{UAH} 'NRM is a cult, UPC dead'

'NRM is a cult, UPC dead'

• August 24, 2017
• Written by JONATHAN KAMOGA

A local political activist and commentator, has described the ruling NRM party as a cult, and the former ruling party UPC as dead.

Godber Tumushabe, associate director of the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Planning, a local think-tank, told The Observer in Masaka today that bickering between different factions within the country's political parties puts Uganda's dream of attaining total democracy at risk.

"The political parties we have are broken. If we are going to build an enduring democracy, we need strong political parties to be our pillars," he said at the sidelines of a consultative meeting on a proposed "national dialogue".

"We have a non-existent ruling party. NRM is just a cult with [President] Museveni as the cult leader. The rest of the people there are just fighting to be close to the cult leader," Tumushabe said of the ruling National Resistance Movement. 

NRM supporters with their party chairman Yoweri Museveni

He said internal divisions were the main reason the opposition parties remain seemingly weak.

"I consider Uganda People's Congress to be dead. Democratic Party has sections loyal to [party president Norbert] Mao, [party vice president for Buganda Betty] Nambooze, [Kampala mayor Erias] Lukwago.... and the Uganda Federal Alliance, is it part of the NRM now?" he said.

The biggest opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change, Tumushabe said, is being held back by forces of its founders, Reform Agenda and Parliamentary Advocacy Forum, which are manifesting themselves even during the current party presidential campaigns.

FDC is largely dived between two forces, a more radical one loyal to founder president Kizza Besigye, who call themselves "the defiants", and another loyal to current president Mugisha Muntu, who have been branded as "the compliants."

Tumushabe warned politicians affiliated to the various political parties to put their loyalty to the country before loyalty to the party leader or the party.

He added that for the parties to thrive there must be constitutional safeguards to enable them operate in a political environment like the one "this predatory regime" provides.

Following his latest inauguration as president last year, Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, warned that by the next general election in 2021, he would have wiped out the opposition.

He has since appointed senior members of different opposition political parties to various government positions, which has not gone down well with the opposition.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

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"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower

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