{UAH} *DISHONOUR AMONG THIEVES: WHEN INSTIABLE APPETITE TURNS INTO A POISONED CHALICE!*

(By Tom Mbalinda) 

A lot has been said about Bobi Wine and why he is posing a threat to the movement that no other person has posed before. Not even Besigye has shaken M7 to this extent before. But in all the analyses I have read, none of the political commentators have zeroed down on the insatiable appetite that is going to bring NRM down: Corruption, greed and indifference! Let me indulge you. 

I have previously lamented about corruption and greed which has been redefined by the NRM to unprecedented levels. I warned that it would be the death of this regime the same way impunity brought down Amin and drunkenness (plus impunity) brought down Obote.

We have been led by a clique of people who shot to power in 1986. They had nothing to their names save for tattered clothes and worn out gumboots, if any. Fast forward, they helped themselves to state resources, houses, and parastatals which they sold to themselves for a song. They went on to steal public resources to a point where they were so obsessed with eating that they forgot to leave some crumbs for the masses. They trusted their monopoly over tools of coercion to keep in power. But for how long? Try eating and not feeding children in your home and see the revolt your own flesh and blood will unleash upon you! How much more for citizens with no allegiance to you. All they need is to survive.

The People Power enthusiasts we see on the streets and dismiss as hooligans are children of teachers, nurses, businessmen, former famers, retrenched or retired civil servants who lost out on their share of the national cake. They are children of parents who sold their all to educate children who ended up jobless. They are children of parents who could not go far with our monetised education system in the face of want and squalor. Such persons cannot be convinced or coerced into supporting a regime. A hungry man has nothing to lose!

The voter register has 67% youth. What message does M7 have for someone below 35? Anyone thinking Bobi has no chance of winning beguiles himself. Bobi brings the momentum Besigye brought in 2001. The major difference is, he does so Vs. a very weakened M7. A M7 who no longer has loyal implementers and enforcers around him. It is indeed a 'cash and carry' system with everyone seeking to benefit financially. This is why all promises made by him cannot be delivered, campaign strategies fail because all this requires movement of money. And where money is involved, not even M7 can rely on his most loyal cadres to help. The money will never reach its desired destination. It is a case of dishonour among thieves! 

The youth cannot be shouted off the scene, neither can bullets break their resolve. The only way to deal with them and satiate them is to give them equal opportunities as our own children born in privilege. A chance in life! 'Unfortunately',  this may involve those that are eating to beyond belching levels (okugwa empihi) to stop the loot, channel resources where they should go and involve the younger generation in leadership. Not as mere hanger-ons (Full Figure, Bebe Cool etal) but as equals in directing the policy of the country. Sadly, those with capacity to make this decision, are too preoccupied eating to the point of choking even if the mouthfuls in their mouths are pressing on their epiglottis!

Like Chinua Achebe once said, the death that will kill a man begins as an appetite!

©️ Tom N. Mbalinda (Dec, 2020)

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