{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Amama: Why Museveni sacked me

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/41620-amama-why-museveni-sacked-me

Amama: Why Museveni sacked me

Written by Sadab Kitatta Kaaya

Last Updated: 14 December 2015

Amama Mbabazi

• President became suspicious when I proposed reforms to improve government operations  
• Kyankwanzi resolution was not out of the blue
A year after he was sacked as prime minister, Amama Mbabazi, an independent presidential candidate, has started opening up about struggles with President Museveni that led to his dismissal.

Speaking to The Observer at White Horse Inn in Kabale on Friday, Mbabazi claimed that the government reforms he was trying to push through as prime minister rubbed Museveni the wrong way.

The Kinkiizi West MP was named prime minister, his highest posting in government, in 2011, but was sacked two and half years later, in September 2014.

"Because of what I was doing in government for the purpose of changing government [systems] so that we become more effective in service delivery, it was misunderstood to be preparing ground for launching a campaign," Mbabazi said.

The former premier carefully avoided going into specifics about his   reforms that got him into trouble with his erstwhile ally despite prodding from this writer.

But in 2013, we reported about a cabinet disagreement that resulted from Mbabazi's proposals to rearrange the management of government (See: Mbabazi, ministers fight over power, The Observer, April 5, 2013).

According to that report, Mbabazi had, in a cabinet meeting, suggested sweeping proposals that he said would improve service delivery. For instance, he suggested that resident district commissioners (RDCs) be removed from the Office of the President to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM); but his cabinet colleagues feared Mbabazi wanted to undermine the president and create a parallel government.

Although Mbabazi explained that his proposals were aimed at making supervision and monitoring of programmes by the OPM easier, many Museveni-leaning ministers couldn't buy it.

Mbabazi had also proposed the creation of the position of deputy head of Public Service under the OPM, to enable him to keep tabs on all government employees.

Now Mbabazi says his proposals created unease within the presidency, and soon President Museveni began looking at him as a rival who wanted to snatch the presidency from him. 

This created tension in cabinet and the NRM caucus and Museveni loyalists began plotting the former NRM secretary general's removal. It led to the NRM MPs adopting a resolution at Kyankwanzi that Museveni should be the party's sole candidate, effectively locking out other likely presidential candidate within NRM.

"It was obvious, [the] Kyankwanzi [resolution] had a reason, because some people suspected that I wanted to vie for the presidency, which wasn't the case," Mbabazi said.

"It [the Kyankwanzi resolution] was not out of the blue; there was a cause, and the cause was by those who were uncomfortable with the presumed so-called ambitions that I had," he said.

The sole candidate resolution was passed by NRM MPs during their February 2014 caucus retreat at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) Kyankwanzi to cushion Museveni against any internal challenge.

Mbabazi was eventually sacked as prime minister and later ousted as secretary general of the ruling party at a special delegates' conference last December. In the Friday interview, Mbabazi declined to discuss his sacking in detail, saying he was still bound by the Official Secrets Act. But he hinted at sharp disagreements in cabinet.

"Serving in government doesn't mean that you totally agree with everything but the rule is that on the outside you must appear as one," Mbabazi said.

He dismissed as false, any suggestion that he turned critical of Museveni's policies after his September 18, 2014 sacking as PM. At a separate press conference on December 12 at the White Horse Inn, Kabale, Mbabazi discussed his predicament a little more.

Asked why he was sacked as prime minister, Mbabazi promised that sometime in future he would come up with details of his proposed reforms in government that got him in trouble.

"When I was appointed prime minister, I came with a lot of vigor and fire and suggested reforms to improve government that unfortunately didn't see the light of day," he said.

Asked why he is now collecting NRM cards from defectors yet he is keeping his own, Mbabazi said there are two NRMs: the original NRM to which he belongs, and the NRM of those who have veered off track.

He said there's no contradiction in him collecting the cards. The NRM cards, he said, are safer in his hands. He also wondered why Norbert Mao, the Democratic Party president, a former Gulu municipality MP and district chairman could be denied a chance to be registered afresh as a voter. 
sadabkk@observer.ug

Amama: Why Museveni sacked me

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/41620-amama-why-museveni-sacked-me

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