{UAH} I could Have Been President in 2006 – Mbabazi

I could Have Been President in 2006 – Mbabazi

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Mbabazi was warmly welcomed in Gulu on Tuesday

By: Sam Waswa

• Nov 25,2015
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Presidential candidate John Patrick Amama Mbabazi has strongly dismissed talk that his candidacy was planned many years ago, noting that he could have become President about a decade ago if he was by then an opponent of President Museveni and the NRM regime that he is today.

Mbabazi stated at a media briefing in Gulu town on Wednesday morning that contrary to media assertions that his revolt against the regime he served for 30 years was carefully planned for a long period of time, he only decided to take a different path recently.

If he harbored presidential ambitions, Mbabazi noted, he would have been the first person to oppose striking down presidential term limits in 2005 and by now he would be serving his second and last term as president.

"People are saying that all along I have been harboring ambitions of being president, and that I had systematically worked to build myself to stage a challenge. This is not true," he said.

"You come to think of it; if I had had those ambitions, why would I have led an onslaught against term limits in the constitution? You remember that I was the leading proponent of removing term limits. I gave my reasons then."

"And this obviously meant that if we removed term limits, President Museveni would stay around. If my ambition was being president I would have worked for retention of term limits and Museveni would have been gone 10 years ago. I would have been president for two terms and I would be retiring in 2016."

Mbabazi who announced his presidential bid on June 15 this year, having been dropped as Prime Minister and Secretary General for the ruling party told press today that through his life he committed to serving the people and fighting injustice, a fight he started when he was a primary school boy.

"I parted ways with the regime on that account, because they have deviated from our original objectives, principles and core values that we fought for all this time," he added.

"I have been thrown onto this road because of the conditions in the country. My job now is to restore term limits and help bring about a peaceful transition from one generation to the next."

My Benz was never armored

In the Acholi sub region where he unexpectedly got a massive welcome at Kaunda grounds on Tuesday, observers has anticipated strong rejection, owing to the accusations that Mbabazi oversaw embezzlement of billions of shillings for the PRDP program that was meant for reconstruction of the war torn region.

A much smaller section of majorly NRM youths yesterday staged a non-violent demonstration in the town against the former Premier.

However, in his today's address, Mbabazi dismissed claims that he had a hand in the widely publicized corruption scandal.

Mbabazi also sternly attacked Aruu county Member of Parliament Hon Odonga Otto for championing 'false media reports' that he diverted more than Shs 600million to purchase an armored Mercedes Benz that he used during his tenure as Prime Minister.

Mbabazi revealed today that this Benz was not armored and didn't cost Shs 600 million

"First of all, I never bought any vehicle, armored or unarmored; because it was not my responsibility to buy vehicles. That Benz they are talking about is not armored and it didn't cost Shs 600 million. I didn't know about its acquisition," he said.

Mbabazi further explained that his predecessor Hon Apollo Nsibambi during his retirement, required a vehicle to which he was legally entitled, yet the funds were not available.

"When Nsibambi retired, the (Ministry of) Public Service requested me [because I would have taken all his vehicles] that I let him remain with one vehicle while they looked for money to buy his retirement one.

"For one year I was using one vehicle, a Benz that was 10 years old. On one occasion it collapsed in the middle of the road. So, that Benz was bought to replace old Benz, in the ordinary way that purchases are made in government. This fact came in the PAC hearing."

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H.OGWAPITI
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that  we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic  and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt

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