{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Odinga advises Besigye, Mbabazi
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Odinga advises Besigye, Mbabazi
Raila Odinga, Kenya's leading opposition figure, has advised Uganda's opposition leaders on how to dislodge President Museveni.
According to our sources who attended a meeting between the two parties in Nairobi at the weekend, Odinga urged Ugandan opposition leaders to put their mission above their individual ambitions. The meeting was attended by former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and FDC flag bearer Dr Kizza Besigye.
Mbabazi and Besigye have so far failed to agree on who should be the joint presidential candidate under The Democratic Alliance (TDA), a loose coalition of opposition parties and civil society groups. Our sources told us that Odinga urged Mbabazi and Besigye to reflect on why they are engaged in the current political struggle.
"After meeting us individually, he addressed us collectively," one source reported.
"His concern is, are we struggling for self -aggrandisement or national interest?"
Odinga told the Ugandan group that one of the two hopefuls should sacrifice his ambition for the other.
"His main concern is that you can only move against the Museveni regime if you are united as the opposition," the source said.
Odinga reportedly added that even if they choose to go separate ways, they should remain partners, and not fight each other. Attacking each other, he pointed out, would strengthen the enemy (NRM) while weakening the opposition.
CONTEXT
Speaking to The Observer yesterday, Godber Tumushabe, the coordinator of TDA operations, said they arranged the Nairobi meeting for purposes of building harmony amongst the opposition leaders.
"There were two broad intentions of the Nairobi meeting. Firstly, we needed to get the leadership of TDA to be seen to engage regional leaders. And that is what is going to happen in the next few weeks or months. Secondly, we hope that our team can learn a lot from the Kenyan experience," Tumushabe said.
The TDA group in Nairobi had UPC's Olara Otunnu, Mathias Nsubuga, the DP secretary general, Wasswa Biriggwa, the FDC national chairman, and Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, the FDC secretary general.
Tumushabe explained that TDA's principals have a lot to learn from Kenya's politics, and Odinga in particular.
"Kenya has been involved in coalition formations and we hope that our leaders can benefit from the Kenyan experience," he said.
Odinga was part of the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition that defeated Uhuru Kenyatta, who President Daniel arap Moi had handpicked to succeed him at the end of his 27-year rule.
To push the NARC agenda, Odinga accepted to back Mwai Kibaki, who led the coalition to success. Currently, Odinga leads the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord), an alliance of the main opposition forces in Kenya.
While in Nairobi, the Ugandan group met other regional leaders as well as some ambassadors representing Western countries. Although the Nairobi retreat was meant to generate consensus on a joint presidential candidate, this appears to have failed again.
"The issue is not attainable...it requires more time and, indeed, whatever we are doing should have started like a year ago," said one of the TDA principals.
On his part, Tumushabe remains hopeful that the opposition will agree at some point.
"We shall continue to engage in talks both at national and regional level. As TDA, we shall continue to coordinate the two formations, if along the way they realise that they are better off coming together then it would happen organically," he said.
skakaire@observer.ug
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