{UAH} Besigye won’t be forgiven for keeping the tyrant

by Pius Muteekani Katunzi
Every other day, my resolve never to vote for any politician grows stronger. As far as I am concerned, all politicians are not beyond suspicion.
They are selfish and capable of being worse tyrants than those ever known. Their words and promises are capable of multiple interpretations and they like to keep their audiences guessing about the meaning of their words. When they are reminded about their promises, or declarations, they claim to have been quoted out of context.
We all know that there was a time when Africa was being led by military dictators who had captured state power through either coup d'états or guerrilla groups. These gun-wielders gave themselves all sorts of favorable labels: revolutionaries, freedom fighters, liberators, patriots, and nationalists. Some even claimed that the change they spearheaded was not a mere change of guards but a fundamental change.
Alas, the majority of these liberators that came to organise the country and hand over to democratically-elected persons, instead, entrenched themselves further into power. If they did not turn their hitherto rebel groups into political parties, they unashamedly declared that the revolutionary council had sat and advised that they continue to lead the country.
So, a transitional leader usually turned into a life president, only to be removed by another calibre of 'revolutionaries' at the cost of lives of citizens.
In such circumstances, it was prudent for President Museveni, who had assumed power in 1986 through a protracted guerrilla campaign first against the elected government of Milton Obote and later coup leader, Gen Tito Okello Lutwa, to set the standards.
He declared in his book, What Is Africa's Problem?, that the problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular was not the people, but leaders who wanted to overstay in power. It was fashionable those days to condemn the past leaders as power-hungry. But President Museveni, hardly five years after saying this, extended the interim period of the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) for another five years, up to 1996.
Again, in 1996, he offered himself as a presidential candidate under the Movement system. Under this system, political parties were not allowed to field candidates; those interested stood on individual merit.
From that point, power became sweeter for Mr Museveni; he manipulated the 1995 Constitution and removed the presidential term limits in 2005. The NRM became a political party and he has since been offering himself as a presidential candidate: and he has always won. Even in the 2016 elections, President Museveni is the NRM sole candidate.
Often, when the president is reminded of what he said in his book about overstaying in power, he says that he was only talking about those leaders who overstay in power without people's mandate (this is an amendment). And for him, he is always begged by the people to keep the power and when subjected to elections, he wins by a landslide!
The point: we cannot take politicians seriously on their words. They are all selfish and have overrated egos, bigger than the country they intend to rule. Some of them think they do us a huge favour to contest for political offices.
The Democratic Alliance (TDA) had hoped to convince members of opposition to bring a joint presidential candidate with the aim of defeating President Museveni. This has not happened. And the reasons for its failure are somewhat ludicrous.
Dr Kizza Besigye, who had earlier declared that he would not stand again under the elections organized by Eng Badru Kiggundu and President Museveni, sprouted from the ground like a mushroom and contested for the FDC flag. Again, old habits of politicians not sticking to their words! 
So, Besigye became the FDC flag bearer and joined the TDA. Originally, it wasn't envisaged that Besigye would come back into elective politics. Other political parties, too, joined TDA. Former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi declared himself as an independent candidate and joined TDA and became the favorite joint candidate.
But he could not become the TDA joint candidate because there was no consensus. Other parties but Ken Lukyamuzi of the Conservative Party, whose support and popularity is debatable, and FDC, backed Mbabazi. It would be miraculous if Besigye had given way for Mbabazi.
Trouble is, Besigye believes this country owes him big. He thinks he has sacrificed a lot and the only way he can be atoned is by making him the president. In this regard, Besigye appears like a veiled Museveni. They both love power. Both cannot be trusted on their word. They also cannot trust anyone with power except themselves.
I would like to believe that Besigye would do the same things Museveni has done to keep in power. They are of the same ilk; only that one got power before the other.
It also arguable that, perhaps, Besigye knows that if Mbabazi became president, the former will become irrelevant. Besigye shines when Museveni is in power, just like Museveni became relevant when dictators were in charge. 
There was no guarantee that Mbabazi would beat Museveni if he had become the TDA joint candidate; but neither is it assured that Besigye will this time round garner even five per cent of the vote.
Besigye would never be forgiven by Ugandans if it later turns out that the chances of defeating Museveni were frustrated by his insistence on keeping in the race; especially if Mbabazi garners more votes than him. In a way, we shall conclude that, actually, Besigye has all along been a Museveni agent.
Indeed, Museveni is a lucky man; lucky because he is ever vying with a disorganized opposition.

pmkatunzi@observer.ug

The author is the finance director of The Observer Media Limited.

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*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.

 

 We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
 individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge  - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987

 *"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable"**…  *J.F Kennedy

 

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