Are these kicks of dying M7 regime?

Museveni Government may be heading south after what is termed to be the lowest rating of his 27 year rule. Influential church leaders are part of the activists who called for an end to the 27-year rule of President Yoweri Museveni. Museveni in  2012 through what they termed as failed quest to restore the term limits. President Museveni has been resisting the efforts to restore term limits on his office and in 2012 he faced record-low public-approval ratings.

The NRM president was urged by the activists to retire after the expiry of the current term by 2016 but the main question lies here, is Museveni ready to relinquish his power and retire like Kenya’s 2nd president Daniel Moi? What will be the repercussion of the NRM president retiring and finally is it practical for the former rebel to vacate the state house in Entebbe?

Catholic Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga said that best present Uganda should expect from president Kaguta Museveni is a peaceful handing over of power. Zac Niringiye, an Anglican assistant arch bishop took things rather practical and rallied for the restoration of the term limits.

Quoted by some sections of the media Niringiye said The time has come to imagine a different future.  So what future does Uganda have and what magnitude would the pearl of Africa have if a president is elected outside the former rebel group NRM? Will Ugandans have a time to shape their own country both socially and politically? Will the police reform and stop being partisan?

While in Makerere university Kampala in December last year,  FDC president Dr. Col. Kizza Besigye was quoted having said, Uganda is a country governed by criminals. Do you agree with Besigye? Well a walk in the city of Kampala town gives you an impression of a modern day tyranny, tankers at every junction of the road, police driving to and fro the highways all in the name of vigilance. Do we have to have police everywhere to show that we have peace?

I support Bishop Niringiye on the term limits and add that in mature democracies we must give opportunities to each and every citizen a chance to move the country.

I believe the first president of the United states of America should be the source of inspiration for African tyrannical leaders such as President Mugabe and Museveni of Zimbabwe and Uganda respectfully. He said that him being elected as president of the union of American states did not mean him together with his family were the best, he said monarchy was not the best system of governance for the American people and it was like reintroducing the British imperialism.

Every year a journalist or two are murdered in Uganda and through NRM governance Uganda is  one of the countries where media freedom. Not surprising obscene publications find their way to newspaper vendor’s stalls in Kampala city. Journalists are the checks and balances of the political class but in present day Uganda they have chosen to entertain the politicians instead.

In  2012 President Museveni is facing the lowest public rating in his 26year of 26%. That meant it’s hard for the NRM chair to be re-elected for another term in office as they believe Uganda is heading direction a year after the son of Kaguta was re- elected, 74% disapprove the president.

In 2005, ethics and governance minister Miria Matembe and Eriya Kategaya were sacked from his cabinet after they publicly opposed his manoeuvres to remove the constitutional presidential term limits. Uganda under Museveni the story

Miria Matembe later gave a biblical analogy of Jesus leadership of 3 years and where he tolerated criticism from his disciples and accepted them as they were and never sacked them. She said the Jesus declared his governance based on Isaiah 61:1-3. He had a cabinet of 12 men and a civil service of some men and women. She said Uganda needs leadership with integrity and zero tolerance to corruption with abiding to the rule of law.

According to former minister Miriam Matembe added that the president needs to be visionary leader and his leadership should give people hope and nurture a country. She said the transparency and abiding to the rule of law. She urged the NRM president to fight corruption that tends to be glorified.

According to justice Kanyaamba president Museveni should have leaders in his cabinet who have integrity and are clean.

It’s sad that the Brig (now Lt. General and Inspector General of Police) Kale Kayihura, who was the UPDF Commanding Officer in Ituri region of DRC, is misused by the government to oppress the opposition.

It’s no longer news that Inflation is way up the 20 percent mark. Police killing unarmed protesters in demonstrations and some of the president’s closest associates have been accused of corruption but sheltered from prosecution. NRM regime is now on defensive as Ugandans have woken up and soon democracy shall end the over 3 decades of rule of the rifle. The criticism and the decline in popularity have made Museveni have sleepless nights.

Although the NRM president says that he is not God to say let there be no corruption. From the Bassajjabalaba UGX 162B corruption  saga to the youth fund in Jinja and arresting of the opposition leaders and charging them with treason. So is it that the country is far from democratic liberation?

Son of Kaguta rescued country from the failing economic growth and economically Museveni is the most performing president compared to Dr. Milton Obote, Titto Okello, Sir Edward Mutesa II and Idd Amin. He has been telling off the religious leaders who want the term limits re-introduced that he will one day also give them a counter-lecture.

Mr. Museveni came to power in 1986, after years of guerrilla warfare that first overthrew Dictator Idi Amin and later Milton Obote creating a transitional government and established stability after years of civil strife.

Uganda promulgated the first constitution in 1995 and the constitution over saw the first elections held in 1996 where observers described as free and fair. Museveni won by 75.5% and He was re-elected in 2001 with 69 percent of the vote.

The 1995 constitution provided for a 2 terms limit and Museveni was supposed should have left office after that second five-year term in 2006.

NRM is said to have bribed legislators with USD $ 2,000 each to amend the constitution and scrapped the clause on term limits from the constitution and he was eligible to vie for the 3rd term in office.

Museveni winning margin declined by 10% to 59 percent and consequently winning the fourth term last year and improved his victory margin to 68 percent of the vote.

In my view Museveni should have left office honorably in 2006 like president Moi and go to history as the only Ugandan president who made a change.

He has however steered the economic empowerment of the Ugandan people compared with his predecessors. In the last two elections there were widespread allegations of ballot-box stuffing, illegal campaign spending and intimidation of voters and opposition candidates. This was seen as a factor that made the elections to be seen as not free and fair in the history of Ugandan democratic elections.

In the just concluded seating of the East African legislative parliament in Arusha Tanzania Mr. Ogalo nominated by NRM supported the motion seeking to bring back the ICC cases on 4 Kenyans to EACJ a move that is viewed to be politically instigated.

Analysts Dr. Obote Odora a consultant in international criminal and humanitarian law said, ‘objective of the amendment of the court’s jurisdiction is not to "help" the Ocampo 4 but to protect the National Resistance Movement (NRM) leadership.’

Dr. Obote adds Mr. Ogalo, while nominally a member of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), has often, in the name of bipartisan politics, worked very closely with the NRM leadership of Uganda.

Saying the Ugandan government is governed by criminals its true When Brig. Kale Kayihura and his troops were surrounded and then captured in Ituri, it was Uganda's Gen. James Kazini, now deceased, with the support of the Bahema militia, who rescued him. During and after the Kayihura rescue, the Bahema militia massacred the Balendu as the UPDF looked the other way.

 So does president Museveni has interest of barring the ICC try the 4 Kenyans at The Hague based court? Besigye sentiments at Makerere University Kampala December last year gain weight that the police need to arrest Yoweri Kaguta Museveni first before they intimate the opposition on their political activities.

Why has it taken more than 26years for UPDF to arrest Joseph Kony? What has the government done to rehabilitate the ex-child soldiers in north Uganda? Museveni became president when he was young and it might have been hard for him to make some of the hard decisions for the country. However, the laxity of the Uganda peoples’ Defense Force is saddening. Today Uganda has UPDF soldiers in AMISON despite the fact that Kony is still hiding somewhere in the central Africa.

Further, it is as documented by Reyntjens, ‘the Uganda’s occupation of the Ituri region led to armed conflicts between Bahema (of Ugandan origin and a close ethnic group to Museveni’s Bahima) and the Balendu who have been living in the region longer than the Bahema.  The UPDF’s support of the Bahema against the Balendu was critical in the massacre of thousands of Balendu ethnic group.’

NRM government has been doing what it does better, protecting personal interests. The scrapping of the term limits and the Motion in the EAC parliament is among the few incidences where the NRM government has used parliament to protect its interests and those of its sympathizers who include the IGP Lt-Gen. Kale Kayihura who you would mistake for a political leader.

It’s no wonder in every political rally the opposition mentions Kayihura does this, Kayihura that.

So what do you think the country is heading to? Is it in the right track?

FDC iron lady Ingrid Turinawe has from time viewed police as partisan other than the men in blue uniforms for vigilance.

Is NRM leadership fighting the ICC in the name of other Ugandans who do support the court? I think the answer lies with the Ugandan people who know the tribulation of the military regime.

Is NRM government having distrust to civilians, hence why we have Kayihura an Army Commander is the IGP.Museveni does not trust the people he rules,  that’s why we have police siren on Entebbe highway and near strategic points in Kampala?

The International Crisis Group has warned that President Museveni is ruling Uganda through repression and patronage like Milton Obote and Idi Amin did, setting up the country for future bloodshed. This adds the weight to the criticism from the media that the leadership of President Kaguta Museveni is gradually heading to the Idd Amin way.

The Brussels based organization discredited the NRM leadership citing Museveni’s governance trajectory resembles those of Milton Obote and Idi Amin – without the blatant brutality – beginning with policies of tolerance and inclusion that gradually change to exclusion and repression.

International crisis group works to predict, prevent and resolve occurrence of deadly conflicts in the world and it is based in Brussels.

Tamale Mirundi trashed the reports saying they were racial deviated and NRM has put in place mechanisms to ensure the continued stability and prosperity of Uganda. The authors are most likely misinformed. He added, Museveni’s is not a one-man rule because the Legislature and Judiciary are strong, each working independently, but both providing oversight on the Executive.

 State house in Entebbe described as the ‘handiwork of “ignorant Europeans” – alleges that the President favours his kinsmen and increasingly relies on them to sustain his weakening rule.’

 So if the report by the Brussels based ICG is anything to go by, is NRM government beginning to tarnish?According to the report the predecessors of Museveni “relied on personal rule, rather than constitutional and institutional restraints, and turned increasingly to patronage and coercion to govern.”

Today the NRM has the office of the first lady and state minister for Karamoja Affairs H.E Janet Museveni. Appointment of the first lady to the ministerial position sparkled criticism from the international media especially the British owned BBC.

NRM President has been playing a defensive game that it’s believed to be heading south and if instability in the country’s top notch is anything to go by, then the NRM top members are gradually abandoning the president. It should be noted that not all NRM MPs supports the president and that why he spelt doom to the MPs from his party who were taking part in the debate over the term limits.

The President has from time to time distasted any comparison of him to his predecessors – who he fought against, but failed to topple – and has on occasion called them “swines”.

In the 48-page report, the group traces Uganda’s problems to the divide-and-rule policy injected by the British colonialists, and decries the inability of post-independence leaders to cure, and their ironical appetite to promote, the polarization based on ethnicity and religion.

According to the ICG report, Democratic reform and unifying leadership under Museveni lost momentum in the first decade of rule, in the period after, the President, used the ‘no-party’ Movement system to entrench his rule and replaced old politicians and long-standing NRM members who criticized his policies with trusted members of his inner circle, often from his home area.

The Government Spokesperson Karooro Okurut trashed the report saying the report is based on wishful thinking and post-Museveni era violence is not possible.

FDC president Dr. Kizza Besigye has been the most live challenger of the NRM government where he has termed the president to be the stumbling block in the realization of democracy in Uganda. Besigye who was an insider at the UPDF and later on went on exile for political reasons and returning to Uganda in 2005 to vie for president has challenged M7 3 times and said he will not participate in any future elections organized by President Yoweri Museveni unless fundamental changes are made in the country’s electoral laws.

According to the FDC president Museveni has failed to address the 3 major problems in Uganda, poor salaries, rampant corruption and how he hopes to reduce the country’s enormous expenditure of public administration.

NRM has been accusing Besigye of using his “Walk-to-Work” protest as an attempt to overthrow the constitution and scare away tourists a move that Besigye said Ugandans have been protesting against the country’s high unemployment and not because he told them to do so.

Besigye has been quoted by a section of media having said he is not looking at any other election organized by the chief election thief, adding, “I will certainly not participate in any election organized in the same way as the rigged elections that I have participated in. That’s why we must demand by ways available to us fundamental reforms in the electoral processes,”

 With the exception of Kizza Besigye, the only opponents he hasn’t broken are women. The men run away when Museveni goes after them, or bow down. After taking power, the strongest political opponent Museveni faced was UPC’s Cecilia Ogwal. He actually offered her the vice presidency of the republic, which she turned down.

Among the leaders who have the taste of the 3 sides of Museveni is the FDC iron Lady Ingrid Turinawe, a lady who has 3 charges against her by the state and still counting. Turinawe is a lady who has been on top in the A4C rally organizers thinks of one thing the removal of Museveni.

At least for a reformer and like the late Wangari Maathai, she is a drama queen with a knack for bringing out the worst in the state. She has also had her time in prison and keeps driving the government nuts as she lures them into blunder after blunder.