these quotes assigned to Muntu and Besigye.
Mugisha Muntu: Let's be firm. We should not lose hope. Whether he refuses to go, he will go. He is just human.
Kizza Besigye: We don't have that time to wait him out. We must push him out now or create an environment where he has no option but to leave power.
Whereas Muntu's position is too soft-soft for the situation, Besigye's position can easily take the country into another round of violence.
Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East Africa Flagpost.
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