History shows that from the day Museveni first stood for public office (was MP of Nyabushozi, he as always lost. Even in the so called 1980 stolen election, even if it had not been stolen, Museveni would not have become president or vice president for that matter– going by votes got.
And yet, he became president of the country five years after that election, & still is today! How?
The answer is simple – it’s called guns, arms, AK47s.
He used them to gain state power, by forcing the elected people to surrender power to him; he uses them today, to force voters to keep him in power, and to threaten all political opposition.
There is no fuss, no hidden formulae or elaborate ideology. He simply plucked the famous rule from the communist manifesto
“Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”
Therefore its not about the elections. The elections can change some leaders, but not him. Therefore to take power from him, even if you’re a democrat, you must for second “grasp the truth”!
While using the gun, he also crammed an incomplete communist ideology into the heads of many. It’s hard to fathom how so many Ugandans working him actually believe that he is a democrat, or don’t care whether he is or not. Even with a long public track record of despotism, there are people who think Uganda is a democracy! We have a section of people who have grown averse to democracy.
Those who support him outside the armed guard circle, the so called “mass support” that the NRM spoke about, there are two realities which brought this about;
- There were many good people who were brought together by the idea that Uganda could be saved, drawn away from the narrow parochialisms that dogged politics and national governance before and after independence. These were coalesced together by the burgeoning NRA resistance of the government. They dreamed of establishing a good, open democracy where everyone could participate – this resistance war was the remover of any doubt. Those people worked so hard to make Uganda free from personal interest leaders, and to keep its governance on democratic path. Those are the people who made the people believe in NRM. This reality has since changed, over the last 20 years. Fast forward – 30 years later today, time has revealed EVERYTHING. The common dream of a proper democracy where everyone could participate has since been shelved. Those people are therefore no longer NRM, as a matter of principle. They have been leaving it – some loudly, others quietly – but idealism left NRM. This gave way to a new credential for true NRM cadreship – GREED! I saw this in Makerere University – NRM student meetings and agendas, I see this in NRM elections, and I see this in the character of NRM in national politics – power away from the people! NRM today is, in all purposes, NOT where those who have a heart for country can be today! One commits intellectual dishonesty or moral conflict to be in NRM. If you were to be in NRM and not greedy, you’d be a lonely soul.
- The second factor to explain why some people are still “supporting” Museveni, in reality just “bonga-ring” with him. His own Methodology – always using arms, guns or war, proved successful and returned some dividends, especially as far as Uganda had real enemies to its dream of democracy and good governance. Ugandans did not discuss how or when military should be used against Uganda’s enemies, and Museveni took the sacrifice of Uganda’s children in war, as his own personal achievement. That was okay, until there were no more real enemies for Uganda to crash using military force, and the people wanted their power back. They instantly became his enemies, and him an enemy against democracy. Therefore that group, which previously cheered Museveni’s military expeditions, finds itself too powerless to change their mind. They have already given away all their power to him – intellectual power and financial power when they accepted his deals, bribes or handouts. And having seen how he treats political opposition, they have channeled insecurity into support. That is patrimony, not support going around in NRM today.
They did not vote for him to be an MP, he fired guns into presidency and that is the long and short. We’re not talking about a leader with compassion or one riding the tide of grand innovation in politics or economy; he has prodded the insecurity of people for so long, they gave away all their power. To this extent, if political opposition are freely to participate, or Ugandans free to assemble, Museveni would probably get the same votes as he did, when he did not have a gun to people’s heads. He knows this very well and he doesn’t let it go there – whether we’re talking party politics or national democracy.
So, to the original question, and the essence of the story, does the political opposition today make a clear distinction on Museveni’s holding of power? And do they know the options this gives them? You see, there are weak personalities camping into the opposition trenches. Fear is their better judgment. They share this alma mater with a section of NRM supporter who say they are “bonga-ring” with Museveni – fear! And it has been stocked into them in various ways of abuse.
But the idea is simple, our job as Ugandans of today is very clear. If the dream of previous Ugandans is to be kept, to take Uganda’s governance away from narrow interests, even if late by decades, and to build a democracy where Ugandans freely participate in the politics of their country, then the whole of the so called “opposition” must be working toward a single and specific issue – stopping Museveni from using the gun effectively against the people. As it is his historic methodology, the AK47 is his trusted source of power. There is no one who should confuse you.
The free assembly, fraternity and participation of Ugandans is the restoration of power to the right hands, and the returning of Uganda’s democracy to course. This is what we face, not the playing of money tricks that has become Uganda’s elections.
The young revolution organisation is committed to bring young people together, conduct political research, proper ideological orientation and direction. The duty has fallen upon the young people as the majority of the population today, to correct what is wrong in our national discourse, and not just stand by as watchers in our own history, or being used as cheerleaders in the fight of disillusioned leaders. We have to match forward and build better futures for the next generation of free Ugandans.
