Will Museveni Handover Power Peacefully?

by Valerian Kkonde

PEARL NEWS SERVICE

   

Retired Col. Kizza Besigye on the campaign trail. Ugandans are skeptical about Museveni's willingness to hand over power peacefully. Monitor Photo

      

It is unfortunate and shameful that after thirty years in State power, the old man with a hat- Yoweri Museveni- cannot comprehend the dignity of the office and that of the people he has subjected to his whims for such a long period.

Thirty years is not only a long period but it speaks for itself, volumes and volumes of messages, and is so evident and articulate that the blind can see its fruits, bitter or sweet, and the deaf can here its sobs, screams, wails and laughter.

The Uganda Constitution, promulgated by Museveni in 1995, talks of the Office of the President as a fountain of honour. But the most disturbing fact is that president Museveni has deliberately, and selfishly, refused to give due respect to democratic governance as the guiding criterion for his political life. He offers himself as the alpha and omega after crippling all the institutions.

For the last thirty years, a number of issues have remained unattended to despite the fact they are of significant importance to the populace. Of great concern is the displacement of villages by people having close ties with the regime and are often given protection and support by the Police. Hundreds of thousands of Ugandans have been rendered homeless, and in effect became refugees in their own country.

All president Museveni has done, and continues to do, is blame the Judiciary and even look the other side as regime demagogues exact their pound of flesh. It is shameful, and a disgrace, for the president to keep pointing a finger at “the rich people” as the ones displacing the poor Ugandans. Where is the government and all the resources and machinery at its disposal? What is the work of government?

If at all the president is having sleepless nights over land-grabbing why doesn’t he use the same force he uses to stifle the Opposition and other critics, to protect these now homeless and destitute Ugandans being stripped of their dignity and rights of ownership? He has been going around the country telling the people that he should be re-elected so that he handles the issue of land-grabbing using his Resident District Commissioners (RDC).

Museveni has tried to absolve himself of the sin of displacing people by blaming it all on the Courts of law. In any case, the RDCs have always been present and the people have witnessed how they sided with the grabbers. Even some grabbers have come from the president’s office. Where has Museveni been all these years? What is he going to do, and what stopped him from doing it earlier? This is an interesting case of what Museveni did, catching up with him. That is Mother Nature.  

Failure to categorically speak out against such injustices as well as failing to act decisively to end these gross human rights violations and robberies does not help the situation; instead it raises suspicion to the extent of concluding that the president is an accomplice with vested interests.

As Uganda goes to the polls, beginning February 18, 2016, there is worry among the public that the elections will not be free and fair. To start with, the public has no trust in the Election Commission (EC) chairman, Engineer Badru Kiggundu and his team.

On its part, the EC is sending out messages urging the public to turn up and vote, maintain peace and respect one another.  While these messages are being repeated over and over, the EC is not coming out to reassure Ugandans of its commitment to organise free and fair elections. Is this by coincidence or design?

Such accusations against the EC are of a grave nature that the Chairman should have resigned at once. If the public doubts Kiggundu’s moral ability to perform such an important duty, then who is he serving most especially after the Supreme Court declared him unfit for the position?

To make matters worse, even the president is evading important issues at this crucial moment in the life of Uganda. The country is going to elect the president and parliamentary representatives but Museveni is only talking about “decisively crushing those who will cause violence.” The president has also taken to calling the Opposition rats! During the 1994 Rwanda genocide, those in power referred to the Opposition as cockroaches. Of late, the army’s political commissar, Felix Kulayigye, talked of spraying people like bedbugs.

If Museveni is still allergic to political competition, he should do the country a lot of good by declaring himself the life president of Uganda. Idi Amin Dada did it and it can still be done in Uganda. The declaration would save the country’s meager resources from being spent on bogus elections. The electorate would as well be saved the dangers associated with electioneering in Uganda.

Museveni has avoided the issue of handing over power peacefully, in effect grossly failing to account to the people he has ruled for thirty years! Either way, actions speak louder than words. Signs indicate that Museveni is preoccupied with oppressing any dissenting voices after rigging the elections.

The arbitrary recruitment of the Crime Preventers and importation of tear gas vehicles all are signs of pre-meditated oppression and suppression by government. The president has a duty to come out clearly and say that he is committed to free and fair elections, and that he will hand over power peacefully to whoever will be elected.  

There are a number of cases that point to Museveni’s unwillingness to hand over power peacefully. For the last thirty years, Museveni has displayed unprecedented hatred for political competition. In 2005, presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye was arrested and trumped up charges brought against him. These included rape and treason after a hitherto unknown Peoples Redemption Army (PRA), a rebel outfit and a creation of government was said to belong to him.

All sorts of legal frameworks have been put in place with the sole purpose of impeding the Opposition’s ability to mobilise and recruit members. Notable among these is the Public Order Management Act of 2012. It strips Ugandans of their right to assemble and arbitrarily hands the Inspector General of Police the power to decide for the people as to when and where they can assemble, and for what reason.

The question as to whether President Museveni will handover power peacefully is as good as answered. He has been in power for thirty years but he is as nervous as someone who has never been in state power. Primitive advertising gimmicks are being employed meaning he is bent on winning the elections at any cost!

Adverts showing skulls and skeletons of those sacrificed for State Power in Luweero, during the five year bloody guerrilla war that brought Museveni to power, have once again been brought on the screens of the media. What a shame! The president has gone so native that he has told the nation and the world at large that if he is not voted back in power he will have to wage another war. He even goes around saying that the oil in Uganda is his. Pity the so called presidential advisors and the campaign team.

During the last five years, president Museveni has, at every event, been showering praises on the Kampala Capital City Authority’s (KCCA) Executive Director Jennifer Musisi for bringing order to the city. The street vendors and hawkers they have been demonizing and holding responsible for lack of planning in the City, have been called back to the streets!

Many of these vendors were imprisoned, severely beaten and their merchandise distributed among the Law Enforcement Officials. They have shed their blood to be able to fend for themselves and their families.

These people may be hawkers but they are human beings like Museveni’s children and grand children. And most importantly, they are victims of Museveni’s oppressive economic policies. Many of these hawkers bore the regime’s dehumanising treatment while they eked a living in the Park Yard market. This was the scene of constant fires lit by the regime’s cohorts who wanted the land for their mall.  The idea was to force them away without compensation.

There is no doubt that these atrocities, like those committed in Luweero triangle, are still fresh in the minds of many. They have not forgotten and they know that many such atrocities will be committed as long as these people are in power.

Many soldiers, perceived to be supporters of the Opposition, have been thrown in jail, mistreated and arbitrarily stripped of their benefits and dignity. Even members of the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) who are objective in their analysis of issues and events have not been spared.

The unwritten law in Museveni’s NRM is that you either sleep and wake up to vote for the NRM, shut up or quit. There is no room for critics and independent thinkers. These are no signs of a civilized regime; a regime that appreciates the fact that power belongs to the people. A regime like the one of Museveni, which looks to the gun for all solutions, cannot hand over power peacefully.

The public’s fear that there could easily be a war after elections is an enormous statement discrediting a government that has been around for thirty years. In the first place it means that the people have no trust in the government, and that it is a government that does not consider the common good.

The bitter fact is that the public is basing on the thirty years to judge Museveni’s potential and to thus conclude that it is time he left the stage. It is a general and genuine yearning for change; a change for good governance and peace of mind. The public continues to state categorically that Museveni has out lived his usefulness yet he does not want others to take over. But the call for change grows steadily, louder and firmly.

As Ugandans go to the polls on February 18, 2016 they want to state categorically that they want change. If President Museveni maintains that he will not hand over peacefully, then the people will have no option but to force him out.