Any self-respecting politician in Uganda today can tell you that it is exceedingly absurd to contemplate changing the constitution for the benefit of a single individual at the peril of an entire nation. Worse still, that the said change is being orchestrated by the very individual that has been entrusted with the supreme authority in the land.
Until recently, His Excellency the President of Uganda, Joel (he hates this name) Tibahaburwa Museveni, son of Amos Kaguta, has been masquerading as a patriot, an intellectual and a father. He affectionately calls us chaps, boys, young fellows, and the like. And in turn, we affectionately call him Muzeeyi, Musanvu, Quarter-pin (English: cotter-pin), Ssabagabe, Kags, and the like. To back up a little bit, Kags has been involved in the political struggles of Uganda before 1971. Let us assume A. Milton Obote was a bad president. Post Obote, Kags continued to struggle against government. We shall say I. Amin Dada was a bad president too. Post Dada, Ugandans got a chance in 1980 to try out democracy again. The results were far from perfect.
However, there was a chance to try again in 1985. The would-be winners of the election accepted to keep the peace and wait for the next elections. Kags, whose party performed pathetically, did not keep the peace nor wait for the next scheduled elections. He chose to take up arms and fight. Perhaps, Kags knew that even by the next elections, he would not be able to win through a popular vote - so he had no reason to wait anyway. Kags believed in fighting. He fought on the pretext that elections were rigged. Fast forward to 1986, he takes state power after a lot of bloodletting but promises to restore national unity and hope in democracy. A mere change of guard or political maneuver? Read on.
Again, peace-loving Ugandans continued to work with him and to keep the peace. Some of them were brutally eliminated. Some have survived to tell the tale. Kags has played all manner of subterfuge and managed to stay at the helm for now close to two decades. Not because he is very popular, but because Ugandans love peace and believe Dr Kags will be satiated after all this time. Kags himself said that it was not good for any man to be president for more than ten years. He has eaten his own words.
The internationally and nationally respected Dr Kags has lost his veneer. The Ssabagabe continues to rant about Obote and Dada as if they were in government last month. Dada has long taken rest in eternal peace. Obote is slowly but surely succumbing to inevitable senile dotage. Kags has many myopic supporters who say that he is still good. I call them emotional and intellectual cripples. Will he sound a warning that he is becoming swine? Still good, huh! So the constitution has to be changed. He was foresighted enough to arrange a timely review of the same document, and his spin-professors, sorry, spin-doctors, are creating a contentious issue where none existed. And because he is still good, he should rule for life, or at least be given three more years. Severe political myopia. Ignorant drivel. Daft.
This is not about a good man or a bad man. It is about constitutionalism and the rule of law; it is about practicing democracy; it is about basic human rights, liberties and freedoms; it is about leading by example; and it is about respect of the dead who paid the high price for peace.
But wait a minute. Why should Kags find it difficult to respect the very constitution he helped create? If he can't respect it, who will? This is an appeal to reason. Why after nearly two decades in power, does Kags not want to see an election exercise were he is not a candidate? What happened to the elections of 1980? Why did Kags go to war? Did Kags talk of separating the army from politics? Has the army, since elections in 2001, become professional and independent? Why is our supposedly national movement becoming a political party? Should it not have disbanded or at least become a historical institution? Is it not alarming that Dr Kags is happy to fight the very intellectuals that gave credence to his rise and stay in power? Are the professors who are now at the helm of government patriotic? Do they have a sense of history? Were they living in Uganda during the turbulent years?
If the national figures that have tried to defend the constitution of Uganda have become enemies of Museveni, who is a peasant to be a friend of Kags, let alone employer? If the national heroes pointing out the mistake of desecrating the constitution, have become mere spokes, who are you, mister peasant and your children? Is it true Kags fought for democracy and political sanity? Why did all the bloodletting in Luweero and other parts of the country happen? What happened to the famous Ten Point Program? Did the political solution get solved? Intellectual cripples!
This is an appeal to reason. Whenever ambitious politicians see no real chance of trying to become president peacefully, they resort to war or assassination, but not sleeping. We have a rare chance to give the ambitious politicians a go at the presidency in 2006 absent Kags. And we should give them that chance every five years. It is incumbent upon every Ugandan to participate in nurturing democracy. It is the duty of Muzeeyi Museveni to come out and announce in characteristic museven-ese: "Fellow Ugandans, having achieved most of our objectives... i am not eligible to, to, to stand for elections anymore. I am happy to, to, to announce the birth of true democracy in Uganda. Therefore, er, prepare to to vote, er, to to to, to to vote for my successor in 2006. Please, dear peasants, prepare to give me my retirement package and i go to, to, to, to Rwakitura. You will be able to call on me for advice anytime and to visit me. Thank you. For God and to to to, to my cowuntry". J. Kambarage Nyerere would turn in his grave and rest in eternal bliss. The rest of us ordinary Ugandans would have lived to witness the birth of yet another of the very few great African leaders with courage and wisdom.
But as things stand presently, and unfortunately, Uganda is Kags' personal project. I see now in H.E. Gen. Dr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni what i saw in General Mohammed Siad Barre. I see in Gen. Kags what I saw in General Mobutu Seseseko Kuku Mbgendu wa Zabanga - (the untiring cock among the hens). I see in Gen. Museveni, what I saw in Field Marshal Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti. They all changed their countries supreme laws to suit their personal tastes and cravings; they all got their sons into the thick of the military; and they all took their countries with them!
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