FDC | Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Muntu Must be Surprised by ‘Nandala’ headaches and I dont think he will clinch the FDC ‘Tittle’

26 Aug 2012 3 Comments

I kind of feel sorry for Mr.Mugisha Muntu because he seems a genuine guy but his tribe is gonna work against him for both the FDC presidency and long term political career. President Museveni has ensured that westerners/ Banyarwanda are looked at as devils in politics( which is a shame) yet some are nice guys. I can’t see a westerner, except Besigye, leading Uganda again soon after president Museveni unless through undemocratic means such as the usual rigging of elections or coups.

Because of Muntu’s seemingly good relationship with Museveni and most NRMs despite being in opposition, there are a lot of rumors surrounding his FDC candidature, and i can’t see him winning anything. If he miraculously pulls it off and becomes the new FDC president, both Nandala Mafabi and Besigye Kiiza will have a big job on their hands to help ensure that FDC stays united after the elections.

With a Nandala Mafabi win, FDC will be viewed by outsiders or neutrals as an all accommodating party because he is from Eastern Uganda. This wont be the same if Muntu wins the presidency yet he looks presidential material compared to Nandala Mafabi. So, as things stand now, Nandala may be the best choice for FDC rather than Muntu but that is for FDC delegates to decide not us.

Muntu thought that the FDC presidency will be a walk over when Besigye retires- having stood against Besigye twice and he lost. Where the ‘Mugishu’ gentleman emerged from, i bet most people will never know, but the 2011 FDC wins in Mbale definitely defined Nandalalism in FDC and gave him clout over his opponents in Uganda politics.

Personally, i have refused to move my heart from Dr.Besigye to any other candidate in Uganda politics. I don’t know whether this makes me a very undemocratic guy but that is the way it is. Mao seems to have better ideas but I’m yet to be totally convinced by him, and his tribe is likely to work against him( as Muntu). Olara Ottunu is walking in hell and he doesn’t seem to know his way out. Bidandi Ssali is a genuine man but he should have joined FDC instead of starting his own political party which is likely to die with him. So is Beti Kamya and others in that category!

Look at it this way: What is best for the politicians is rarely what is best for the People. Each must subscribe to one thing that the People actually want/need, in order to get elected. So, i don’t know which game Nandala Mafabi or Muntu or anybody are playing with us to help them get into the presidency, but I’m finding it difficult to trust any of them. They are not like Besigye who earned our trust by the click of his fingers. Oh man, what a guy!

Besigye burst on to a scene in 1990s under extremely difficult conditions and it’s unfortunate that this long journey has not ended with a Besigye presidency. He burst on to the scene with a ‘bang’ as in like the start of a good movie, and it was a surprise to the media and most of the country though It should not have been.

I would have loved to see how Besigye behaves while in Statehouse but Museveni has ensured that it never happens. I have never seen anybody shake president Museveni as Besigye did. He is the most popular grassroots opposition politician of all time. Somebody told me that he has got the same principles as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame such that a Besigye presidency would have been similar to Kagame. But i guess we will never know, will we?

Abbey

Uganda Parties Should Adopt the ‘communist’ ways of Disciplining ‘Rebels’ if they wish to survive

21 Aug 2012 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in FDC, International Issues, Museveni and NRM, Politics

Vladimir Lenin

Many have written about the chasm between Museveni and NRM ‘rebel’ members yet few seem to fully grasp the nature of their misunderstandings or how best to deal with rebellious activities within an organisation. It is something I have thought about after being a moderator of Ugandans At Heart (UAH) forum for a long time, and seeing some members being intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly ‘indiscipline’ in the way they conduct themselves in our online debates but hate being ‘punished’ or ‘corrected’ in any way. Actually, there is one I banned recently and he threatened to destroy UAH using all means; called me a former NRA ‘kadogo’ and spy(which is not true), e.t.c, and i was left amazed how far people could go with their bad behaviours and poor upbringing.

Unlike the NRM, at UAH- too much power there rests much on the shoulders of the members and it is primarily in their control as to its success. I only come in if I think the member is way out of line too much but i’m not really an interfering cow.

According to the NRM party constitution, house rules say a member should: “ observe discipline, behave honestly and be loyal to the decisions of the majority of the members of the organ where a member belongs and to the decisions of higher organs within the structures of NRM ”.

The same document says a member must : ‘’ refrain from publishing, distributing or making statements to any media house which purports to Rights of be the view or position of NRM without members authorisation of the organ of NRM where the member belongs’’. However, I have been reading reports in the media where Hon Nsereko, Hon Ssekikubo, and others were threatening the positions of their party, and nothing is done to them. May be, the NRM organs are not as functional as they make us believe , because in all honesty, why are these guys still members of a decaying party? That’s why i’m still sceptical of their real intentions to rebelling against their party chairman. I smell fish in their messages though i may be wrong, but we shall wait and see.

At one time I read comments from one gentleman who happens to be the NRM chairman – rhetorically saying that the NRM NEC would consider disciplining rebels, with possible penalties including expulsion, censure, reprimand and fines, but nothing came of it. I thought Museveni was the most powerful man in Uganda; after all, he is insulated by a rabidly partisan parliament with no interest in investigating the executive branch (and little taste for disciplining itself). May be, these so called ‘rebels’ were created by the so called ‘discipliner’ to render the responsibilities of FDC irrelevant. Who knows! May be NRM is already a dead party as ignorant and corrupt people combine their ignorant corruption to steal elections, ignore laws and design bills designed to weaken Uganda. May be the rebels have seen this and don’t want to put the party over their country and corrupting to the duties they swore an oath to. A lot of ‘may bes’……

To some extent, I think FDC are certainly just as tough about party discipline compared to NRM. The difference is that you have a wider range of ideologies in the FDC than the NRM. It’s a lot easier for Museveni, with all the resources and power he has got, to thread the needle than it is for any FDC leader. It seems president Museveni only cares about his survival and he does it by supporting criminality, divisions, fraud, and parasitism within his own party.

Perhaps, respectable religious leaders need to be the nation’s parents and start disciplining these unruly “kids,” forcing some sense of responsibility on them, because I’m really tired of seeing indiscipline within political parties in Uganda. ‘kyaba too much’! The concept that the members should retain the right to self-regulate their behaviour or conduct is entirely misplaced. Some people need to be forcibly guided if they are so big headed as FDC dealt with Beti Kamya and Onzima.

I think political parties in Uganda should take a communist approach to dealing with ‘rebels’ in their parties. The Soviet Communist International (Comintern) was founded in March 1919 at a congress in Moscow by Vladimir Lenin. The international objectives of the Comintern were self-evident from its title. By 1920 Lenin had already left no doubt that he envisioned the Comintern as “a branch of the Russian Communist Party, organized on its model and subject to its orders.” The 1920 Comintern congress made this clear, demanding of its foreign delegates that when they returned home, they would impose “iron military discipline” upon party members in their countries, ensuring fealty to and “the fullest comradely confidence” in the headquarters in Moscow. Beyond the parties, they were to seek to take over mass organizations and especially trade unions in their home countries.

Significantly, the Comintern made clear that members of foreign communist parties—from Europe to America—who did not toe this line, who did not give total subservience to Moscow, “who reject in principle the conditions and theses put forward by the Communist International, are to be expelled from the party.” This was the classic, infamous “party discipline” that was a trademark of communist parties everywhere.

The 1920 congress further added as a condition for admission and membership to the Comintern: “Every party which wishes to join the Communist International is obligated to give unconditional support to any Soviet republic in its struggle against counter-revolutionary forces.”

Personally, I think political parties should be governed by military discipline, and “democratic centralism” where party-membership is tightly controlled and all members must keep party discipline, not contradicting the party-line in public, but only through internal “democratic” debate. All political parties should be allowed to own newspapers, just like they own online forums, to play a central role in communicating the party official positions. A serious party shouldn’t rely heavily on front organizations (as I hear NRM own some organisations in and out of the country), ostensibly independent but actually controlled by president Museveni.

But overall, I think the key to learning and success of political parties is discipline as opposed to letting the wheel drive itself. We try to install ‘discipline’ in our online forums by moderating messages of ‘rebels’ and if possible: throw the bad apples out of the basket to avoid contaminating the good ones.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
UNITED KINGDOM

Daily Monitor Should Apologise to Anne Mugisha as she’s done nothing wrong

04 Aug 2012 7 Comments

by semuwemba in Africa, FDC, international, International Issues

Anne Mugisha is former FDC envoy( whatever that brings on anyone’s bank account)

I don’t wanna jump on anybody’s horse at the moment before we get all the facts right but i kind of sympathize with Anne Mugisha on the accusations that he used a ‘sweetener’ to get endorsement from Museveni for a UN job in Somalia. First of all, Anne has not rejoined NRM as some people seem to insinuate. She got a job with UN and she needed to be cleared by State House and this is so normal and procedure. What did you,guys, expect her to do? Turn down the job or go on welfare in USA where she used to live? Welfare can give you money but it cannot give you job experience that will move you ahead economically. Selling drugs on the streets can get you more money than welfare but it cannot give you experience that you can put on a job application. And if you decide to sell drugs all your life, that life can be very short. FDC was not gonna pay her bills, was it? She is a single mum, as far as i know, and she needed money to support her family.

She temporarily came back to Uganda to get on a wheel but things did not work out for her as she expected. She gave a shot at a parliamentary seat- first in Nakawa before she moved to Mbarara, and it did not pay off. She then got a job with some law firm in Kampala, i believe, as she was also working for FDC but it seems things did not work out for her. Was she expected to beg on streets or what? It was also obvious that FDC had started looking at her as a liability rather than an asset. You see, Kampala is not a joke! One needs to be street smart to survive there.

Then came Giles Muhame’s Chim- unfair- reports about her going back to NRM because of some disagreements she had had with the founders of the A4C group on Facebook. I think that was the time she decided to tactically cut her loses and decided to get a job with UN. Anyway, the thing about UN jobs is that they are not permanent. So, people should not read much into Anne’s job because i cant see her staying away from politics forever.

May be, if she had been bought shs.400m as Museveni reportedly did with UPCs big 4: Henry Peter Mayega, Hajji Wegulo, Chris Rwakasisi, and someone else whose name has gone out of my head, it would have been fair enough to look at as a traitor. But this is not the case. She applied for a job and she got it on merit. Then came the hurdle of getting clearance from Museveni. She then humbled herself and did what was necessary because she knew there was a possibility of Museveni denying her the chance to get this job, like he did with Olara Otunu( for UN Sec General), Honorable George Kanyeyihamba( for AU job), UAH’s George Okello( for AU job) and several others.

UN jobs have always been controversial especially when famous people apply for them. For instance, Bill Clinton was accused of buying the UN job when his then administration reached an agreement with Congress that would enable USA to pay $1 billion in back dues. Some people said that he was preparing to take over from Kofi Anan who was the Secretary General then. They said that he was doing it the hard way. They said that he could have followed Reagan’s lead and made a $2 million speech to Japan for services rendered. In the end, Bill Clinton also settled for expensive speeches & Bill Clinton Foundation rather than the UN job itself.

Museveni , on the other hand, was quoted by newspapers in Kampala saying that he was not interested in UN jobs and Mo Ibrahim $5m award because he’s so damn rich and also couldn’t identify anyone with a vision to take over from him. He said that he was a revolutionary whose salary is usually collected by his wife, who also happens to be an extremely rich lady. So, i guess they may end up donating it to poor Abbey at some stage.

Personally, i think we should not read so much into Mugisha’s job. I even don’t know why the Daily Monitor decided to make a meal out of it. It is insane! Totally insane!!!! They should apologize to Anne Mugisha immediately for intruding into her personal business, i think. But i think UN and other international organizations should review this policy as it looks like total blackmail to me. Probably, a guy like me don’t stand a chance for such a job because of my patriotic articles against some elements in NRM.

May be, we should move UN headquarters to China if the Americans don’t want to fix this for us when they are still superpower. If the United Nations moves to China, China will reap enormous financial and political power benefits, and will become the communications center and power broker of the future, while. America will become isolated from the rest of the world, and drift into a more agricultural state. How about that for promoting ‘blackmail’? The Americans themselves call this: “giving as much as you get” and sometimes, “if you’re going toss mud pies, don’t whine when you get hit’.

–

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Stalk my blog at: http://semuwemba.com/

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/semuwemba

Follow UAH at: http://ugandansatheart.org/

Besigye’s FDC is going through similar problems as Chelsea FC

27 May 2012 5 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, Politics

Friends,

FDC is divided because Besigye has lost interest in the whole ‘multiparty’ project thing. Neither Nandala nor Muntu will be able to keep the party together in this transitional period unless Besigye comes on board. FDC are going through the same problems Chelsea will be going through next season. Even the guy who won both the Champions League and FA cup has not been given the manager’s job on fullt ime. They need a new manager in FDC but I think most of the candidates are weak. How they sort it out, it’s hard to tell.

It seems Besigye has ‘unofficially’ given up on elections because he believed he should have won at least the 2011 elections considering the fact that Museveni’s numbers have been going down since 1996. As you may know, Mr. Museveni got a 75% in 1996, 69% in 2001 and 59% in 2006, but how he got the % of almost a 70% in 2011 elections, it’s anybody’s guess work.

Presidents or leaders normally get a honey moon period and pollsters usually ignore that period when measuring one’s popularity. So, it is possible president Museveni was popular between 1986 and 1996, which explains the 75% of 1996, but it is impossible in any realistic terms for him to get the % he got in 2011 elections. So, why would anybody waste any more money and energy on presidential elections when the man in power is still controlling the election itself?

I don’t know what Besigye’s plans are because, like I keep telling forumists, I have never physically met the man. I have never got any kind of communication (private or public) from him about anything. I doubt that he even knows that I exist. Oh, sorry, that is not true. He knows that I exist because he is a silent member of Ugandans At Heart (UAH. So, I would be happy if he shares his thoughts with us here on UAH one time.

I think what the current political parties should do is to work towards increasing their numbers in parliament in the post Museveni era because it will not be easy to dislodge the ‘rigging’ mechanism that has kept M7 in power – as soon he leaves the presidency(if he leaves the presidency). In Ghana in 2000, Kenya in 2002 and Malawi in 2004, ruling parties did not have large parliamentary majorities to enable incumbent leaders to amend the constitution and remove presidential term limits. So, big numbers in parliament are important. But first, they need to sort out that electoral commission as the Kenyans have sorted out theirs under Kibaki. Uganda does not have an EC that can provide free and fair presidential elections.

It’s good that church leaders have joined the few brave NRM MPs to call for the restoration of term limits. The truth is that even in NRM, they are tired of president Museveni but they don’t know how to get rid of him. They are afraid of him and his rolling eyes.

Why do you think NRM supporters, like Brother Ahmed Katerega(Newvision), are calling for the restoration of term limits but can never openly tell you that the target is ‘Nzee’ Museveni. Everybody is afraid of the guy, for some reason. Moreover, as in Ghana in 2000 and 2008 and in Kenya in 2002, where the president has respected term limits, the incumbent regime has been voted out of power and been unable to retain the presidency. So, our hope is in the restoration of term limits and God’s plans but not elections.

Anybody who says that FDC is not having problems; he or she is in denial. Even NRM is nothing without Museveni, and he knows it. The reason why I think if he leaves now, and probably, by any chance, Besigye stands in 2016 against someone like Mbabazi, FDC have got a chance to get into power.

Museveni controls the NRM parliamentary committee, the EC and the UPDF. It is almost impossible for anyone to win an election when you stand against him. Museveni is NRM , and he has intentionally kept an unpopular Sec General at the helm of things to avoid NRM becoming stronger than himself. As one commentator said in 2009:‘You cannot claim to be a strong party when the party chairman is stronger than the party structures and operates them in his interests’. This means that Museveni’s succession will not be determined by the NRM organs but by himself. He is the one to choose a successor not NRM organs, and he knows it. NRM as a party are weak, and I think they know it.

UPC have got a good president but they cannot see it. That’s why some are fighting him. They are even in a better situation that Obote is already dead.

DP have also got a good president though i doubted his abilities at the beginning, but he has learned on the job. And i think they should keep Mao as their transitional president.

CP have got a ‘resident’ leader not a ‘president’. I no longer even know what they stand for. I know they stood for federalism in 1980 elections but that has been hijacked by Beti Kamya’s Federal Alliance. So, I really don’t know what they are about at all. I grew up as a kid respecting Abu Mayanja and Mayanja Nkanji such that I started separating the two characters as an adult.

Abbey.K.Semuwemba

Uganda has got a life president but some people still discuss M7′s successor

27 May 2012 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, Museveni and NRM, Politics

John Patrick Amama Mbabazi

Folks,

I think it is wrong for some people to measure Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi’s popularity in Uganda on the basis of his winning in one constituency or ‘winning’(‘rigging’) the post of NRM Secretary General. Unless a national poll is run, we cannot know for sure how popular Mbabazi is nationally.

I think Mbabazi is nothing without president Museveni and my assumption still remains:’ he will fall with the big man”. There is too much at stake here to promote Mbabazi as the next president of Uganda. He is undoubtedly an intelligent and serious man but I still cannot imagine Mbabazi as my president, but you never know. Uganda is one country where anything is possible.

Nonetheless, I don’t know what makes some people think that president Museveni is looking for a successor. There are some NRM guys usually deployed to confuse Ugandans every time they are fed up with the Museveni or some stuff in the government. It was especially NRM journalists and sympathisers that wrote a lot of articles in the media and visited FM stations telling us that there is a succession war in NRM before the 2001 and 2006 elections. Some Ugandans bought it, and it kind of deflated the pressure the church leaders and Makerere students had galvanised against president Museveni. It is all a game to some of them and it is a bad game in my books. They cannot play this game indefinitely.

President Museveni himself has not helped the situation at all as he keeps enjoying this game endlessly, and now some of NRM supporters are at it again. In his 1996 election manifesto Museveni wanted the point inserted that he would only stand for one further term but how many terms has he had since then?

Museveni has never had any intentions to hand over the presidency ever since he came to power. But he knows how to calm down nerves down by telling those close to him every time there is an election- that he’s standing for the last time. He did so in 1996, as I earlier stated. He again did so in 2001 elections. In his 2001 election manifesto, Museveni declared several times that he would contest ‘for a last presidential term’ and also put ‘in place mechanisms for an orderly succession’.

In 2008, Museveni is reported in the press saying ‘I am not going anywhere’. He stopped pretending since 2006. In the same year (2008), he was quoted as saying when asked about stepping down: ‘It’s me who hunted and after killing the animal, they want me to go, where should I go?’

During the 2006 presidential campaign, he had this to say: ‘You don’t just tell the freedom fighter to go like you are chasing a chicken thief out of the house.’

While addressing a meeting of NRM MPs from the western region, Museveni declared firmly ‘If you shy away from me, I will also shy away from you’.

In June 2007, at a major retreat for NRM MPs, a number of MPs wanted to discuss who should be the presidential candidate in 2011. But at Museveni’s insistence debate on the succession question was removed from the agenda.

So, we should not waste any more time on Museveni’s succession project because we have got a life president, and we should come to terms with it.

Jesus, if Museveni is to go, we don’t need people who have been helping him to stay in power indefinitely as if Uganda only belongs to them, and Mr. Mbabazi is certainly one of those that have helped to cement this dictatorship. Why would anyone feel that Mbabazi will do anything different from what his boss has been doing?

By the way, those who think that Mr. Mbabazi can only come in as a stopper waiting for ‘’president’’ Muhoozi to take over, are day dreaming. The moment Museveni helps Mbabazi to become the president of Uganda, the former will not be going anywhere soon. Who wants to stay in paradise for a short time in Africa unless if one is a prophet, and I think even president Museveni must be thinking about it. Even loyal servants sometimes stab their bosses in the back.

Mbabazi’s popularity VS Besigye’s

Most of the NRM guys despise Besigye but they like using him as the standard to compare other candidates at local level. Which constituency did Museveni win before he became the president of Uganda? The whole intention of all this is to portray Besigye as a very unpopular man who should have become a MP before he stood for presidency or who ‘jumped the queue’ (to quote from the ‘popular’ Mbabazi). The Norbert Mao supporters tried the same nasty approach in the 2011 presidential campaigns to portray their candidate as already more popular than Besigye because he had been in parliament for ages( 9 years to be exact), but the later still did better than the former.

Besigye may be quitting the FDC presidency but he is not quitting politics, I believe. So, we are likely to see him around for a long time unless the man upstairs calls him. He has done well nationally since he started standing against Museveni in 2001. Museveni’s numbers, on the other hand, have been declining (if we disregard the ‘useless’ 2011 elections). Museveni’s numbers had declined from 5.1 million in 2001 to 4 million in 2006 while those for Besigye had increased from 2 million to 2.4 million over the same period.

There is a belief in some circles in Kampala that Museveni was forced to change the term limits because of Besigye’s popularity in 2001 elections. There is also some unsubstantiated information that Besigye won both the 2001 and 2006 elections despite the results that were officially pronounced by the Electoral Commission.

The way Besigye performed in 2001 elections was an eye opener for Museveni such that he saw no NRM candidate capable of beating him in 2006 other than himself. Yes, ‘popular’ Mbabazi was in government but he wasn’t seen by his boss as more popular than Besigye. Besigye campaigned in 2001 for only 5 months and he did unbelievably well despite the violence and an array of electoral irregularities impeding a fair contest. As such, term limits on presidency were removed in 2005 to prepare for a Museveni presidency in 2006.

In 2006, the judges were intimidated not to order for a re-run. These are now facts and on record. So, how can anybody compare Mbabazi to Besigye in terms of popularity? By the way, I have got a feeling that Besigye will come back as a presidential candidate in future at some point. It is a just a feeling but worth noting if you are an NRM supporter. And if he stands, Museveni will again have to convince the NRM guys that he is the only one that can take him on. Can you really see Ugandans voting for Mbabazi and discard the man who has been bracing the teargas regularly to change what has gone wrong?

Besigye may have a chance with a ‘popular’ Mbabazi( NRM). You see, it is now a fact that rigging has been part of Uganda elections since 1980s but sometimes it may difficult to rig and later win an election with a weaker candidate. That’s why NRM has kept Museveni or rather he has kept himself running against Besigye for a long time, because he does not see so many options in his own party.

For instance, in Zambia, Keneth Kaunda was controlling the electoral system for decades ,as president Museveni has been doing the same in Uganda, but he was eventually defeated because he could not inflate the numbers as much as he wanted in his last election. Similarly, despite his weaknesses, Museveni has got some popularity in rural areas and there are pockets of people in urban centres that still love him, but i cannot see any reason why anybody would want to vote for Mbabazi, for what really?

I may be wrong about this, and I don’t mean to sound like I’m undermining Honorable Mbabazi’s authority or power- because I know he is extremely powerful and all that, but I don’t see him standing a chance, moreover, against a giant Besigye. Phewwwwwwwwwwwww! He can only win if Kiggundu does it like he did it in 2011 and came up with surprising results.

So, Besigye would have a chance to get into that statehouse if NRM presents Mbabazi as their leader. But popularity never takes anybody to statehouse in Uganda. Otherwise, Besigye would be president by now.

I don’t hate Mbabazi at all, and I would probably learn a lot from him if I was working for him because he is an elder with experience. But NRM should also reflect on this:’ would he the best person NRM can offer to replace president Museveni?’ If he is, then NRM does not care what Ugandans think about them and can do anything they want, which begs another question of why we are wasting money on presidential elections.

One of president Museveni’s aides, Aisha Kabanda, wrote: ‘Mbabazi is definitely an outstanding character……..’

Our nation is facing crises on several fronts at the moment, the resolution of which will require the steady hand of a statesman in possession of outstanding character, but I don’t think Mr. Mbabazi is that person. What can he really do which would be any different from president Museveni’s yet he is his close partner in crime? As the Baganda say: ‘Mbulilra gwoyita naye…..’, or ‘birds of the same feathers flock together’.

Look, some Ugandans can say anything they want to support such a character but Mr. Mbabazi’s image is so tainted. Do I need to remind them that in 2008 the parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises probed a controversial UShs.11 billion ($5.5 million) land transaction between the NSSF, and Amama Mbabazi. The majority report found him guilty of conflict of interest and influence peddling in the NSSF land deal, recommending sanctions against him and other involved officials. President Museveni had to call a special cabinet meeting with intentions of saving Mbabazi from imminent parliamentary censure. NRM MPs were also later summoned in statehouse and given orders on how they were gonna vote on this issue.

As a man with an otherwise’ good’ character and impressive history of employment (as Aisha Kabanda put it), it is little wonder it took the president to persuade the MPs and his cabinet to save his job, right?

Aisha also asked:’ is he worse than any other President Uganda has ever had? ‘. Neither She nor anyone knows what Mbabazi will be like because he is not a president yet. So, I don’t know why she was comparing him to past presidents we have ever had. May be, she meant president Museveni, right?

Anyway, I don’t know why we are even wasting time on him because president Museveni is not going anywhere soon, I guess. That is why I think we are wasting time discussing Museveni succession project- especially Mr. Mbabazi. There is no succession or successor any time soon. Mbabazi will retire with Museveni unless the constitution is changed in 2021 to allow the 70 something old to stand for presidency.

Abbey Semuwemba

Ingrid, Tevez, Torres and Suarez all score a ‘hatrick’ this month for their respective teams

29 Apr 2012 10 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, Police, Politics, Protests

Ingrid Turinawe

Friends,
What a month we are having! Uganda Muslims at each other’s throats; Manchester City’s Striker, Tevez, came back and scored a hat trick; Liverpool’s Saurez scored hatrick yesterday and now Torres scoring hatrick as well. To top it all, we watched a YouTube video showing the Uganda police man who later turned out to be a ‘lady ‘ ‘squeezing ‘ FDC Ingrid Turinawe’s breasts for reasons I’m yet to know. I think this is where Kampalans say: ‘Kyaba too much’ meaning ‘it’s too much’, and I think the man upstairs is having fun.

I love Chelsea FC and few things give me joy like watching Chelsea obliterate a team; and I loved it when we broke Barcelona’s heart in the champions league Semi-final. The game had everything but most of all, I never believed that Chelsea had a chance when John Terry was given a red card. I almost called him a moron but then I remembered that I was brought up not to abuse anybody. Lionel Messi remains the best player in the world of football but he looked like a man stuck with a puzzle on a table after a cup of tea at the end of the game.

After Torres hatrick, I listened to Ray Wilkins on Sky sports TV and he said something like:’’… Apparently Fernando Torres has this incredible ability to want to go beyond defenders’’. Then I thought to myself, does this mean that Fernando is likely to get offside most times he gets the ball? But then again, I remembered something else:’’ several brain cells die each time one stay tuned listening to the ‘expert analyses!’. Ray Wilkins in a former Chelsea Assistant coach and he is expected to know a lot about football as we expect General Kayihura Kale to know a lot about security matters. The two have killed a lot of my brain cells this week. Following the torture that Ingrid Turinawe was subjected to, I reluctantly contacted General Kayihura to know his position. He was kind enough to respond to me and I quote:

‘’ We are taking disciplinary action against the officer who by the way is a female officer not a male officer. It is a woman, and we can and shall prove it to you. But that should not be misunderstood to be exoneration of the unlawful activities of Ms Ingrid Turinawe who provokes incidents in which sometimes some police officers make mistakes. It is amazing that not even an iota of outrage is expressed when police officers suffer excesses of rioters and their organizers and sponsors, the last one being the stoning to death of Ariong by rioters when he was carrying out his duty. I have not seen any expression of sympathy to the widow and his children the way you sympathize with Ingrid and her family for a lesser outrage. Remember the other was murder! Police also deserves balanced criticism which we rarely get……..’’

This is an interesting point of view from the General, but how about the point of view of the harassment of people by police officers? We aren’t talking about the rights of the woman here, because those are well established, except when anti-life legislation police officers would take them away. Secondly, the ‘point of view’ of the sex of the police officer concerned is hardly difficult to determine. The voice, muscles or breasts alone cannot prove anything. Even Ingrid, we know that she is a woman because she tells us so and because she is married to a ‘straight’ man, but if she wasn’t married to a man, we would not have known that she’s a woman. Right? So, I’m really wondering how General Kayihura is going to get us believe that it was a woman that sexually harassed and tortured Ingrid. Yes, it was torture as it inflicts “severe physical or mental pain or suffering” to the person. Ingrid is seen in the video with a facial expression of a lady clearly in pain but the police man/woman in question just kept ‘squeezing’ her breasts. It is implausible to believe that s/he didn’t mean to inflict as much damage as possible if given a chance, regardless of General Kayihura’s testimony in this matter. I think we need to redefine “pressure points” and when it is necessary to use them on someone driving on a street, as Ingrid was in the video.

Women have a 'breast day' protesting against police's response to Ingrid

What the Uganda police clearly demonstrated in that video was that they don’t give a damn about the community where they are doing their policing from. How could anybody allow such a horrible thing to be recorded and attributed to a community police officer, and then later come out to defend it? I can’t defend that, can you? This was someone’s wife, sister or daughter, and it could happen to any of our relatives. It is just sickly!

I don’t know why some people are saying that Ingrid’s breasts would require ‘ofwono-sized’ hands for someone to touch them properly. They are basically trying to belittle such a beautiful lady. For a 40 year plus old woman, she looks pretty good to me. Lot better than the muscular young police ‘’woman’’ whose muscular hands are seen in the video ‘squeezing’ Ingrid’s breasts. Whew!

That police man-woman should be sacked from her job, and in case she tries to apply for her next one, she should be subjected to an oral examination on her job interview. S/he should get quizzed on her nipple ‘squeezing’ abilities. Breasts are there to be sucked and pinched a little bit in romantic circumstances but not squeezed.

With due respect to my NRM friends; their views on this issue are mind-boggling! What some of them have written so far about this issue portrays the police as an organisation that follows a certain ‘torture memo’,i.e. there is a law that allows them to kill us, and also use ‘pressure points’ on our body to get us to do whatever they want. I suppose they could view it that way if they wanted to. Of course, they could view it the way I see it as well. But they would be in an extreme minority of experts if that is their view. That said, I’m happy that PM, Amama Mbabazi uncharacteristically came out to apologize for the police behavior in this incident. He beat General Kayihura to it. I think it is now justifiable to say that Ingrid has followed the rest in scoring a hatrick because a lot of people were disturbed by what happened to her.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

M7, the executioner, is now prepared to walk Uganda down the last mile, the green mile, to its execution

08 Apr 2012 3 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, Museveni and NRM, Politics, Protests, Revolutions

In response to a pressure group called the Activists for change (A4C) founded by the opposition in Uganda after the 2011 elections, the government of Uganda has officially banned its activities indefinitely. I was among the people so confused about the sole objective of this organization till when I recently read an anonymous message a few days ago on my blog , presumably from one of the leaders of the A4C, that stated in one of the paragraphs:’ “Museveni must go and this time we shall not use guns, but people power. The government propagandists keep referring to the next elections of 2016, that we should instead plan to defeat Museveni in 2016. This is a joke. The Museveni regime will be overthrown this year (2012), a transitional government will be set up and a truly democratic election will follow”.

‘The press fears to report this message this clearly for fear of economic consequences. But no one attends an A4C rally or town hall meeting leaves with any doubt what the end game is. The removal of the fraudulently installed Museveni government from power, by the (protest) power of the people.’

After reading this message, I thought to myself: ‘how is the government going to deal with A4C if they are determined as they are saying to use people power to get Museveni’s government out?’ The protests have been going for a year now and that is extra ordinary in the history of Uganda but my worry came when the government through its Attorney General (AG) Peter Nyombi on Wednesday declared A4C an “unlawful society”.

The truth is that the existence of the A4C is not in the way about breaking the law or doing anything illegal as any Ugandan has got a right to protest against anything. I believe the law in Uganda does not ban peaceful protests, as they are allowed under the constitution. If this was not the case, I believe the group would have been banned ages ago. What “freedom to peaceably assemble” means is that you can assemble as a group and discuss things, and the government can’t shut you down, somewhere where you don’t infringe upon others. From the few YouTube videos I have watched so far, it looks like the police are the ones that spark up all this ‘kavuyo’( trouble) whenever some people are marching or assembling or protesting somewhere. I believe that poor policeman would not have died if the police had not interfered with the people walking alongside Dr.Besigye and Erias Lukwago.

John hated the bad guys in the Green Mile.So, M7 wouldn't be in his good books

What the AG has summarily done is to give A4C free publicity which will recruit more people for their cause. The government decision is also likely to drive some protestors underground to form secret organizations against the government, a situation that could have been avoided if common sense had been allowed to prevail. As they say:’ when a bad person uses a gun for an evil end, the media concentrates on the event, and stays on the story. On the flip side, when a gun is used by a good person for a noble end, it might merit a onetime mention in the local press.

Basically, banning protests or groups such as A4C is not what most people want to see happen in this country. What we need is free and fair elections, proper democracy, free society, no corruption, e.t.c. So the mere fact that the A4C has managed to live for a year should be a reality check for the government that not everything is a bed of roses. NRM as a party is now an intellectually dishonest organization, and this is not good for the country because they are in power. The leading option here would be for president Museveni to form a coalition government with the opposition and then organize fresh presidential elections.

If president Museveni refuses to give in to the protests, then I will start believing what most people have been telling us that he is a bad person. From what I watched from the film called’ ‘The Green Mile’, directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name, all the bad people there had a bad ending. The film tells the story of Paul’s life as a death row corrections officer during the Great Depression in the United States, and the supernatural events he witnessed in prison.

Actually I have a problem with the term ‘bad person’ despite its numerous usage in that film, because it’s far too general. It’s easy to take the term ‘bad person’ and use it to justify one’s own inaction on the suffering of others. Like the whole idea that only ‘bad people’ need to protest as the government is portraying the A4C, or that AIDS is a judgment from God. That’s why this kind of stuff gets tricky if you really want to be fair about it.

Some people say that Museveni is worse than Obote but I’m likely to give him a benefit of doubt and see if he will listen to the cries of the protestors or he will just keep torturing, killing or imprisoning them. Killing or torturing people lives permanent mental scars from that horrible time period. Leaders should not think that people are the enemy. The logic is clear: the people they lead want to have a good, free and stable country.If they don’t get it, they will do something about it.

I want to personally thank Dr.Besigye for taking up the banner of freedom at a time when he ought to be able to enjoy a retirement in freedom and liberty- considering that he already fought for it in the bushes of Luwero against Obote dictatorship. Whoever will become the next FDC president will do no less than he has done, because our very system of government and our essential freedoms and liberties are in serious jeopardy?

Like they say in the ‘Green Mile’, it looks like Museveni, the executioner, is now prepared to walk Uganda down the last mile, the green mile, to its execution. “May God have mercy on Uganda’s soul,………roll on two.”

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Besigye-M7 Pending talks is a ”Bone-head” idea but a bit exciting

03 Jan 2012 1 Comment

by semuwemba in Corruption, FDC, IPC, kingdoms, media in Uganda, Museveni and NRM, Politics, Presidency

The Observer front page headline on 02/01/2012

Friends,

The story in the Observer about Besigye and Museveni planned talks is more like a replay of what happened between Zanu-PF and the MDC in Zimbabwe a few years ago. You remember those talks that were mediated by then South African president,Thabo Mbeki. The difference here is that Mwenda and Conrad Nkutu seem to be the big players in this whole thing which is a bit strange. I know Andrew Mwenda is a bit influential in the Museveni government but he is also someone who is not in good books with Besigye at the moment. So, anything where he is involved may raise suspicions.

It is also obvious that the story was intentionally leaked to the press to see the reaction from both camps: Besigye and Museveni’s, and the elites who read such stories published in English. So far, both sides have remained silent about it which confirms that something is in the pipeline. Even the big ‘mouthed’ Tamare Mirundi has not come out yet with his ‘bullets’ to shoot those ‘Nagendaising’ the situation, which shows that this is a big thing in the corridors of power in Uganda. The story has appeared both in the Newvision and Observer newspapers.

However, the whole exercise of these talks is a misdirected effort because the majority of Ugandans would be happy if president Museveni offers a quick time frame to step down from the presidency, but this is not something we expect from these talks. Museveni is not ready to give up power to anybody soon despite the recent Daily Monitor headline of ‘I will not stay in power forever’. The man has no intention at all to give up an inch of power, and I’m sure Besigye is aware of it, and we assume he (Besigye) is bothered by it .So what will be the basis of these talks, I wonder.

On the other hand, senior FDC officials are increasingly aware that there is a need to start planning for a political future after Dr.Besiggye, but do not quite know how to achieve that end. Besigye has already announced his intention to stand down from the FDC presidency despite his undoubted popularity among Ugandans. So, why involve himself in political deals he may not be there to supervise and see to it that they are fully implemented? Let’s say, for instance, Museveni agrees to a power sharing interim government, what will be Besigye’s and the new FDC president positions in the new government? Who will be the superior decision maker in the new government? This whole thing may ultimately weaken FDC if not handled properly.

Seriously, I don’t have a problem with the idea of talks between the opposition and Museveni government, and it is indeed encouraging to see that some people want it to happen, but there is a lot of water under the bridge at the moment- which makes it a bonehead idea at the moment.

A lot of people are in prison or exile because of the fights that have been going between these two guys, and I’m wondering if they have got any stake in these talks. Will there be an unconditional amnesty granted to all those perceived to be enemies of the state? Will all political prisoners be pardoned and let back on the street to do whatever they want before or after these talks? What about other stakeholders, such as the Mengo administration and Ssubi, which formed an alliance with Besigye in 2011 elections to see that Buganda achieves its demands from the central government? Will the Kabaka be involved in these talks? What about the religious leaders who are tired of corruption in government offices and would like the government to also get tough on homosexuality? What about those who just want to see the back of president Museveni for good as soon as possible and Besigye was seen as a representation of such feelings?

That’s why I think that the idea of talks between ‘Ajja Genda’ and ‘Mpekoni’ or ‘do u want another rap’ guy makes very little sense. Yes, looking for the “good”, or looking for the “truth” both proceed by talking and also by investigation and neither, in and of themselves, result in the creation of a sustainable political climate. However, looking for good as opposed to truth is precisely what has led Sub-Saharan Africa to its present downward spiral. Instead of recognizing truths which require little study and even less talk, western governments, media and academe have consistently tried to see good at the expense of recognizing such clear and obvious truths. The damage that this has done is just as evident and all in the service of a corrupt concept of natural equality.

If, therefore, we are to have meaningful talks between the government and opposition, president Museveni must publicly state that he is going to resign from the presidency at a specific date. Short of that, we may as well say that Besigye has betrayed the people who put too much trust in him. All the truth about everything evil this government has done must be put on the table as enough reason for the president to hang his boots as soon as possible. Truth is truth and looking the other way helps no one.

Byebyo ebyange

Abbey Semuwemba

Besigye remains the best ‘Chocolate’ in a x-mas box and Otunu Shouldn’t fire all his enemies

21 Dec 2011 10 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, Museveni and NRM, Obote and UPC, Politics

Friends,

Most of the NRM mobilizers will be relieved when Besigye retires from FDC leadership because he still remains the best ‘chocolate’ in a box. Love or hate him, he is the most courageous, toughest and principled politician in Uganda history. The guy is undoubtedly the best opposition politician in Uganda’s history. He’s the best at what he does. When he talks on politics, he usually has been worth listening to more than any other FDC politician. Historians and political analysts will write endless books about him. The only thing missing in his political life is becoming the president of Uganda which he almost did in 2006 if Dr.Badru Kiggunud’s EC were not cowards. They reportedly allowed themselves to be intimidated but most political observers ‘believe’ that Besigye won those elections.

Museveni only outsmarted him in elections and I think this is the reason why he wants to retire, not forgetting the famous Gilbert Arinaitwe who liked playing with Besigye’s head using tear gas. What makes Museveni to stand out is that he thinks 10 moves ahead when it comes to rigging elections, and he planned for the presidency for a long time. The rest of the opposition leaders think two moves, and are proud of it. Museveni is probably the best politician of his generation in Uganda- at least of his NRM party; even Besigye would have to agree.

As for UPC, the way there are treating Dr. Otunu now has made me feel the slightest for them. He does not deserve to be treated this way just because he is not a Langi or related to late Obote. The smears his political enemies are now flinging mark them, not him, as beneath contempt.

Olara Otunu is the current UPC president

It’s good that Otunu has fired some of the UPC ‘rebels’ especially David Pulkol and Rurangaranga. The former chairman made it clear that that he will use whatever means necessary to incriminate the UPC president which was unacceptable. So he had to go. As for Pulkol, I have never trusted him even one little bit. He is one character that can give you a poisonous injection on the bum while feeding you a samosa at the same time. He was previously working for the Museveni intelligence system; then he moved to FDC temporarily before joining some funny political party I have forgotten. When Otunu came back, Pulkol went UPC mad with the famous bandwagon song of ‘we are coming back home’. Oh God, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read in the paper that Otunu had given him an executive position in UPC.

Anyway, it’s good that Otunu has started learning Uganda’s complicated politics on a table very slowly. In Uganda, all surviving party leaders have been sleeping with one eye open. Otherwise, Otunu should copy some of Museveni’s ugly tactics to survive the current situation. If he doesn’t’ he is a goner not a ‘gunner’ (like Arsenal supporters). If he wants to know some of these tactics, he should freely consult me privately and I help him out, but I will charge him some fee because I need to buy presents for my daughters before the New Year. But overall, he seems to be catching up with the game.

Of course there is a limit to what Otunu can do since he is not as ‘executive’ as president Museveni. The later allegedly uses the intelligence organs and URA to obtain innuendo and political ammo against his enemies, and the police and army to harass his enemies, but otunu can do a little bit of Museveni’s tricks that are less than that to survive his enemies. USA’s Richard Nixon too used IRS to target his political enemies. Bill Clinton also reportedly used to keep files of his political enemies.

Nevertheless, I think Otunu should have kept Robert Kanusu in his team. I don’t know Kanusus personally but he seems to be a people’s person and a grass root politician. He should have won that election in Jinja if NRM had not resorted to Museveni’s ways of survival. If it is true that Kanusu too had also been comprised, Otunu should have deployed him somewhere else but kept him in his team, while at the same time keeping an eye on him. Otunu should know that not everybody in Museveni’s cabinet are his friends. In fact, he does not trust most of them. But he has got his boys that keep an eye on all of Museveni’s ministers. They are people in Museveni’s government whose job is to monitor the likes of Edward Ssekandi (VP), Saida Bumba(Gender ministry), even Mbabazi( PM), and others. The man allegedly keeps a file in his office on all his political enemies in and outside NRM. He uses them when very necessary.

Actually, if people had ears, they would not come out to publicly portray themselves as Museveni’s friends because the man has often said that his only friends are his wife and kids, and he is right. In Uganda politics, you don’t trust anyone if you want to survive for a long time. So, Otunu should forget about New York or UN politics and sort out the mess in UPC. He should not fire all his enemies as he is doing because some of them are better to be kept in the party while keeping an eye on them.

I would say it has more with keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer. For example, The Nazis and the Soviets were on opposite sides during the Spanish civil war. But why did Stalin and Hitler sign the Non-Aggression Pact on August 19, 1939? Why did they agree to the division of Poland and invaded it together? Meanwhile in the period just before that pact, Stalin had been warning all the British, the Americans, and the French that the Germans were getting to be dangerous. In addition there were elements of the German intelligence service that had been trying to work with British MI to assassinate Hitler. These German agents were ignored. The capitalists at that time thought that Nazi Germany would be a good bulwark against the Soviet Union.

Otherwise, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy X-mas and new year. Besigye said recently while at Makerere University that 2012 is gonna be ‘bloody’. So, let’s keep our eyes on the ball.

Byebyo ebyange

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

No Internal Revolt Will Dislodge M7 In The Near Future Unless if it is backed by a Strong foreign nation

03 Sep 2011 10 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, international, Museveni and NRM, Politics, Revolutions, UPDF

Ugandans are not capable of getting rid of Museveni on their own without foreign help. Ugandans are not capable of overcoming Museveni’s security organs that at least seem to be loyal to him- personally. A guerilla war in Uganda without any foreign backing is more like walking in a death trap. This is the reason why Dr.Besigye made a lot of noise in 2001, 2006 and 2011 but he never openly came out to declare war on Museveni despite the rigging of elections -mainly because I believe there was no foreign nation willing to sponsor such a war. The rumors about Rwanda sponsoring him were absolute nonsense than anything else. It is believed that the intelligence experts wanted to squeeze more money out of the government, and president Museveni temporarily fell for it. But he wizened up and that is why he made up with president Kagame through a presidential visit recently.

Guerilla war

Historically, all Uganda’s long serving president have been pushed out with the help of foreigners. Obote’s was ousted by Amin in 1971 with the help of the Israelites and British. Even Iddil Amin would have died a president if the Tanzanians had not come to our rescue in 1979. Museveni received help from Libyans and British to fight Obote 2 and later Tito Okellos in late 1980s.

In Angola, UNITA’S Savimbi fought the government for over a decade if I’m not mistaken but how much did the rebels achieve? In the meantime, how many lives and property were lost during that time? By the way, Even Savimbi made some progress during that conflict because of foreign backing. Everyone needs some form of foreign backing to make it. Fighting a guerilla war is not easy, from what I have observed, such that even Museveni would not have made it if the Acholis and Langis were not so divided then. Actually, Museveni is a lucky man indeed, because I cannot see anybody doing what he did in 1980s and become president in the present Africa. It is just so difficult.

Military coup

The only internal revolt president Museveni is scared of is a coup by the military guys but not ‘walk- to -work’ or a people’s revolution of any kind. Did you see how the ‘walk- to- work’ died suddenly as soon as Besigye was ‘arinaitwed’ in the eyes and ears. The protests can only dislodge Museveni if they are backed by again foreign nations as it happened in Gaddafi’s Libya recently. Protestors on their own cannot dislodge him.

Let us also remember that Museveni is USA’s main man in the sub sahara Africa, a reason we saw some Kenyan politicians with ICC problems campaigning for him during the elections yet they hate him. According to Wikileaks, Museveni asked the Americans to protect his plane after falling out with Gadaffi. So attacking Museveni is more like attacking USA interests in the region. Whoever plans to attack Museveni will need some kind of endorsement from Washington. Museveni may write as many documents as he wants against NATO bombing in Libya but he is not going to fool some of us. What he is doing is more like a man that abuses an ugly woman in public yet he is sleeping with her.

The day the Americans stop trusting Museveni is the day things will start falling apart in Kampala. Museveni has built a weid relationship with Russia, Chinese and some Arab states though Europe seems not to like him anymore. But Europe can do nothing if it is not endorsed by Washington.

Yes, Ugandans have now got a lot of options to get rid of any president but all need some kind of foreign endorsement, if you ask me. Look, Uganda is now in a bad shape; everything is so bad; people are so poor, the economy is wanting; but Museveni has not been shaken by it. He can even afford to bring in ‘’Mabira-give away’’ without being worried of the repercussions. Everybody is feeling the economic pinch in the country but there is not even some smoke coming out of the hut, what does that tell you about the people of Uganda and the opposition in general?

Syrian Revolution

Guys, let’s accept it that Ugandans aren’t Tunisians or Syrians. Assad has killed over 4000 Syrians but they are still going, but Ugandans aren’t like that. They could not even sustain ‘walk to work ‘ protests without Besigye. We are a different kind as we never walk the talk.

I believe Washington disappointed Besigye when he made that trip to America after the protests, and I guess that is why he tactically pulled out of the whole protests. If Washington had endorsed Besigye’s ideas, Museveni would be history by now but it seems they don’t trust him. No wonder Besigye made an announcement not to stand for party president again as soon as he came back from that trip.

Egyptian Revolution

The Egyptian revolution would not have been successful if Washington had not endorsed it. It seems to me that the Americans owned the Egyptian army indirectly but Mubarak was not aware of it. The Egyptian army used to receive $1b annually and may be that constituted something we don’t know. The army never helped Mubaraka at the time he needed them. Some of them joined the protestors, but I don’t see that happening in Uganda.

Anyway, what do I know? May be UPDF is also waiting for someone to sustain the protests for a long time and they join, but I highly doubt that. UPDF is a micro-managed institution unlike the Egyptian’s army.

By the way, I believe that Mubaraka, is very bitter with President Obama as he ( Mubaraka) used to do everything the Americans wanted( just like Museveni) but they abandoned him for reasons I’m yet to know up to now.

Abbey

BESIGYE ”RETIRING”ANNOUCEMENT HAS COME AT THE WRONG TIME

09 Jul 2011 6 Comments

by semuwemba in Economics, FDC, Politics

Guys,

I still can’t believe it that Besigye has announced that he is going to leave front line for politics to retire into whatever life he is planning. To be honest, At first I thought it was one big hell of a joke when I read it in the newspapers till I realised that more people are talking about it, So reality has started to hit me. What has confused me most is why he is retiring at a time when his party needs him more than before. FDC looks more divided than before and there isn’t anybody that ”sellable” to take over from him right now. The point is that Michael Jordan’s team was still making the playoffs when he quit; Jordan didn’t bail out because his team was in the sewers, but Besigye is bailing right when his FDC needs him the most. It’s when your guys are down that you hunker down and prepare to fight the “good fight.”

Besigye has not been the same since the ‘Arinaitwe Gilbert’ incident and it somehow feels like he was got off the streets by the young man putting on glasses. It just feels like he is rewarding Arinaitwe for spraying tear gas into his eyes and ears. Yes, i don’t wish to see the FDC consitution changed but i think the timing of the annoucement was so wrong.

It has not been long since he came back from a trip in USA that looked successful as he got audience with the international media especially the likes of Washington post, New York times and CNN, such that announcing his retirement now must have hit everybody that had made a deal with him, a big blow. Why couldn’t he wait till when the party is in good shape before he pronounced himself on such a big issue?

One may reason that Besigye has decided to move on while he is still popular and capable but there is a lot going on now in the country that needs his attention, and I don’t think he has made the right decision to announce his departure from politics. It’s not like he has been a leader of a party for a long time as president Museveni. He has only been a leader of FDC since 2004.The one big issue bogging everybody’s mind now is the shape of the economy with one strike after another in the country despite president Museveni’s letter in the newspapers that showed that the economy was still in good shape and that the ‘shilling will never collapse’.

Nonetheless; I’m happy that president Museveni is not afraid to put his intellect on the line. He may toss out a few ad hominems from time to time, but at least, unlike some people, that’s not all he does. Personally, I don’t believe there are any fixed markets externally for exporters right now, and therefore an expensive dollar may not benefit the traders as the president seems to insinuate. The economy itself is not anywhere near better management internally as we have all been seeing. For example, the poor in our country can’t get loans, can’t establish any credit, even though they ‘own’ their own homes and property. This means they can’t start businesses, increase the size of businesses, move the economy forward. Imagine if they could.

I’m reading Herando de Soto’s book “The Mystery of Capital”. It is very interesting for people like us who never majored in economics. Anyway, It turns out, and this guy had people in the third world countries researching, that capitalism in poor countries is separated from the population because the capital they have is ‘dead capital’, they can’t prove they own it and therefore can’t get loans based on it, can’t trust anyone but close friends because the honesty of people can’t be figured out since no one really owns anything, etc.

It turns out that the dead capital in poor countries, such as Uganda, is often a hundred times more than all the foreign aid the country has ever received. It’s amazing. Capital exists but can’t be used. I would say that is the case with the land ‘owned’ by people in rural areas, if that land cannot be sold at market value. In other words, if you can’t lose something, you can’t use it to collateralize a loan, show you are honest and going to pay your debts and other obligations. If you don’t own the car, for example, insurance companies won’t let you insure it. You have to have an ‘interest’ in something to get insurance on it.

To be honest, to understand what exactly is going in Museveni’s head is like finding a correlation between the movement of the hair on the tail of a dog and the moons rotation around the earth, but most everyone also knows that the moons gravity has a causal effect upon everything on the earth. He comes up with documents about Libya and Gaddafi; Besigye; economy, e.t.c , send them to the media for publication, but I will never get to know what he’s exactly up to apart from playing politics.

Back to Besigye, I think he will be remembered for a lot of things but most importantly his rare combination of intellectualism, energy, determination and performance. He seemed to have an answer for almost every question asked him by anybody. His name will go down in history as a prominent citizen who expressed what most Ugandans are beginning to feel as important. He is real legend hanging his boots at a wrong time.

I once heard somebody say “you will never get rich making money for somebody else.” Most people find it comforting to let somebody else take the financial risk of owning a business, and so they sell their labour. But we don’t expect Dr.Besigye to seek any employment anywhere else because I believe he has planned for his retirement. He should, however, do us a favour and write a book because we are bored of seeing the president, his son and wife’s books on the stalls. I believe a Besigye book right now would be hot cake compared to that of both Museveni and his wife. As for me, I’m going to start searching for another politician who will take my breath away like Besigye did in 2001. Those who have been rumoured to succeed him may not bend it for me like ‘Beckham’. See you later,Besi!

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

BESIGYE POLITICAL SHOW IN THE USA WAS INTERESTING

10 Jun 2011 3 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, luwero war after 1980 'theft', Museveni and NRM, parliament, Politics

Dear friends,

It was interesting to watch Dr.Besigye on straight talk, a political show moderated by Shaka Ssali, a Ugandan working from Washington. The show showed that Besigye has eventually come to learn that Uganda presidents are decided from Washington not Kampala as he used to think. I’m happy that Besigye followed my advice (if he read it on UAH) and decided to keep that ‘’white thing’’ on his arm because it makes a big political statement to anybody who meets him or sees him on TV. On the show, the Uganda government was represented by Mr.Nyago Kintu, the Deputy private secretary to president Museveni , whose picture I initially mistook for that of a lady when I had just switched on TV to watch the program. For those of you who missed the show, I’m going to pick up a few pointers which I generally found more interesting:

Partisan Electoral Commission

As expected Shaka Ssali started his questions to the panelists by asking both of them about the just concluded presidential elections. If I was giving marks, I would give Besigye 80% and Nyago 30% in the way they handled their questions. Without wasting time a lot of time on a piece of meat because it will make the soup cold( as Baganda say), Shaka Ssali asked Dr.Besigye why he keeps calling the Museveni government ‘illegitimate’ yet the president overwhelmingly won the elections with almost 70%.

Besigye responded by saying that elections were not free and fair and that FDC have got empirical evidence to show this but they intentionally decided not to go court anymore. He said the current Electoral Commission (EC) was appointed by Museveni and can sack it any time he wants. He continued to say that all the three elections he has participated in since 2001 have not been free and fair, and the court records are there for everybody to say. He said:’’ all judges of the Supreme court unanimously agreed in 2006 that the elections were not conducted according to the law…………. what divided them was what to do with the election, and they based on this to uphold the election which was totally a contradictory decision’’.

Besigye also verified that he was already a supporter of UPM and Museveni before the 1980 elections in which DP was rigged out by UPC. He said he knew Museveni and UPM had no chance of winning the 1980 elections because UPM was set up a few months to the elections, and the party did not even have a recognized national network. He said that he believed in Museveni as a genuine leader at that time but he never immediately followed him in the bush when he declared the war against the Obote government.

Just to emphasize this point, Besigye clarified that when Museveni rejected the results that were released by an EC that was chaired by a supporter of UPC, Besigye agreed with him though it was not the votes of UPM that were stolen.

He also emphasized that he does not regret the decision he took then to later join Museveni in the Luwero bushes to fight the then government. He, however, said that he has not considered such a decision for the last 10 years he has been opposing museveni. Everything he has done has been within the law. On the contrary, Besigye said: ‘’Museveni violates the constitution whenever it suits him’’. For example, he quoted a statement made by Museveni while he was addressing a press conference at Rwakitura where he said: ’’Besigye will not demonstrate in Kampala’.

Kintu Nyago, on the other hand, said that the EC is an independent body whose members are appointed by the president but they have to be vetted by the parliament for approval. He said that in USA where the show was being held, judges are appointed by the president but it does not mean that they are partisan. At this point, Besigye interjected and said: ‘’ the USA president has no powers to dismiss any judge as it is the case with the people at Uganda EC’’.

Kintu Nyago continued to say that the elections were free and fair and that Besigye is just a sour loser. He quoted the European Union and Africa Union (AU) reports that verified the 2011 election as free and fair. He actually said he respects the opinion of the AU more since ‘it matters most to me being an African’’. At this point, Shaka Ssali came in to say that he has also read both reports and they indicate that the political field was not leveled especially if one reads between the lines.

Retired Justice George Kanyeihamba

Kintu asked Shaka Ssali to verify his statement, and at this point the later said that he had hosted retired Justice, George Kanyeihamba, on the political show about a couple of times and he said the same thing as Besigye for both 2006 and 2011 elections. ‘’Kanyeihamba said that the 2006 elections would have been cancelled if one Joseph Mulenga had not settled for a promise of a job by president Museveni in the Africa court’’, said Ssali.

Kintu then roared with accusing Kanyeihamba of being another sour man because he wanted the Africa court job himself. Kintu also asked Besigye what the FDC MPs are doing in a parliament yet the Museveni government is supposedly illegitimate. Besigye responded to this by saying: ‘we are engaged in a struggle that is not going to end through one course of action. So our people are in parliament to use this platform to further the struggle. For example, walking out on the president when he was giving the state of the Nation Address, was one of our ways of demonstrating’’.

Besigye concluded his exchange with Kintu by giving him some simple advice:’’ Museveni has two images. I was able to see his contradictions much earlier than others possibly because I was his doctor in the bush. The new ones, who have just joined him, like Nyago, may be hanging on to an artificial Museveni’’.

At this point, Ssali Shaka asked Besigye what he was exactly doing in USA, and Besigye said that he had come to seek consultation on the injuries he suffered during the attacks he had experienced by brutal soldiers on several occasions. He also said that he intends to meet various members of the Obama administration to discuss the issues in Uganda. He revealed that he had already met Assistant Secretary, John Carson, and several other US State Department officials.

Besigye also indicated that he has been talking to members of the media in the USA. For example, he had a meeting with the editorial team of the both the Washington Post and NewYork times, and everything went well.

The show basically ended with some phone callers from Sudan, Ghana and Tanzania, all of which despised President Museveni for what he was doing to the opposition in Uganda.One caller requested him to stand down.

Just a point of correction to Mr.Nyago: it’s true that the Constitution of the United States of America specifically states that federal judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. However, in some states, judges are appointed by the governor or Senators. For example, in Michigan, every eight years, delegates and senators in the General Assembly must vote on whether to renew or reappoint judges.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

United Kingdom

FDC Should Have Appointed a lady as the Leader of opposition, and Hooting is a Poor Strategy

25 May 2011 1 Comment

by semuwemba in FDC, IPC, media in Uganda, Museveni and NRM, Politics, Women issues

Dear friends,

Appointing a woman as the leader of the opposition would have helped the case of the Uganda opposition more on the international stage than they realize but they have instead gone for a man. Already Museveni is being praised worldwide for appointing the first woman speaker of parliament in Rebecca Kadaga. Women organizations such as EQUALITY NOW which was founded in 1992 are already using this appointment to further their cause.

Please don’t get me wrong here: Nandalla is a fine appointment and he is one hell of a tough cookie. My point was that the opposition would have made a better statement if a woman had become the leader of the opposition.My personal preferred choice for the leader of opposition in parliament would have been Alice Alaso because she is smart, committed, intelligent, steady and very loyal.

Ogwal is another steady politician with a lot of experience who probably would have become our Vice president in the 1990s had she accepted the deal Museveni put on a table for her. However, I think I’m happy she has not made it to this tiresome post because she is now very old. The bones and legs are gone for her to play 90 minutes of full time ‘football’ on rough pitches in Kampala.

I don’t know why men in Africa still under look women potential because I see a lot of under minding statements from people about this. Let’s think about this position of the leader of opposition for a second. It is not really anything ‘big’ in terms of making an impact on the political scene but it can be useful in making some sort of a statement, and I believe a statement on women empowerment and equality would carry more weight than the characters the opposition have mentioned.

FDC has been promising women empowerment for a while now and I think it’s high time the opposition walk the talk. As Biblical directed man is to be the spiritual leader of a household but that does not mean he is better. Men are automatically picked as spiritual and traditional leaders, but we could change this in politics a little bit. The Iteso lady, Alice Alaso, has served FDC with all her heart and I think she deserves a promotion of some sort. This was an opportunity but I guess the FDC has lost it.

All the same, Congratulations to Nandalla Mafabi who I think he will do a good job and if he does so, he will likely be the one to take over from Besigye in future. Now who can say that Besigye is not grooming a successor unlike some leader in NRM who always appoint a ‘weak’ VP to act as his poodle?

As for Dr.Bukenya, he is gone and the sooner his sympathisers accept it, the better. Let’s assume that president Museveni deploys him somewhere else after this cabinet shake-up, do they ever expect him to become VP again or something that could lead him to state house? Uganda politics is so different from Kenya politics. Ours is more of survival for the fittest – in the sense that those close to Museveni will always be big and get protected as long as Museveni is still the president of Uganda.

Bukenya was a VP for 8 years, the same period AlGore was VP under Clinton. When one has been a VP for that long, the next deployment is supposed to becoming president of the country, not to some silly job. I guess 8 years as VP doesn’t count ANYTHING for professor Bukenya. Al Gore, on the other hand, began his career in public service in 1976 when he was elected to represent Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives (1977-1985). He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and was re-elected in 1990 (1985-1992). He then was elected Vice president and served 8 yrs. He also served in Vietnam and grew up in a home where his father served 32 yrs in the House and Senate.

I would also like to comment on the opposition strategy of ‘Hooting’ and whistling in place if ‘WALK TO WORK’. In my eyes, I think it is a poor strategy that needs to be reviewed because few people in Uganda have got cars or whistles. Let the opposition stick to the now famous ‘walk to work’ or come up with something better as in like ‘OKUFUWA OLUWA’(whistling using the mouth) which is natural. This does not need anybody to buy so called whistles or cars to hoot.

I know Besigye had this idea (hooting) in his head for a long time. At one time, he mentioned it on one of his radio interviews on one FM station but hooting is a non- starter in Uganda. It will just bury the protests. Actually, some people have started to lose the steam. Just abandon the idea and go back to ‘walk to work’.

To be honest, I think the protests have lost steam now with distractions such as: cabinet appointments, army not arresting KB anymore, opposition ‘fuellers’ being arrested as we saw with the editors of Gwanga newspapers, the journalists being gagged and their cameras destroyed, anti-M7 articles not published in the newspapers anymore, e.t.c.

Byebyo ebyange

Abbey Semuwemba

Preventive ”BESIGYEISM” Continues to expose Museveni on the International Stage

19 May 2011 4 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, international, Legal issues, Politics, Riots and genocide, security

Policemen stop Dr Besigye’s car near his Kasangati home yesterday.(Photo by Daily Monitor)

Friends

I beg to disagree with those who still think that president Museveni ‘wants Dr Besigye around’ to help him keep power after today’s announcement by the police of ‘preventive law’ or ‘preventive arrest’ as put by police spokesperson, Judith Nabakoba. Yes, this kind of measure by the police exists in the books of law and it basically means to prevent or to keep a big crime from happening again, the kind of event that could take another thousand of lives. It requires the police to stop crime from happening before it happens, and that’s a good thing. The bad thing, it seems to me, is Besigye is all treated as a potential guilty criminal rather than an innocent citizen. He has not committed any crime by ‘driving’ or ‘walking’ to work as an individual protest against the Museveni government, but police keep stopping him by citing ‘preventive law’ . This is one of the individual peaceful ways of demonstrating and legally speaking, the state can do little about them.

President Museveni ‘s proposal to change the constitution such that rioters or protestors are denied bail is also a violation of people’s rights, and I hope the NRM MPs, though I know that they won’t, resist the temptations to change the constitution for the sake of short term gains by the president.

What police actions,however, reflect right now is that president Museveni is so shaken at the moment by the events around him. Uganda is the first country in the history of sub Sahara Africa to demonstrate for more than a month against a sitting government.Black Africans are known to be cowards when it comes to repressive regimes, not anymore. If the issues fronted by the Activists for Change (A4C) movement are addressed by the Museveni government then this pressure group will just remain in name, as like most groups, but it seems the president is not ready to back down. All these actions show that president Museveni is uncomfortable with the FDC leader, Dr.Besigye, despite winning the 2011 elections.

I also think it was unwise for president Museveni to meet foreign diplomats and ask them ‘not to support opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye’’( according to the Newvision). This shows that the president has started seeing the real threat of being taken out of power by western nations as real and he cannot trust foreign diplomats anymore. But what does he achieve by meeting them? Not a great deal because big nations hate being ordered around by leaders of small nations. I can see the US and UK ambassadors angrily talking to themselves behind the scenes, after this meeting with phases like:’ what the hell does Yoweri think he is?’’. So, the whole thing is likely to back fire on him.

Yes, Museveni must have been advised to do this as part of a series of a public relations campaign against Besigye in the eyes of the international community, just like Isreal’s Benyamin Netanyahu did in December 2006 when he summoned 70 diplomats in Israel to a meeting to pressure them to join his country’s efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program. It worked temporarily for the Israel on the international stage but it did not stop Iran from continuing with its nuclear program. I don’t know whether the Uganda ambassador was part of this meeting but at least we know now that president Museveni supports Iran’s right to nuclear technology.

Foreign policy is often very messy. Again, if you recall, Iran was holding Americans hostage when Reagan won elections. US was selling arms to Iran before it started selling the same weapons to Saddam Hussein. Militarily speaking, Uganda is not a threat to US or British interests in the region but it will be strategically important for any big nation in future. So the threat that Uganda poses is due more to their relationship with China than anything else

President Museveni’s twelve page statement on the 17th May 2011 was also another sign that things are not at all well behind the curtains. He specifically attacked BBC, Aljazera, Daily Monitor and NTV for cheering on ‘irresponsible people’ – meaning the protestors. The press is supposed to be a watchdog as far as government business is concerned but they are being muzzled out everyday by the president, and we don’t know how this is gonna end.

With the exception of the Daily Monitor, Sunrise Magazine and Observer, there is practically no source or analysis of news on Uganda national media that is worth reading. The rest of the media, if we are being honest, is a nauseating rude low-minded cesspool. Not only does it have no value, it is positively injurious to the wisdom and understanding of those who read it. For instance, Andrew Mwenda’s Independent has been recently boxed into a corner such that it was very painful to read his article on Besigye- saying that the later had a hammer in his hands to harm the police. I even no longer have the desire to read his articles like I used to. There is something unattractive about his newspaper page these days though I sometimes listen to the audio.

President Museveni was not clearly happy that Besigye got more attention than him on his swearing-in day, but anyway who wouldn’t? President Museveni expressed his feelings very clearly in his statement when he said:’’ The excuse of “big crowds” that held up Besigye for hours is a myth and a lie because I was the first to drive through that road after Kololo. Somebody had advised me to take shelter at Nakasero State Lodge until they had removed Besigye from the road. I rejected that view and went straight to Entebbe. I was able to see a few hundred people at Kibuye roundabout, at Najjanakumbi and Kajjansi, making FDC signs.’’ So who says that big crowds don’t matter in a politician’s life? With this, it is possible that people working with the president do organize buses to transport people to follow him whenever he goes as a way of appeasing the president. They know that big crowds mean a lot to him.

I wrote an article before the riots started- suggesting that Uganda tries to solve the current food crisis by adopting the Cuban experiment but it seems not to have caught the attention of those in power, and I assume that is why we are still having problems. So, like they say, let’s us leave the wise ones to come up with better solutions.

Byebyo ebyange

Abbey Semuwemba

–
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

http://ugandansatheart.org/

http://twitter.com/#!/semuwemba

http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/

USA is not yet sure of Besigye.That’s Why M7 is Still the President of Uganda

13 May 2011 4 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, International Issues, Politics, Presidency, Riots and genocide

Folks,

It is believed in some quarters that the west or developed nations are not yet sure of Dr.Kiiza Besigye and that is why Museveni is still the president of Uganda but surely he(Besigye) would not be what he is today without their support. For instance, the UK government did a great deal to help FDC out financially in the presidential campaigns last year. Besigye attended the Conservative Party annual conference and was glad to show pictures of him and the Prime minister together on his blog during the campaigns.

David Cameron and Besigye seem to be on the same table as far as Uganda issues are concerned unless the oil deals change this relationship. The FDC 2011 election manifesto received a lot of input from the Conservatives such that some people accused the party of plagiarising it. I’m not a supporter of the Conservatives because i dont believe in right wing political ideologies where the poor means less to the person in power. I also partly believe in egalitarian societies.

The media in the UK seemed to be preparing us for anything in Uganda especially at the start of the ‘walk to work’ protests, and that is how the UK government usually works or at least it has been like that ever since I moved here. Whenever they are planning something, the media tend to be handy in terms of psychological preparations of the population. In addition, Rupert Murdoch who owns most of the newspapers here in the UK and USA is a big influence in the politics of both countries. He influences foreign policy through his media outlets. So when you start seeing Besigye stories in the Daily Mirror and The Guardian here in the UK on a regular basis then you know something serious is cooking. If I was Museveni right now, I would be spending more money in finding out where things have gone wrong than wasting time on those guys in the intelligence. They are feeding him more ‘poison’ than facts.

On the other hand, the Russians, French, Germans and Japans are usually in no- man’s land as far as foreign intervention is concerned in Africa. They tend to go with the flow. The Chinese are on Museveni’s side as they always side with whoever is in power. It is the Americans who have not supposedly endorsed Besigye and that is why president Museveni is still in power. The Americans seem to have a lot of influence on UK’s foreign policy but if shit hits the fan and Museveni is confirmed as a liability in the eyes of most Ugandans, the Americans can go with anybody. I can bet on that! Washington politics is so complicated for anyone to predict anything, though.

It is a fact that US has got more influence than UK on international matters but they need each other. When USA wanted to attack Iraq under Saddam, it needed some form of legitimacy to do so, and usually UK is always the first to support their foreign wars, and the vice versa is true. So, assuming UK wants to kick Museveni’s ass, more presumably because of Oil in Bunyoro, the Americans will not hesitate to support them because that is how international politics and diplomacy plays out- ”you scratch my back, I scratch yours”. All it needs is for Besigye and others to create a humanitarian situation in the country that requires foreign intervention and then that will be the end of Museveni’s dictatorship. Under international law it is permissible to act in self defense and it is permissible to intervene in another country’s affairs for humanitarian reasons. To intervene for other reasons is a war crime.

Besigye Supporter throws back a Teargas canister back to the police

Mr. Otunu is the weakest link among the top three opposition leaders. Yes, he has got international contacts and all that, but he is not popular on the ground. He is ”Mr.Smiley” and this does not sell in African politics. The US has a basic mythology that basically involves appeasement of some dictators, squeezing some and getting rid of others. For example, Bush used to give praise to Egypt’s Hussein Mubaraka very well knowing that he was a dictator, but when protests started they nicked him in the bud. Actually, there is nothing like a favourite opposition leader for USA unless if one is ready to protect their interests if helped to gain power. So the myth that Otunu is USA’s preferred candidate was built by him and the media in Kampala. It is something in the heads of those in Kampala but Otunu knows the truth now. He is a good guy,Otunu, but he is not anything more than just a UPC president right now.

Yes, Otunu was in such an influential position at UN but his position was not more powerful than that of Mohamed ElBaradei. The latter was the Director General of Internal Atomic Energy Agency and his job exposed him to the international media and influential people all over the world. But when it came to the Egyptian protests, he proved to be unpopular with the protestors and he ended up not providing the leadership desperately needed at the time despite seemingly endorsed by the Americans. The west abandoned him when they realised that he was not popular on the ground. The key here is being popular among the ‘’wananchi’’ before anything else.

Right now, there is no way anybody would form a transitional government in Uganda without Besigye in it, whatever his weaknesses, because he is more popular than the rest. Besigye’s biggest enemy now is not Ugandans but some FDC leaders and some in opposition who harbour leadership ambitions. They are actually not happy that he still has more ‘pull’ power than them after losing the presidential elections for the 3rd time and openly declaring that he was retiring as FDC president.

Overall, I can’t see the Americans abandoning Museveni soon because he is doing a good job for them so far. There are Uganda troops in Somalia and the US mission in Kampala is appreciating this gesture, but they are also keeping tabs on the situation on the ground. When they shout orders to him, he obliges without any resistance, for instance, they reportedly told him to abandon the homosexuality bill and he indeed did that; they allegedly told him to let Besigye go for treatment in Nairobi and he gave him a ‘weekly flight pass’ which he wanted to cancel later on. Nevertheless, if there is any sense that Museveni is losing control of things on the ground, the Americans will kick him like a puppy in the house. They are very good at it, just ask Brother Gaddafi who opened up his boarders to them and showed them where he even keeps needles.

To be honest, I don’t see Museveni going at the expense of the Americans. Obama has so far done well than Bush but he is slow to make decisions and that is his main weakness. He has captured more terrorists than Bush. He even captured and killed the biggest fish in Osama Bin Laden but I can’t see him directly declaring a war on president Museveni however much he presumably hates dictators. President Museveni is doing everything the Americans want. So why would they wanna get rid of him?

However, I can see Europe knocking him out if Britain does a PR on the whole issue. There is a strong sense in the UK that there is chaos in Uganda and the population has been prepared through regular media publications and reporting on Besigye and riots. We have been seeing this on BBC and Channel 4 news almost every week.

So don’t be surprised if things change faster than we thought especially if president Museveni continues with his policy of ‘chest thumping’ (e.g. I can’t share power with Besigye(NEWVISION) or I will create Vietnam(DAILY MONITOR)). President Museveni has not really helped himself as he keeps falling in Besigye traps all the time. Why is he acting the way he is acting now? Is it bad intelligence briefings or there is some unfinished personal business between the two? It is so confusing! He should let Besigye and his ”Activists for change” walk as many miles as they want without any police interference if he doesnt want to give them anymore ‘killer’ headlines.

Oil is basically president Museveni’s biggest enemy right now because even the rich businessmen in the world have assumingly started looking at Uganda as a ‘target’. If we did not have oil, he would have led Uganda till his death despite the number of Ugandans that have died and suffered under his regime. Some of these rich people are capable of financing coups and wars that topple a dictator in favour of the leader of their choice. For instance, I don’t know whether some of you have heard of a man called George Soros, a Hungarian born American citizen. He uses his vast wealth to meddle in foreign affairs. He helped to bring down three foreign governments; the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and Soviet Georgia. It is easier to bring down governments through individuals rather than wage a full scale war against a small country like Uganda.

At the moment, Besigye has got president Museveni where he exactly wants him: political rat hole. For example, Besigye generated more than 99 headlines internationally the day he was barred from boarding a flight from Nairobi back to Uganda, if anyone bothers to Google it. This is the dream of every politician all over the world. If I were an honourable head of state somewhere, I would not have bothered to show my face on Museveni swearing-in day. No wonder Zimbabwe’s Mugabe was the star man on the occasion in Kololo.

I know some Ugandans have got some kind of beef on Besigye but he still remains the best ‘olive oil’ to fry with at the moment. He has been subjected to a lot of things that even UPC’s Obote never did on Museveni in 1980s. Those who want change have now got a job to convince the Americans that he is the real deal. If they get convinced then we shall see some serious changes in Uganda even if Museveni remains the president for now. I highly doubt that president Museveni is capable of making a mistake to openly give a ‘finger’ to the Americans when they tell him to share power with Besigye. Museveni never jumps unless he is sure there are no thorns on the ground. So when the game is over, he will be the first to know it before most of us. He is not dumb, you know.

Byebyo ebyange

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Will Besigye Travel Today or Not? What is it about Besigye that turns Museveni into this kind of person?

11 May 2011 1 Comment

by semuwemba in FDC, Kampala, Politics

Guys,
I think president Museveni has lost it, completely lost it. He is rattled! He keeps generating headlines for Dr.Besigye nationally and internationally. Besigye has been on BBC,CNN,Aljazeera ‘breaking news’ for a while now. He has been generating headlines in UK newspapers that don’t normally cover African opposition leaders. I hear it is the same in USA. It seems Besigye does not necessarily need to be in Uganda physically to cover Uganda’s front and inside pages of all newspapers. No wonder president Museveni has started threatening the Daily Monitor and Observer for not doing a ‘Newvision’ on Besigye, i.e, help cover for the state instead of balanced reporting. He has been in our international media for the whole of last month, and this is not a bad way to start May 2011 for an opposition leader in Africa, the same month the president is swearing in again as a ‘’new’’ leader. Wow!

President Museveni is slowly but surely turning him into Uganda’s ”Nelson Mandella”. Surely, why would he be threatened by a man who only got about 2.5 million votes in the just concluded elections if the elections were free and fair? What happened to the almost 70% support the president allegedly got?

Sometimes I wonder what it is about Besigye that turns Museveni into this kind of person or rather animal. Something is beyond politics here and I’m yet to put my fingers on it. He makes our president lose even the little tolerance we have known him to have. What is the real deal with these guys because it now looks personal the way Besigye is being handled by the government.

This is beyond politics now! I don’t believe in the Winnie Byanyima crap because women come and go out of our lives, and especially we tend to forget about them after a certain period of time however sweet they were. So that one is out but there must something else here, and I don’t know what it is. Museveni’s gloves and mercy seem to be off as long as the situation involves Besigye, and now it looks like that whoever wants a promotion in the security services and intelligence system should be seen to be squeezing Besigye in one way or the other. No wonder most NRMs were pushing FDC to get someone else to replace him as soon as possible.

Well, you have got to give it to the guy. I thought he was finished after the elections but he now looks even irreplaceable in the FDC. He is too big for anybody to wear his shoes. How this ‘Museveni- Besigye’ film will end, I still don’t know. Bunyoro spokesperson, Mr.Mirima, seems to think that it will end with the current demonstrations but I highly doubt so. I can only envisage something worse and I’m feeling bad already.

I can’t believe Kenyan Airways have also been bullied by the Uganda government not to allow KB to travel back to Uganda in the scheduled time.There were reports earlier this morning that Dr. Besigye, was seen at Jommo Kenyatta airport with his boarding pass in his possession, ready to board, but was asked not to by the Kenya airways officials. Then one of the FDC officials,Anne Mugisha, communicated to us on facebook that ‘’ The Managing Direct KQ has communicated with airport staff in Winnie’s presence that Uganda government has cleared Kizza Besigye to travel back home on any flight he chooses. Winnie says the president’s party will be travelling on KQ410 departing at 7:55am arriving at 9:00am tomorrow May 12, 2011.’’.

As if this confusion was not enough already, we got a big one which was a statement from Kenyan Airways:’’ Kenya Airways would like to confirm to its passengers, customers, investors and the public that Ugandan Opposition Leader Dr. Kizza Besigye is now scheduled to depart on KQ414/11th May departing Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for Entebbe International Airport at 1750hrs.

Dr. Besigye was earlier denied boarding on KQ 410/11th May at 0800hrs following information from Kenya Airways internal intelligence sources that the aircraft would not be allowed to land at the Entebbe International Airport if he was on board. Dr. Besigye thus could not board the aircraft as Kenya Airways had to first ascertain this information without inconveniencing the other passengers destined for Entebbe.

The airline has now confirmed and issued Dr. Besigye and his wife tickets to depart Nairobi this the evening. The airline takes earliest opportunity to apologize to Dr. Besigye for any inconveniences caused.’’

This is all insane! What is annoying is that Mr.Kirunda Kivejinja, the internal affairs minister, has denied this one too, as he did with the hammer and pepper spray on Besigye last month. What happened to the generation of old men speaking the truth in public? I grew up looking at old men that way but I was astonished to watch Kivejinja, Kashaijja and president Museveni( all old men) on YouTube telling lies that Besigye had a hammer and pepper spray in his car and he used it to provoke the police. What has happened to the world? Nobody seems to know. Phewwwwww

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ AND IMMORAL UGANDA POLICE LAWS MUST BE REVIEWED IMMEDIATELY

05 May 2011 7 Comments

by semuwemba in FDC, IPC, Legal issues, media in Uganda, Politics, Riots and genocide, security

Friends,

I’m still disturbed by the events that have unfolded in Uganda this month especially with the way the security officials handled the main opposition leader, Dr. Kiiza Besigye. I’m definitely proud of the people that have been marching in these so called ‘walk to work’ individual demonstrations, very disappointed by the people who turned violent, sad about the damage and death involved, and appalled at the police and army who have been attacking people with tear gas and bullets.

Ever since this happened, we have been washed with a lot of YouTube videos and this is the point where one appreciates technology because Ugandans abroad and those at home are somehow now connected to each other because of this. In some of the videos posted online, I watched the police, totally unprovoked; lob tear gas into groups of men, women and children which was totally unnecessary. Dr.Besigye was also sprayed with teargas by one Gilbert Arinaitwe as if he was spraying cockroaches in a car. It saddens me greatly that our civil right to peaceable assemble and demonstrate against the high food and fuel prices- continue to be violated by the security officials in Uganda.

What we have been seeing since last month is the end result of what happens when a government put profits before people and the planet, a point Mr.Robert Kabushenga,the Newvision boss, vehemently stressed in his recorded interview with the BBC World Service as a justification for tear gassing Besigye’s ears and eyes while in his car. Under the circumstances, one can only hope that the truth about the police record of human rights violations, and environmental devastation gets out to the rest of the world and the ICC does something about it. On this note, we must thank the international media especially the BBC and Aljazeera who have done a wonderful job in exposing all this to the world.

Guns and tear gas are supposed to be for self defence such that they should not be misused by either the police or individuals carrying them. In some states in USA such as California, one can register and get a license to carry tear gas. It basically involves an afternoon class where one learns useful facts about the capabilities and limitations of tear gas in self-defence. One’s right to protect oneself with this type of weapon is in no way infringed by the requirement to be licensed. It also make one feel safer to understand how to best use this type of weapon, what the legal implications are of using it, etc. But I’m wondering whether our security officials are subjected to this kind of training before they go out with tear gas on streets of Kampala and other cities, because from what I saw last month with the Uganda police throwing canisters of tear gas carelessly,it left my head pondering with a lot of questions. Protesters ran as the gas burned their eyes, noses and skin just because they are walking alongside their leaders.

Teargas is virulent and noisome and I’m wondering whether the gas used on Besigye was CS or CN teargas. CN teargas is used when the safety of children is at stake but I hear that some nursery school in Wobulenzi was also not spared with CS gas. CS teargas is not supposed to be used indoors but I hear it was the one used on Besigye inside the car. It is also not supposed to be used to force surrender because it is well known to induce panic in a confined area. Usually, it is CN teargas that is used to bring people out of buildings and cars. The good news for Besigye and his eyes is that I’m sure that they will recover back to normal because CS is less toxic but I were him, I would keep glasses on for future protection against police aggression. I also advice him to keep that ”white thing” around his arm for a long time as a sign of fight for freedom.It’s unfortnate that the government went ahead and repaired his car windows which were smashed because it would have been good for him to keep it that way for a long time for some political capital.All the same, his team should sue the Police for using CS tear gas on him inside the car and for causing bodily damage to him and his car.

What the police in Uganda should know is that everything an officer does is supposed to have merit in the investigation. The police officer is the very first stop in an offender’s long trip through the judicial system. The job of a police officer is to prevent crimes where possible, investigate crimes that have occurred but the job of bringing a suspect to justice lies with the prosecutor and the courts. But I was gobsmacked when I watched some of the videos showing police officers on streets acting as politicians especially one video that showed a cop accusing Besigye of owning a petrol station yet he is demonstrating against high fuel prices.

Some NRM supporters have unsurprisingly come out to defend Arinaitwe’s actions to the extent of saying that he would have been within the law if he had killed Dr.Besiye, but my understanding is that it is not the job of a police officer to kill an unarmed person unless that where they take it. Yes, When the shit hits the fan and a deadly force situation has presented itself, it needs to be ended quickly to protect not only the lives of innocent people, but also the life of the officer, but i have rarely seen these kind of demonstrations in Uganda that warrants any officer to shoot in the head of a two year old baby, as was the case in Masaka last month. It was just sheer luck that nobody was killed during the Arinaitwe-Besigye saga and it wasn’t for the lack of gunmen in uniforms trying. Honestly, Laws should not be in place to make it easier for a police officer to shoot people who not armed with anything such that if we have got such a law in our Police Act, as i have been made to believe, then it should be reviewed immediately.

In the UK where I live, most police men don’t carry rifles for many reasons and not the least of which is the incurred liability that a high powered weapon would cause if it is accidentally used. If one walks around with a gun 24/7, it is so likely to go off just out of panic, and such incidents kill the trust between the civilians and security officials.Civilians are under no obligation to make the job of a police officer easier, nor is the public at large. The solution here is to make sure that police officers don’t enforce unconstitutional and immoral laws, thus giving the public cause to lose all respect and esteem for them. Civilians are not obliged to lay down their rights, including their lives, for the sake of aiding people conduct a job that is largely reprehensible and clearly wrong(especially if the Police Act ,Section 32 and 36, chapter 303, still stands). We want ‘peace officers’ not just ‘law enforcers’.

Police should not expect automatic cooperation from civilians, no matter how objectionable the intrusion into our lives. Gilbert Arinaitwe’s sort appears to feel they are above the rest of us in authority, and by extension, value. As a result, they have made the police to look like a symbol of interference and literal evil yet police officers are supposed to be public servants and people as their bosses. I understand being a cop is a hard and thankless job but you don’t expect people to be so vacuously inane that they would thank you for punching their faces, kicking their ribs in, whether literally or figuratively. How can you possibly think that people would cotton to wholly unreasonable restrictions on their lives, like a simple individual ‘walk to work’ protest to Kampala or Jinja or wherever? Even some of the painfully docile opposition leaders don’t like it and i have seen then making some noise.

Good people don’t’ despise cops or security officials for no reason. Good people don’t want to waste the energy to despise the police. Surely, General Kayihura must understand this. The root cause must be identified immediately, which I have done in general terms above, and corrected. However, when given no choice, they do what they must and that is what Dr.Besigye and others are doing.I’m still hoping of organising a football game between Besigye and Museveni side,if they give me a go ahead, as a way of ending this stampede.

Byebyo ebyange banange

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

http://ugandansatheart.org/

http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/

BESIGYE AND MUSEVENI NEED A FOOTBALL GAME NOW

29 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in Corruption, Economics, Entertainment, FDC, health, IPC, media in Uganda, Politics, security, UPDF

Gilbert Arinaitwe 'punishing' Dr.Besigye's car for moving to Kampala

Dear friends,

Now that calm has temporarily returned to Kampala after some body from ‘’above’’ changed his mind to allow Dr.Besigye to go for treatment in Nairobi, let me try to comment on the most beautiful game called football. My team, Chelsea FC, is out of the Champions League but I couldn’t stop smiling this week on Wednesday when I watched Lionel Messi ”teargassing” the Real Madrid defense in the last minutes. It was a real thriller especially his last goal.I had never seen anything like that since Diego Maradona days. It was a beauty which even brought a smile on Jose Mourinho’s face!

Now, the real question on my mind is that ‘can football be used as a weapon to settle political and economic differences in Uganda too as it has happened in Ivory coast before Gbagbo made a mess of things after clearly losing the election?’’. Let us remember that Ivorian, Didier Drogba, did a lot to bring the two opposing sides together some couple of years ago, by organizing a football game that was played in the country’s capital, and it was attended by both Gbagbo and Quatara. Peace came back into the country and both sides agreed to have an election which Quatara won but Gbagbo refused to concede defeat. The rest is history as they say and I even don’t know where Gbagbo is after watching him on TV caught like a chicken thief by the French forces from his presidential bunker.

Kampala riots on 29/04/11

Nonetheless,with the current riots looking not to end soon in Uganda especially with Museveni swearing that Besigye will never be allowed to walk on foot in Kampala city, it is imperative that we all find a way of bringing the two sides together to find a way forward. So, I suggest that we organize a football game at Namboole stadium and invite both of them to attend. I will be happy to referee the game or be the goal keeper if both sides have got no problem with it and as long as they can meet my flight costs from England. Yes, I’m still annoyed with the way the police and army have inhumanly treated Besigye but , I promise, I won’t give a red card to the NRM side if I’m allowed to referee the game.

Back to the Real Madrid Vs Barcelona game in the champions League, It might not have been beautiful but it was sweeter than the contents of the sugar bowl for those who appreciate Messi’s talent. For me, I think the current Barcelona team is the greatest team in the history of football, and the son of a factory worker and a cleaner remains the world’s best player up to now. I don’t care what Alex Ferguston says about Real Madrid’s Ronaldo Christian because whoever watched that game now knows that Messi is way up there.

Nevertheless, I always ask myself why Uganda have not been able to turn their football into an a big business after years of listening to teams such as Villa FC, Express, KCC and others on our radios. In the UK here, teams such as Aston Villa, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were floated on stock exchanges in 1990s, and they have been realizing considerable profits for the existing shareholders for a long time.Actually, it is fair to say that football became a business model in England officially in the 1990s when I was still doing my O’levels at Kibuli Secondary school. The media industry played and it still does the biggest part in helping the clubs make money out of football.

Football’s profitability is interlocked with that of the media industry here in Europe and it is greatly associated with football celebrities. So the simple business plan I’m giving to Ugandans back home interested in this kind of business, like my OB Kasule Mujib, is that in order for a club to be successful, one needs: to go into partnership with the media, create a celebrity footballer in the country, allow fans to buy shares into the club if the owner hasn’t got enough money and get good coaches. The stadium should also be located in a populated area to target more customers. The only populated area of any size in England where there are no clubs is Cornwall, which has a strong rugby tradition.

The people running football clubs at community level in Uganda should get serious as well. It is so disappointing to hear that the football club we used to watch as kids at Kangulumira is still in the same ‘ill’ shape. Football is a joint business production that requires a lot of clubs for anybody to make money. Instead of people just concentrating on about 6 big clubs we have got in the country right now, they should also find a way of developing the smaller clubs in the rural areas. For instance, The English Premiership was formed by top clubs in 1992 because they wanted a bigger slice of the available revenue, particularly television revenue (which they were able to increase), and a bigger say in how the game was run. All clubs make money regardless of what position they finish under at the end of the season. For instance, Chelsea may finish 2nd this season but there won’t be a bigger difference with Manchester United in terms of TV money shared at the end of the season.

So may be, we should follow this formula too in Uganda and increase the number of clubs involved in the top national league. This system can, in the long run, also help the clubs to identify talent at community or village level. I’m sure there are a lot of boys in villages who are capable of becoming the next ‘Messi if given a chance to develop their talents.

Our government should do everything in its power to help people who intend to invest in football business. I don’t know what the Ministry of Sport and Culture does about this but I have a few suggestions of my own. They could subsidize the costs of stadium construction and maintenance. They could invest money in community led projects especially sports at village level.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

United Kingdom

Mwenda and his Team selectively applied the Kotter’s Model in their Analysis of Besigye’s Performance

13 Mar 2011 3 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Corruption, Economics, FDC, IPC, parliament, Politics

Dear Ugandans,
I like the owner of the Independent Newspaper, Mr.Mwenda Andrew, but as of recent, he has been either soiled in the banana or ‘bogoya’ republic or he has accidentally lost his touch. He nowadays tries so hard to impress those with power yet he used not be that kind of person. Anyway, let me try to use my little time and respond to some of the issues published by his editor, Weere, in his article entitled: ”How Museveni gained 10% and Besigye lost it” , views which Mwenda seems to have supported at Capitalfm political show immediately after the elections.

‘’Did Besigye make Ugandans want a change from Museveni desperately? There are three questions that answer this according to Kotter’s model’’ His paper, the independent, reported or asked.

Kotter’s model is mainly essential in transforming organizations rather than implementing changes or showing the urgency for change. Jick’s tactical ten step model is the one that deals with implementation while General Electric (GE)’s seven-step change acceleration process model deals with showing the urgency for change. I have attached a pictorial version of the Kotter’s model below to this message. Clearly, anybody can manipulate it and make an argument either in favour or against the opposition in Uganda as the Independent did, but im not gonna do what Mwenda and his team did. I’m just gonna show that some of these theories are not applicable in a situation such as Uganda.

Kotter's Model

One of The major lessons from the Kotter Model is that change process goes through a series of phases, each lasting a considerable amount of time. So how does Mwenda expect Besigye to ‘win over outside stakeholders like other opposition leaders, the army, foreign diplomats and governments’ in a specific period of time in a situation , like that in Uganda, which does not allow change to take place any level. The way Uganda is now it is impossible to get rid of Musevenism evenif Museveni died today or lost power in an election.

Mwenda’s team rightly quotes Kotter’s model which explains that Creating short-term wins motivates employees during a long change effort, but he wrongly looks at the short term wins Besigye failed to have as :’’failure to dislodge the Electoral Commission(EC), opposition coalition, et.c. These should not be the short term wins to judge any political leader because all those were not in Besigye’s control. He could not have done more than he did before the elections.In any case, Besigye’s short term wins should be those wins he had in both 2001 and 2006 elections before the 2011 elections. I also think Kotler was particulary looking at managers of organisations who seem to be in control of the situations around them, which was not the case with Besigye. Nevertheless, I think Besigye’s failure to win the youths in elections was his own making, as this was in his control and we pleaded with FDC executive to persuade Besigye to come up with a song that would conteract Museveni’s ‘Mpekoni’, but all in vain. There was some bit of excitement created among Ugandans including myself- by listening to Museveni’s rap.

It seems that “change” is just poorly understood by some people, based on misinformed assumptions or some management theories, poorly executed or all of these. Besigye was expected to meet resistance at all levels of Kottler’s model by trying to bring change to the institutions he does not control. Besigye does not control or appoint the EC, so what better could he have done to get the EC disbanded? What better could he have done which he has not done before to win the army support? What better could he have done than what he did to unite the opposition and bring the Baganda to his side?

There were some people in the population who saw/see the need for change but they don’t want it out of fear and survival. For instance, some Ugandans fear that president Museveni will plunge our country into violence if anybody, other than him, wins an election. As Lewin( 1958) explained change happens if Ch = f(D x V x P) > Co. Change (Ch) takes place if the Dissatisfaction (D) with the status quo, multiplied by a Vision (V) of the future, multiplied by agreed Processes (P) that remove obstacles blocking access to the desired state is greater than the Cost (Co) of change. The way things stand change cannot come to Uganda through so called elections because the ground for free and fair elections is not there at all. There are some countries in East Africa,particulalry Kenya, that have moved a step to better elections because the institution such as the EC are fairy independent.There is nothing like a Kenyan president appointing the head of the EC as is the case in Uganda.Rigging in Kenya might have ended with the Kibaki presidency going by the way the Kenyans have set up their system now.

Therefore, when one deeply analyses all these theories, one finds that Dr.Besigye actually tried to do exactly what the models are telling managers of organizations to do. He could not have done it in any better way. Those criticizing him now have got their own intentions but could not have done better. Most of these management theories are a fallacy when it comes to practice and I normally compare them to love making between a man and woman. Theoretically, everybody has got an idea on what they are supposed to do in the process of lovemaking but practically the results tend to differ among different couples. So, it would not be wise for any of us to go on a blame game just basing on theory without looking at the reality of the situation.

Money in the campaigns

Money is a big factor in any election anywhere in the world. A candidate with money has higher chances of winning the election. The returns from such an investment are undisputable. However, president Museveni clearly used national coffers to campaign and that itself is not only illegal but it is immoral. It was a clear sign that the incumbent was not ready to hand over power and was willing to operate outside the law to achieve his aims. That’s why some of us called this election a ‘remote control’ election where the incumbent was capable of ‘organizing the event, choosing the dancers and master of ceremony’ throughout the process, with the inner knowledge that the situation was favoring him more than his opponents.

Opinion polls

An opinion poll is something that should be taken seriously in any free and fair election. I’m saying ‘free and fair’ because I don’t think this was the case with the just concluded presidential elections in Uganda. For instance, in USA, during the first two years of the Reagan administration, information from opinion polls was discussed in more than half of the senior staff meetings of the White House. Richard Wirthlin, the pollster met with Reagan more than 25 times just to discuss polls.

Actually, almost all USA presidents had their own pollsters: Roosevelt had Cantril, Kennedy had Harris, Johnson had Quayle, Ford had Teeter, Carter had Caddell, Reagan had Wirthlin, while Nixon used most of them. This is because the opinions of the population are something that leaders of the developed nations take seriously before they make any decision.

But in Uganda’s case, with or without opinion polls, president Museveni is not bothered with the opinions of the people of Uganda. For instance, removing presidential term limits was unpopular policy among Ugandans, even within his own party, but he went ahead and removed them. He has been sending our troops to fight on foreign soil regardless of how people feel.

So what is the meaning of holding opinion polls in an environment where the incumbent has got no respect for people’s opinions? So the Afrobarometer polls might have been a reflection of a society that is still caught in fear and survival rather support for president Museveni. Secondly, opinion polls tend to be manipulated by some leaders depending on what they want out of the situation, and they tend to do it differently. For instance, In the 1970s, Harris and Gallup were the giants of the polling industry. Because of their prominence, they attracted Nixon’s interest and became prime candidates for attack and manipulation by the administration. Therefore, I would not be surprised if president Museveni or his team had a hand in the Afrobarometer polls one way or the other, and may be that is why the opposition did not take them seriously and ‘’ buried their head in divisions’ as reported by Andrew Mwenda and his team. Who can blame them, anyway?

The truth is that we shall never know who genuinely won the 2001, 2006 and 2011 elections because the ground for elections was not free and fair. Yes, Uganda is not like Belgium for us to have totally free and fair elections, and this alone is enough for us to discard all arguments made by some people showing that Museveni won the 2011 elections fairer compared to the 2006 elections- just because there was less violence in them. Text-book theories, such as those put forward by Mwenda and his team, are totally inapplicable in this case. We cannot work out the percentage of rigging based on assumptions of violence and nonviolence when the ground for free and fair elections was not there in the first place.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

The ‘Remote Control’ Film Has Ended. Now What is next For Ugandans??

22 Feb 2011 12 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Corruption, FDC, IPC, Politics, Presidency

Dear Ugandans,
Like i Prophesized, the film entitled ‘Remote Control’ (part1) (as far as the presidential elections are concerned) has come to an end. Let us now gather ourselves from our seats, throw away the popcorns in the bins, and do other things instead of sitting in the cinema Hall forever.

I’m a lover of psychology despite the fact that students who solely major in it don’t usually get jobs in the UK where i live. As a way of explaining the psychological input involved in this month’s elections , let us look at some theories, and I would like those who know that this month’s elections were rigged but continue to proudly raise the national flag, to take more notice of the following theories.It is very important that we understand why some people are cheering president Museveni as others are mourning for his presidential win. As they say:’Man can easily disappoint man’.

In around 1900, a certain Russian physiologist called Ivan Pavlov, developed what most people believe was the first scientific explanation of our behaviour. While he was studying the physiology of digestion, he found that his experimental dogs began to salivate every time he entered his laboratory carrying their empty food dishes. He concluded that the dogs had in some way learned an association between seeing the dish and being fed, and were responding to the dish as it contained food. If we are to link this dog behaviour to the behaviour of some voters and supporters of president Museveni, we see a pattern between the money that was spent during these elections and their voting choice. This does not necessarily mean that all those who were bribed with money voted for Museveni or that they are ‘dogs’, but it somehow explains why president Museveni had to use a lot of money to buy off votes. It also explains why voters ‘salivate’ every time they see a politician on a campaign trail.

In otherwords, we have lost a whole population out there whose morals are not different from the ‘dogs’ in the laboratory. Put it flankly, most of the current elites in Kampala are no different from the peasants in the villages. They are more like ‘peasant in suits’ but they wont obviously accept this because they think they are educated with degrees and PHDs. The parliament of Uganda is a typical example of ‘peasants in suits’ who can be bribed with anything from state house and get them to pass anything the president wants without wasting too much saliva.

The operant theory also states that behaviour that is rewarded, or reinforced, will continue or increase in frequency. Behaviour that is punished will reduce in frequency or cease. In the same spirit,the people benefiting from the financial muscles of the NRM government would be less willing to participate in any activity that is going to bring the current government down because this will mean the disappearance of the rewards they get from the government.

It is no surprise; therefore, that corruption has become acceptable in Kampala because those involved in it are not as punished as it should be. For instance, we are so likely never to hear again of the global fund cases against NRM big fish, such as Mike Mukula and Jim Muhwezi, whose hands were caught in the till at some point. Actually, Mukula has bounced back into the next parliament without any scratch and he is gonna proudly represent his people as everything against him seems to have totally gone out of the window.
Going back to the just concluded election, it was intended to show that there is some form of democracy in Uganda despite the irregularities that we have read about, and I think the Kampala regime has already achieved it. As a result, the future of Uganda remains unpredictable, and that is why some of us have got reasons to be worried of what is going to happen next. My hope is that president Museveni takes note of what is happening in North Africa at the moment, and usher in some reforms as soon as possible. Otherthan this, Uganda is a walking timebomb waiting to explode.

As for Dr.Besigye, he has won the respect of many including those in the NRM. He has been saying things which even those in Museveni’s cabinet would not say to his face, yet they needed to be said. Besigye pointed out some of these issues casually without any fear. There are a lot of people both in NRM and opposition who make noise on the outside but when they face president Museveni, they cannot tell him his weaknesses. Besigye is not like that, and we hope that whoever takes over from him will do the same.

Paradoxically, he is the best thing that has ever happened to Uganda politics in the last 10 years. He has played his part and history will judge him as one of the greatest men Uganda has ever had. Nobody in Uganda could have stood up to Museveni casually in the way Besigye did. My worry now is how FDC will hold itself together after Besigye leaves the political scene. He has managed to keep the party together despite being surrounded by mainly‘’moles’’ all the time.

Nonetheless,we should all agree that president Museveni is a very lucky man. May be he has got some Jewish blood in him. For instance, he has openly rigged this election but most Ugandans have already accepted it and moved on. The opposition had a chance of uniting against him and push him out, but then Mao comes in and starts decampaiging the opposition instead of the president; President Museveni has drained the national coffers for NRM campaigns but the EC chairman,Kiggundu, will never seriously ask for accountability and NRM source of funds; e.t.c. The man is just lucky. May be leadership comes from God? May be there is a reason why Allah chose Museveni to be our president?. I dont know. The man is lucky. He seems to get away with everything! May we should just give up and leave the matter in the hands of God.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba</strong

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Uganda Political Parties Should have an Official ‘Transfer Window’ as it is in Football

14 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Corruption, FDC, Obote and UPC, Politics, Sports

Dear readers,

After this year’s presidential elections, I suggest that we probably create a ‘Transfer Window’ which is almost similar to that in football in January and June/July every year, due to increased bribery among politicians and crossing of voters. Fraudulent elections are the signature of governments run by bribery, partisan state institutions, and dominated by secrecy, zealots, party fanatics and corporate thugs. If fraud is the decider of a national election, it is far more serious, and chances are the one who does it most usually wins the elections in Africa.

Transfer of players in both football and politics is simply a money grab. Everything else its proponents say is just window-dressing. It mainly involves the transfer of wealth from the superrich to underclass. For instance, the Fernando Torres joined Chelsea at £50m in this year’s January Transfer window because he was given a better contract than he had at Liverpool. He also claimed that he wanted to win trophies, and he is probably right though this made him look like a ‘Judas Iscariot’ to Liverpool fans. Similarly, some Ugandans have recently moved from other parties without an official ‘transfer window’ to join mainly NRM and FDC. Historically,when UPC was formed in the 1960s, it took a big chunk of DP and Kabaka Yekka(KY) members. In 1980 UPC also lost a big chunk of its members to DP. Some of these included: Dr. Martin Aliker, Professor Yoweri Kyesimira, Dr.Kazungu, Dr.Muzira, Wilson Lutaya, Matia Ngobi, James Kahigiriza,Nekyon, Alex Waibale, and many others who had abandoned the sinking ship with driven by late Captain Dr.Obote.

Wayne Rooney wanted to leave Manchester United last year because of United’s lack of clout in attracting more top players to the club, but he later turned around and signed a new contract with them. Similarly, FDC’s Mubarak Kirunda, the chairman LC3 Jinja Central Division, FDC vice chairman for Busoga region, and head of the Inter-Party Cooperation campaign taskforce in Jinja, was also reportedly planning to cross to NRM after a shs.1b bribe from Salim Saleh, but he has assured the party that he cannot leave because of Shs1 billion. FDC’s Atugonza also reportedly resisted the bribe of shs.1.5 to join NRM. Atugonza behaved like Liverpool’s Stephen Gerald who resisted joining Chelsea FC for £30m some years back despite the astronomical wages he had been promised at Chelsea.

In this election, we have watched some of the veteran politicians in UPC crossing to NRM. For example, I would never have imagined that men like Henry Mayiga, Chris Rwakasisi and Badru Wegulo would be campaigning for Museveni in these elections, but it is happening. We are also noting large numbers of supporters crossing between FDC and NRM from other political parties because the duos are now looked at as the political giants in Uganda. They are more like Chelsea,Manchestry City and Manchester United in the Premiership. I think most of the crossover vote to NRM is people sick of a fragmented opposition where DP looks at IPC or FDC as enemies rather than people working towards the same goal.It can also be because voters look at FDC and NRM as more successful than other parties as in USA where the Indians have recently found that joining a tribe owning a successful casino is one of the pathways out of poverty.

I note that the voting among the crossovers has favored NRM and president Museveni more than anybody else. It seems to me that voters in the Uganda act very differently to voters here in the UK where I currently live.Over here someone may vote Labour in the local elections, Conservative in the general elections and Liberal Democrat in the European elections, for example. People swap and change all the time from one party to another depending on who has the best policies for the job at hand. In USA, Crossover voting has always been common in primary elections though a significant number of voters do crossover in the presidential elections. In Canada there are no bullshit elections. You mark an x in the circle you like it goes in a box and the totals are there and the box can be opened if there is any dispute. The cost is pencil and paper.

What a party like FDC needs now as the ‘transfer window’ remains open indefinitely or unofficially is more diversity so that it stops being perceived as a bunch of mostly westerners. They need to target brilliant young minds in all regions in the country as they have been slowly trying to do since 2004. Instead of having some old lame duck for the next 5 years, a rising star in the party should get a running start in any of the top party positions. For example, one of the reasons why Chelsea FC may not win the league this season is because they have got a lot of old players in their first team whose average age is in approximately 29. Young people should be recruited for the right reasons and not just to use them to fight unnecessary political battles as NRM is doing. NRM are predators, who lie to young people and manipulate their economic situation in order to drag them away from the things they have grown up knowing, such as their belief in Kabakaship or other traditions.

However, with the current wave of people power or empowerment that started in Tunisia and Egypt, the NRM belief that they were going to be in power till when Jesus comes back is thankfully coming to an end. Everybody all over the world has started to realize that oppressing the masses is not an indefinite sustainable formula to staying in power. These protests are from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, s/he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope among the population. It started with those men who fought for African independence and it is continuing with men who are now standing against the current African dictators.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

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NewVision Plagiarized The FDC Manifesto Story to Benefit Museveni

21 Jan 2011 11 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, IPC, media in Uganda, Politics

Dear friends,

The issue of FDC ‘copying’ the UK conservative party manifesto was first raised by one Mubatsi Asinja Habati in the Independent Newspaper on Tuesday, 16 November 2010, but I was surprised to see the Newvision putting it at their front page recently as breaking news yet it’s not. For some reason, the Newvision did not acknowledge that they picked the tab from the Independent Newspaper .In other words, they plagiarized the story which they claim to be their own, but unfortunately they are also accusing FDC of plagiarism because the story benefits a certain candidate.Because the story was on Newvision front page, it has been picked up by some papers in the UK and now it has turned into some international headline, but why all the fuss?

FDC and the Conservatives in the UK have got a special relationship together. They are, in other words, ‘friends’ and aim to change things in Uganda for the better. So I would not be surprised that if consultations were made between the two parties before the FDC manifesto was drafted. So let’s enjoy some similarities in the manifestos as long as they benefit the common man in Uganda.

As someone who lives in a democracy, like UK, I know that manifestos don’t really matter that much howevermuch we pretend otherwise. It’s more of a piece of paper than anything else which most politicians throw away after the elections. For instance, as I assume some of you already know, there were several things that were promised by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats before they got into power, but the coalition government has turned around and thrown them in the bin.Even the government’s White Paper released in Novemeber 2010 is more confusing than anything else, because few people know exactly what it means.

Secondly, I’m surprised that some supporters of UPC are talking about plagiarizing of manifestos and national programs when it’s believed that all Obote 1 policies were ideas got from somewhere else. His National Development policy that included building referral hospitals all over the country was a product of the British Development plan left behind before they handed over to him, but UPC normally gives itself 100% credit. Obote also copied a lot of policies from Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Nyerere and India, but Ugandans are not complaining,afterall, we benefited from their implementation.

The truth is that everybody copies everybody one way or the other, and there are several examples i can cite here:NRM copied Besigye’s removal of graduated tax policy after the 2006 elections but they have not acknowledged it up to now;Hitler was strongly influenced by Fascism in Italy and copying Mussolini or the Duce, he took the title of Fuhrer; Clinton accused Bush Junior of copying his speeches in 1992;Obama was accused of writing a thesis at university that is similar to the communist’s manifesto. So basically he was accused of copying Marx in some education circles. Karl Marx is known as the father of Communism and he’s the author of The Communist Manifesto too!

All the finest manifestos that the human brain can devise, all the high-flown theories that are flying around in the manifestos of the 8 presidential candidates today have mostly been copied somewhere but they probably won’t tell you.DP, for instance, did not have any original ideas that I am aware of before the elections such that I remember reading on facebook when Mao was in USA and he was telling us that he intended hiring a white/’muzungu’ friend to come and write his manifesto. DP has been involved in internal conflicts for most part of pre-election period.

By the way, I’m starting to think that Mao is not even a bona fide intellectual as he is made out to be (granted this is a very subjective and meaningless term), but stuff like composing a song against Besigye, have made him look like he is not the sharpest tool in the shade.DP had a scaled down version of federalism that was advertised in the 1980s but CP were better at this front, but could we say now that all the 6 candidates that have adopted federalism as a policy in their manifestos are copying CP.

The key here is ‘implementation’ not ‘copying’ manifestos, becase as long as what is copied benefits Ugandans in the end, we should not complain. Otherwise, we risk turning ourselves into full time wingers. If you do your research about manifestos, you will find that almost all the eight candidates have got almost similar manifestos. Six of the presidential candidates have all promised federalism apart from obviously NRM and probably UPC.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

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Tunisia May Not Happen In Uganda Sooner.

19 Jan 2011 2 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Africa, FDC, Politics

What happened in Tunisia will not happen in Uganda sooner. Most of the elites and the youths in our country, who would probably champion this kind of thing, are what I call’ background noise’. They make noise at the background but are never interested in any form of action. Even simple things, like raising funds for a political cause or participating in political debates, fail at their inception because there is total lack of commitment from the elites of today in our country and abroad.

Secondly, We have allowed the government to pander to most of the new kids born under NRM, encouraging them to believe that they don’t really have to change leaders just because Museveni is a great leader, a hero, to be precise — that they can just go on living the same way they have been living as if NRM has got a Godly mandate to lead Uganda. For example, president Museveni has recruited a lot of young people into his NRM ideologue such that they are those who are willing to die for him. They have been instituted into banks, businesses,statehouse, and other state apparatuses, and the real purpose of all this aid is to support the government’s massive political oppression of the Ugandan people. One of president Museveni’s prime targets have lways been the young, just as they were with the Nazis and the Hitler Youth Movement. I know a few young men I studied with at Kibuli S.S who have alot of potential but are now singing ‘Long Live Museveni’, and they look at guys like us as ‘people who don’t know what we want’. Few young people can see through this humdrum ruse, and it is likely to continue for some years.

We have reached a point whereby changing a government in Uganda, in the same way as it happened in Tunisia, will only destroy everything that we hold dear. A revolution in Uganda would likely create another dictatorship if it happens now. For instance, Napoleon was lucky to be born in the enlightened age of the French Revolution, but he took a good thing, a people’s revolution, and corrupted it for the neocons of his time. I can see a similar sort of thing happening in Uganda again as it happened with the coming of NRM in 1986 after kicking out dictator Obote.

NRM is the product of UPC evolution, not revolution, and it in itself is less dynamic and changing. I say it is evolution, because no matter what highly structured economic and political system was set up, it eventually all comes down to one entity exchanging something of value with another entity. The Uganda people’s problems are so deep that it would take a miracle from God to solve them. Religions and tribes, for instance, have divided us more under NRM than any other time after independence.We dont even have a national language as everybody prefers to speak their own.

Tunisia, on the other hand, is a typical Islamic state – the constitution mandates Islam as the official religion and no other religious parties are allowed -effectively banning other religions. 98.9% of the population are Sunni Muslims , not even Sufis are welcome. So religion is a big factor that can easily unite them for any cause.

Nevertheless, the ouster of Tunisian President, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, is the clearest indication that change is coming to most of the Arab and African states.What happened in Tunisia started in December when a 26-year-old fruit seller set himself on fire to protest mistreatment by police. Nobody envisaged that it will lead to the overthrow of government. We have already seen demonstrations and riots in Egypt, Algeria, Uganda and Jordan in the last couple of years. So something is happening but nobody knows how it will end in Uganda if we are to have riots or demonstrations again.

First, any sort of sudden revolutionary spasm will be triggered by a spark. It will be one instance, seemingly trivial and lost in a sea of abuses and injustices. And chances are it is likely to start from Buganda before it spreads to other parts of the country, going by the current tension between Mengo and the central government.It will be like that incident in US drama, ”Prison Break”, where prisoners riot and the female doctor, Sarah, was still stuck in the prison premises. I remember some black guy saying something like:’it is coming off puppy”, while pointing at the female doctor. Let me hope that Museveni wont be the female doctor when it is ”coming off”, if it ever ”comes off”.

Abbey

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NRM has beaten the opposition in the ‘’rigging’’ game again

12 Jan 2011 6 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Corruption, FDC, international, IPC, parliament, Politics

Dear friends,

So the NRMs are up to their old tricks once again. In the face of near-certain defeat in the parliamentary race in some regions especially in Mbale and western Uganda, they have reportedly managed to convince or rather bribe some FDC candidates, to drop out of the race which is so sad for democracy in Uganda. Most Ugandans I have spoken are resigned to the fact that these elections are a already a sham because they wont produce a proper outcome. An election with only one viable candidate is not the ideal situation in a democracy, and I think NRM prefers to only compete with itself than anybody else. In other words, these bribery allegations portray NRM as a party that fears free and fair elections. Certainly a competitive election is more desirable than a non-competitive one, all things being equal, but NRM has ensured that Ugandans don’t get this feeling as long as they are in power supported by the state apparatus.

I know FDC have gone into a debate with the Electoral Commission over the legality of withdraw of a candidate but my understanding is that the law as it stands favours the NRM tricks , and a candidate that has dropped out cannot be replaced since the deadline has passed. Nevertheless; since our parliament is very good at passing emergency bills during election time, such as the controversial traditional leaders’ bill that president wants passed before the end of these elections, they should in the same spirit find a way of legislating against this bad spirited move by the NRM that involves threatening and bribing opposition candidates to withdraw from the race. The electoral law should be amended such that withdraw is only acceptable in case of the death or incapacitation of the candidate, for example, or perhaps the candidate’s withdrawal due to the grave injury or death of a parent, spouse, or child, or some other traumatic personal event.

Either way, I can see the FDC ending up with a short end of the stick because the Electoral Commission seems to unanimously agree that these sleight-of-hand tactics by NRM officials pass legal muster, despite the ethics and morals involved in an election.

So once again, the NRMs have managed to flagrantly find a loophole in the electoral laws which they have used to their advantage. The only possible candidate who has so far reportedly managed to resist their bribery tactics is Mr.Francis Atugonza who was allegedly offered shs.1.5b to withdraw from the race by one of president Museveni’s son’s in laws, and he turned it down. What a rare bird because I cannot see so many people in Uganda turning down that kind of money in the name of democracy! I can bet that there are even some in the opposition who are wondering whether Atungonza is really insane or not!

By the way, these cunning methods have happened before elsewhere in the world and I’m blaming the legislators and the opposition not to have foresighted this in advance such that they bloke this loophole in time before the elections. For example, in 2005 USA west Virginia elections, Thomas Esposito withdrew from the race citing the ill-health of his mother-in law but the real reasons surfaced later showing that his candidature had been planted by the FBI to help find evidence of vote-buying in Southern West Virginia.

In 2004 Afghan presidential elections, the Los Angeles Times reported that some presidential candidates in the race against Karzai were requested by the then US ambassador to withdraw from the race, with attempts to bribe them with cabinet positions.

However, the real questions we should ask ourselves are: how did we reach this level? How did we let NRM become a party full of crafty people ready to pervert the democratic process, and not only get away with it but come up smelling like roses? How do they manage to use tax payers’ money to do anything they want as if they own everybody in Uganda? How do they get people to give them a pass for tactics which should have been despised by every sane voter in Uganda? The sad note here is that NRM has beaten the opposition in the ‘’rigging’’ game again as we wait for more withdraws from the opposition before the end of the elections.

Byebyo ebyange

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

UK

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Besigye’s ”Bush” Comments didn’t Break Medical Ethics

07 Jan 2011 1 Comment

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, IPC, Politics

Friends,

The recent comments attributed to Dr. Besigye that he regrets treating Museveni while they were in the bush fighting to liberate our country, have been blown out of proportion by both the NRM and DP(Mao) supporters. Medical ethics have been violated internationally by countries such as Israel when they deny medical personnel a chance to treat the wounded Palestinians in battle. Israel is known to attack medical personnel and damage medical facilities in its battles with the Arabs but nothing has been seriously done even by UN.

On the other hand, Dr.Besigye lived up to his code of ethics and a professional obligation to care for NRM patients while in Luwero bushes in 1980s. Museveni was among these patients he looked after them very well. If he had refused to treat Museveni while in the bush, then his ethical conduct should be questioned.

His comments on campaigns , therefore, are political and were said in a political spectrum, and therefore have got nothing to do with his profession as a doctor. The laws of politics defer to medical ethics. There is no evidence of systemic problems in the medical care Dr.Besigye gave to Museveni before they became political opponents.

Besigye has not participated in the abuse of medical information as far as Museveni’s health is concerned.He has not told us that Museveni was infected with diseases A and C while in the bush. The only time when he almost lost it is when his former patient who is now the incumbent, Museveni Yoweri, ‘diagnosed’ him with HIV during the 2001 elections, and the doctor demanded that they both go for blood tests. But nobody called Museveni’s political ethics into question at that time for reasons best known to themselves.

It is kind of startling that some NRM and DP (Mao) supporters are making a meal out of Besigye’s comments instead of blaming the man who has presided over a collapsing health care system in the country for the last 25 years. In effect, they are telling us that medical ethics don’t apply to poor people in Uganda who can’t be treated because they don’t have money due to the poverty brought by this government. Norbert Mao himself who started making these accusations against Besigye before he was joined, as expected, by his NRM band wagons, has a personal interest in Besigye’s campaigns, and can’t claim to be objective on the issue. He’s just motivated by his own selfish needs, which is fine, but he is not expected to claim that he’s any sort of expert on medical ethics.

So I suggest that we don’t waste the time of the medical ethical panels in Kampala since the person who created this situation in the first place is the one in power. He is the one that started the politics of abusing opposition leaders and all sorts of bad characters. The Electoral Commission and human rights organizations should investigate his political ethics instead of wasting time on a doctor who turned into a politician.I even doubt whether Besigye has tried to practice Medicine again ever since he left the NRM government as he is known to have last been a full time medical doctor while at Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, before he joined the then NRA rebels in 1980s.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

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”FDC was denied Licences to Start up its own Newspaper and Radio”,Reveals Salam Musumba while in the UK

01 Jan 2011 2 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, IPC, media in Uganda, Politics

Dear Ugandans,

Happy New Year! I have spent my first day in 2011 listening mainly to radio stations in and outside Uganda. The political show that caught my breath was the one at London based online radio, Ngoma, which was hosting FDC deputy president, Salam Musumba. All my life, I have been watching Mrs. Musumba on TV and YouTube, and she has always come across as a noisy lady, but I was astonished with her humbleness while answering questions on this radio. I don’t know whether this was her New Year resolution or it was because her in-laws were beside her while she was on air.
musumba salamu of FDC

Nevertheless, she talked about different important issues that I feel I should summarily share with the rest of Ugandans that missed the program. Musumba revealed that FDC applied for licenses to start their own newspaper and radio station but the government turned them down.

When asked about how she juggles between being a deputy FDC president and wife to an NRM minister, she said that marriage does not mean that husband and wife have to support the same political party, an issue she finds it easy to explain to elites in Kampala and the people of Busoga who voted her as their MP in Bugaluba South -very well knowing that she in the opposition and her husband is in the NRM. She also revealed that her husband has started being frustrated with the NRM leaders as they intentionally rigged him out in the NRM primaries. In effect, this means that Mr. Musumba is standing as an independent in his constituency in Busoga.

Salaam also told listeners that president Museveni is primarily responsible for the controversial Traditional leaders Bill as he is working around the clock to make sure that it is passed by the parliament.

Regarding accusations that FDC is a party for Banyankole and non-Baganda, Salaam told us that it’s not true because the party has got a lot of Baganda in very responsible positions. She said that this rumor was started by Honourables : Beti Kamya and Nabillah Nagayi, and she accused the duo of being ‘spies’ in the party. She said she is reliably informed that Kamya and Nabillah were sent to intentionally disorganize the party and target the party secretary General, Alice Alaso. She complimented Alaso for doing a fantastic job especially when it comes to keeping party secrets.

Regarding the jiggers in Busoga, she acknowledged that she and others let down the people of Busoga in providing leadership to this problem, but she added that jiggers is one of the symptoms of the bigger problems in Busoga. So she reportedly promised that she’s going to use her position to fight the causes of problems in Busoga rather than the symptoms. She said that she is not going to do what Honourable Kadagga did by parading the jigger sufferers in front of the press cameras, washing their infected feet with water. She said that it was very cheap of the deputy speaker of parliament to look for publicity in this way.

She asked Basoga to blame the NRM leaders that killed people organizations such as: Busoga Growers Union, Busoga Diocese and the Kyabazinga, that could have been useful in developing the locals at the grassroots. In the same message, Salaam said that Busoga does not have a traditional leader up to now because president Museveni hijacked the issue instead of helping the Basoga to install the legitimate leader, Gabula Nadiope 1V. Gabulla’s grandfather was the fourth vice president of Uganda in 1962 when Uganda got independence.

It was also revealed that the death of leaders in Busoga such as Namiti, rendered Busoga to a lot of NRM interference. Namiti died as soon as he was released from Luzira prison, a trend that has been seen with some opposition politicians recently. She said that the government has successfully weakened the traditional systems in Busoga such that the same efforts are now being tactically deployed to weaken the Buganda kingdom.

When asked how FDC/IPC are going to protect their votes in this election, Musumba said that they have got a lot of means they have come up with but she was not going to reveal them to anybody, because NRM will know and render them useless. She, however, revealed that IPC is planning to put 19 strong men and women on every gazetted polling station in Uganda to protect their votes.

She concluded the debate by requesting Ugandans abroad to contribute to the FDC/ IPC cause financially. The following were the bank details she left behind for those wishing to deposit money on any Barclays Bank Branch near them: Account Number: 23527603 and sort code:202065. My feeling is that this is the FDC account in the UK which makes it just perfect for those abroad who wish to contribute.

All in all, it was a beautiful debate with a lot of Ugandans calling in. I enjoyed it and now I’m sharing it with others. I tried to call in to contribute but the phones were to busy.

Byebyo banange

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

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Kinkizi Radio and other FMs are Breaking the Law by banning the Besigye Adverts

15 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Corruption, FDC, Legal issues, Politics, Presidency, Tribalism

Dear readers,

I rarely watch TV or listen to radios unless if there is a football match on but I normally compensate this by watching a lot of Uganda music during my leisure time ,which I find more entertaining than even UK’s X-factor or TV shows. However, I was appalled by the report in newspapers recently that indicated that nine radio stations in Uganda had so far refused to run FDC’s campaign adverts because the stations are owned by NRM ”big boys”.

The banning of Besigye radio adverts on some private Fm Stations has been a typical NRM character since 1990s, and in all fairness, it shouldn’t be part of us anymore as a growing democracy. As some of you may be aware, 1n 1993, the government stopped government offices from giving any advertisement business to the Monitor newspaper, just because they wanted to run it down, which some in the NRM call ‘dying naturally due to mismanagement’. The monitor lost about 70% of its advertisement revenue till when this decision was reversed in 1997. So this business of saying its ‘free will’ for those stations that ban Besigye adverts is a non- starter. We should encourage radio owners to contribute to the fairness of these elections by according the two biggest candidates the same level of exposure to the voters as much as possible. There is no harm in this as long as they are not breaking any laws in the process.

Radio discrimination by private owners has got no place in a proper democracy. There are certain standards expected of private radio owners, and therefore what Amama Mbabazi’s Kinkizi fm and others are doing is proper discrimination. It’s like opening up a private shop and deciding to sell goods only to a certain tribe as the Asians reportedly used to do before Amin expelled them in early 1970s.

All these forms of discriminations by private enterprises should not appear to be promoted by the political elites in our country as is the case with Ofwono Opondo doing exactly this in an NTV YouTube video released a few days ago . To my surprise, the chairman of the Electoral Commission,Dr.Badru Kiggundu, who is always assumed to be on the government side, appears to be also disagreeing with what these private stations are doing. The fact is that we should cherish and guard the right of free speech in Uganda. We know NRM does not love it when they put up with people saying things they absolutely deplore but we must always be willing to defend people’s right to say things we deplore to the ultimate degree. That is the way forward!

In USA, they have got the ”fairness doctrine” introduced I believe in 1940s and it requires broadcasters to cover important controversial issues and to provide an opportunity for contrasting views on those issues. The rules state that radio or TV stations that sell air time to a political advocate must give free air time to an opponent to respond. This was rectified by the ”Cullman Doctrine” in 1960s which holds that a station broadcasting a sponsored advertisement or program on one side of a controversial issue thereafter may not refuse to present the opposing viewpoint merely because the station could not obtain paid sponsorship for the opposition presentation. The Americans have also got the ‘equal time’ rule which requires radios and TVs to give equal time to qualified candidates for public office.

What Ofwono Opondo was talking about in the video of radios or newspapers endorsing candidates in developed nations, is true, but it has got no relevance to the radio discrimination going on in Uganda at the moment. By the way, even newspapers that have endorsed candidates are required by law to give space to the opposing views in these countries. For instance, in the UK here, the Daily Mail is a known Conservative newspaper but it always finds space for the Labour candidates because the law requires them to do so. Please, Let us stop promoting wrong things because Uganda does not end in 2011. President Museveni will one day be history but Uganda will remain.

Finally, the state should start taking their Access to Information Act (2005) seriously to help bridge the gap between the government and Ugandans. Any information from government and non-governmental organisations should be made public to avoid more surprises. This encourages openness and transparency in public institutions. For instance, here in the UK, we have got the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 1998 under the office of the Information Commissioner who reports directly to the parliament, and it is helping everybody. I have got as much right to know how any ministry is being run as anybody else in the country. Of course, they are some exemptions, but most of this information is not concealed to anybody in the UK. This should be the same in Uganda as it will also help in reducing the levels of corruption in the state system.There is no point carrying out all this public enquiries into the deaths of big personalities and now we are doing the same with the burning of the Kasubi tombs issue, but the public never gets to know what is found out. We should have transparency in government dealings everywhere or we gonna have an ‘American Assange’ in Uganda doing a wikileaks for us one day.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

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Being a former Student Leader does not necessarily make one a presidential material

30 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, Africa, FDC, IPC, Museveni and NRM, Politics, Presidency

Dear readers,

We will never know if FDC’s Kiiza Besigye lost or won the 2001 and 2006 elections because of the rigging that was reportedly involved in both elections. This rigging is partly mentioned in Dr.Kobusingye’s book: ‘The Correct Line’. So it’s unfair for one to justifiably determine Besigye’s failure in politics basing on the elections that were reportedly rigged unless if some people wanted him to fight his way to the top, just like Museveni did, by waging a war against the government. But then again, the same voices would end up accusing Besigye of ascending to power using primitive means of violence. So what do these people exactly want, a conference room and aeroplane politician, like Mao, or the guy who bends it like Beckham, such as Besigye?

Some Mao supporters have also been telling us that he was born a leader and that’s why he has a story to tell, and that it was not by mistake that he was Head prefect at Namiryango and later on, the guild president at Makerere University. But the fact is that Norbert Mao’s story in leadership is one of those that can send anyone to sleep because it does not really involve anything extra ordinary. First, anyone with sheer luck can easily become a guild at Makerere University or MP in Uganda. It’s not rocket science or such a huge responsibility as exemplified by some of the sleeping MPs in the parliament. With due respect to our MPs, I think so many Ugandans are probably more qualified to be MPs in that parliament than the ladies and gentlemen there. So I don’t think there is any big deal there as far as Mao’s CV is concerned. He only became Gulu chairman with the help of FDC and UPC but he is probably too arrogant to publicly admit it.

If presidents were picked based on their prior performances as student leaders, then we would have had many of those in Uganda. Uganda got its independence in 1962 and we have had more than six presidents but none of those were guild presidents,partly because student politics tend to be totally different from the national politics. So I was amazed to watch Mao on YouTube making this a big deal in one of his rallies as if he won some sort of a lotto by having one leg over late Mayombo while still at the university.

Mao’s guild presidency story at Makerere University is more of a fable than anything else. I don’t know of many student leaders that have made it to the top office just because they were student leaders. More importantly, I don’t know of any great leaders of the world that became so because there were student leaders prior to that. At least, I know George Washington,Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Churchhill, Nyerere Julius, Mandela Nelson, Kenyata, Obote Milton, Sir Edward Mutesa, Kwame Nkrumah, Fidel Castro, Gadaffi(Libya) and others in that category were not some university student leaders. Bill Clinton was a student leader and musician in primary and high schools but I don’t remember watching a video of him on TV telling people: ‘you see me here, I defeated MN at university elections when a few people expected it and now I want to make KB and YM history’’.Nyerere founded a group to bring together TZ students at Makerere University but I don’t think he went around singing about it when campaigning at rallies in Tanzania, and I’m sure he made it to the presidency because voters looked at other things other than his student involvement at MUK or Edinburgh universities

Jan Bubenik was a student leader during the Velvet Revolution but he did not make it very far in Czech politics.

Li Lu was a student leader who later turned himself into a politician and an activist after going to exile in USA, but that did not bring him anywhere near the presidency or prime ministerial offices in China. Actually, after going into exile, he only managed to sneak back into the country this year in September, under the wings of US billionaire, Buffet, for the Chinese car manufacturer annual business meeting in Shenzhen. The government saw no need to arrest him since he was bringing them business and profits instead of politics. Li is actually spending most of his energy in business and working closely with Buffet instead of wasting time with Beijing politics. He has tried to make peace with Beijing after realising that some times dogs can only be chased by fellow dogs, something which will take some DP supporters a long time to understand.

Another famous former student leader in USA called, Sam Brown, was only very instrumental in helping one of the Democratic presidential candidates, Kerry, in raising funds in California in 2004 but he never became a president. He also served in Carter and Clinton administrations.

In France, there was Daniel Cohn-Bendit who was a student leader of the May 1968 student protests in Paris. The best he could become was an MP for some party but not the presidency.

In Britain where I live, Margaret Thatcher was the only student leader who made it to the Downing Street as PM but Labour’s Charles Clarke looks like he will never be anything bigger than a cabinet minister in politics despite his endless campaigns on TV against Gordon Brown when he was prime minister.

In Iraq, Iyad Allawi was a student leader in Britain in 1960s and he only became a PM because of his connections to CIA and M16.He established these links when he started opposing Sadam Hussein.

As for his being Head prefect, Mao should not be mentioning this on rallies too because there are lots of head prefects I know who are now grassing. Actually, these things of ‘head prefect’ or whatever don’t really matter that much or determine anybody’s future prospects or potential. President Museveni was reportedly one of the bumless and unrecognisable boys at Ntare Sec School -constantly involved in political debates but he is now our president. Late Obote was a university drop out but he died being called a president and a doctor. Sematimba peter is a school drop out but he may become our city mayor if Lukwago and Mbaike don’t sort things out.

So ,it would only be reasonable if Mao stops wasting time attacking Besigye because he is not going to become anything bigger than Besigye, at least not in the next 15 years, unless if he later decides to join NRM.

Byebyo ebyange
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

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IPC & DP Should Not Dump Weak Candidates on Ugandans

11 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, IPC, Politics, Presidency

Dear readers,

We should applaud DP for withdrawing their candidate, J.B.Kakooza for mayoral elections but if rumours that they intend to back Mike Mabike over Erias Lukwago are true then we are back to square one. DP is not doing this in good faith if it’s true. They are just trying to punish Erias Lukwago for going AWOL on Mbale’s Mao but things may not work in their favour and this should not worry anybody supporting Lukwago for mayor because all indications are that the mainstream DP (MAO) has lost control of its supporters. So under the circumstances, DP supporters will support the best man for the job who happens to be Erias Lukwago.

Nevertheless, we hope that DP go an extra mile and do the same elsewhere in elections like they have done with the Kampala mayoral elections. For instance, Mao should also stand down for Besigye as soon as possible because this ”mix-up” in the opposition does not make sense to a lot of people I have spoken to so far. It is obvious that Besigye is a stronger candidate than Mao in this race such that if they work together, they are in position to pull this thing off, at least on a paper.

Personally, I’m getting fed up with having a lot of political parties in the country because they tend to misrepresent what voters want. The IPC or any other political party will be making a big mistake to endorse Mabike for Mayor because I’m sure that’s not what the majority of Kampalans want. In a book called ‘The Politics of the Real World” by Jacobs(1996), some organisations in the UK expressed dissatisfaction with the formal political system or main stream political parties because they seemed to be out of touch with what people wanted. As such they formed their own organisation in that year (1996) which they called ‘The Real World Coalition’. This was an alliance of over 40 national and international civic bodies, charities, NGOs, and agencies, covering issues such as poverty, community, economics, environment, pollution and development.

So, similarly, we would not be surprised if Ugandans start losing faith in certain political parties and start their own organisations that will fight for what they want. The formation of Ssubi was a starting point in that direction. We expect to see groups such as the businessmen or traders in Kampala forming organisations that will end up turning political. In all honesty, why should we allow IPC or DP-Mao to tell Ugandans to vote for Mabike yet there is a better alternative to him. I therefore ask the supporters of Lukwago to go ahead and form organisations that will help him become a mayor if the IPC goes ahead and endorses a weaker candidate.

As a certain writer called Boulding wrote in his book:” Three Faces of Power”, power is the ability to influence the behaviour of others in a manner not of their choosing”. This is exactly what some leaders in the IPC and DP are doing as far as dumping Mabike on us is concerned but Ugandans should not allow it. If Mabike’s SDP decide to quit the IPC as they are threatening, it will affect their leader more than anybody else because it means IPC have to nominate a candidate against him in Makindye, something which will affect everybody in the process. Mabike will not like it to campaign against almost three strong candidates from DP, IPC, and NRM. He needs to think this through before he makes any further threats. Life does not end with becoming the Mayor of Kampala. He should look at the bigger picture here instead of blackmailing the IPC leaders.

We should also accept that Mao is equally matching Besigye in terms of the number of supporters abroad, if we are to believe the online polls done so far. So why can’t they work together if their intention is to represent what majority of Ugandans want?

Some in DP are deluded that there would be a rerun in these presidential elections but they are bound to be surprised because I can’t see it happening. It has not happened before and it is not going to happen this time. In Museveni’s Uganda, it’s either a Museveni win in the 1st around or he finds a way to remain the president.

As for Besigye, he is serving his last term as FDC president or presidential candidate. I’m sure that he won’t tamper with the party constitution at the end of his term and he will set a precedent in Uganda politics which we have not seen for a long time. So Ugandans should support him for his last term by persuading all the other candidates to stand down. If the likes of Mao and Otunu continue being in this race and they don’t want to listen to our cries of cooperation, and then by December Ugandans should be told to shun them and vote for someone who has higher chances of beating the incumbent.

–
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Blogs:

http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/

http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/

http://ekitibwakyabuganda.wordpress.com/

http://ugandamuslims.wordpress.com/

”We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.” (Hillary Clinton, 1993)

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‘The Correct Line’ Is An Eye Opener To All Ugandans

06 Nov 2010 9 Comments

by semuwemba in 2010-2011 elections, FDC, Legal issues, media in Uganda, Politics

Dr. Olive Kobusingye is Dr. Besigye's Sister

Dear Ugandans,

It took me just six hours to finish reading Olive Kobusingye’s ‘The Correct Line’, and I wonder what the fuss over the book was all about when it was impounded at Entebbe Airport by the state. There is nothing in the book that was not already known to the public apart from the fact that it may be helpful to people who are still bathed in Musevenism and anti-Besigyesm.

Safe Houses
I was mostly touched by three chapters and one them was Chapter 9 which talks about ‘safe houses’ and how people are treated while in such places. It can make one very angry and at the same time so disappointed with the current government. The kind of inhuman treatment people are subjected to; speak volumes of the Nazism embedded in African politics in general. How can any human being subject another human being to such appalling level of torture just because one has been ordered to do so? The case that particularly drove me almost to tears was that of a lady called Kesanyu who ended up with pus coming out of her private parts while in a ‘safe house’, simply because she was a Besigye supporter in elections in Rukungiri and therefore someone arrested her on tramped up charges. Her story is so touching such that one can only find it in one of those nasty films we normally watch on TV.

Elections
Chapter 11 is another one that needs to be read by anybody who thinks that Besigye merely lost the 2001 and 2006 elections and, therefore, does not deserve another shot at the presidency. In this chapter, Olive acknowledges the role played by Beti Kamya in Reform Agenda in 2001-2004. The ordeal the Besigye family has gone through is also mentioned again, particularly on how they were all forced into exile at some point; how Khidu Mukubuya misused his position as Attorney General to try to keep Besigye’s face off the 2006 ballot papers; but most importantly the chapter shows how the 2006 elections were rigged.

Basically, Dr.Kiggundu Commission produced its own results in 2006 according to this book and as of now, I have lost total respect the EC Chairnman. How can any principled man remain in that position after what the world witnessed in 2006? It’s disgusting and hurting at the same time. No wonder some people I know are not going to waste time voting in these elections.

Death of Besigye’s brother
Chapter 15 will make anybody feel for the Besigyes or Kifefes as Dr.Olive Kobusingye describes the ordeal her kid brother, Musasizi, went through in prison before his death. There is a particular statement in this chapter that caught my eye and it goes like:’ anyone who wanted to know what it was like to oppose Museveni need never wonder. And having a young brother die in this manner seemed so much a part of that wretched role’.

The Besigye family don’t know me but let me hope that it’s not too late for me to send my condolences to Dr.Olive, Catherine ( Musasizi’s wife) and her family. Where is the humanity left in our leaders today after this experience? I’m also so disappointed in the professionals at Mulago who kept refusing to write a medical report such that Besigye’s brother could get bail and possibly better treatment. They left him to the dogs and it was so sad.

Media and Elections
The Newvision has always been pro-Museveni and this is not going to change in this year’s presidential elections. But I suspect that they will try to give fair coverage in these elections to ‘state friendly’ candidates such as Mao, Bidandi and Kamya whose message has been anti-Besigye and IPC even before the campaigns kicked off.
According to Kobusingye’s ‘The Correct Line’, The Newvision got their story wrong on Okwir Rabwoni’s defection to the the Museveni camp during the 2001 elections. This story itself simply shows that Newvision are always used by the incumbent as a PR machine. According to Kobusingye, it seems Ameria Kyambadde and General Tinyenfunza were the brains behind the Okwir Rwaboni defection story such that she(America) was disappointed when Rwaboni did not show up at a youth conference at Ranch on Lake Side Hotel. Newvision had already gone with the front page about Rwabwoni’s defection to the Museveni camp yet he (Rwaboni) spent the night at Kiza Besigye’s house dining with their family.

Tramped up charges
Lastly, I request Ugandans not to believe so much what you read in papers, particularly the Newvision and Bukedde. Some of these papers are used to stitch up the opposition activists or candidates .Some of these stories are meant to make someone look too bad which I find to be the lowest point of journalism in our country.

For instance, according to Kobusingye’s ‘The Correct Line’, two members of parliament from Northern Uganda were arrested and put in prison over tramped up charges. An opposition activist, a certain Peter Olaya Yumbe was arrested and later killed in prison. Basing on these experiences, we should read FDC ‘s Godi story with a pinch of salt because you never know what this government is capable of.

I’m not siding with anybody but I’m merely pointing out that the NRM government is very good at stitching up people from the opposition. As it is pointed out in the ‘Correct Line’, an NRM chairman, Alfred Bongomin, was murdered in 2002 in Gulu by unknown people, but the government went an extra length to stitch up some people in the opposition for this murder. If you can also remember, MPs : FDC’s Reagan Okumu and Michael Ochura were also once upon a time arrested over the murder of the same NRM chairman in 2005 before their acquittal some time later.Besigye has been arrested and tried by the same government over tramped up charges before he was finally acquitted of the treason charges this year by the constitutional court.

So maybe there are those who never got as luck as Besigye,Okumu and others to be acquitted by courts, and they are still rotting in prisons. In the same vein, we cannot be sure of the accusations being laid against MP Gudi because the pointing finger cannot be trusted. Yes, there is a possibility that Gudi might have murdered his wife but how can we be sure of this if he is being tried in a system that is capable of stitching up anybody for crimes they never committed.

All in all, those who can afford should buy this book and send it to their friends and family as a Christmas present because it’s worth reading.

–

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba

Blogs:
http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/
http://semuwemba.wordpress.com/
http://ekitibwakyabuganda.wordpress.com/
http://ugandamuslims.wordpress.com/

”We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.” (Hillary Clinton, 1993)

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