You cannot believe that the Prime Minister and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) can come out with contradictory public statements on crucial matters of the governance of Uganda when they are in the same Government.
It really disturbs that some people think that Uganda should never graduate from the primitive of having to resort to the use of force when people have brains and can make decisions on their own.
In addition to the above, I still emphasize the reasons below why Uganda Voters should not vote for Museveni on February 18th, 2016:
SOME ONE HAS PUT A QUESTION TO ME AS FOLLOWS:
MR. KIWANUKA WHY SHOULDN’T UGANDANS VOTE MUSEVENI PRESIDENT IN 2016?
For those with independent minds, it is in black and white why one should not vote Museveni President in 2016, however, for the consumption of Uganda voters, some of the reasons are stated below:
1. The NRA/M waged a 5 year bush war with the major reason that the UPC Government had stolen the 1980 vote. Unfortunately, down the road, the NRM Government has proved smarter at the same game to the extent that before people go to polls more so to vote for President, the outcome has already been predetermined.
2. One of the pillars of the NRM Government was to re-instate the rule of law. Unfortunately, President Museveni is the biggest violator as he is at liberty to use the NRM Caucus in Parliament to shift positions to favour him. He was able to influence the removal of Presidential term limits, and if he contests in 2016 for President, he will have completed 30 years as President, while the framers of the 1995 Constitution had put a maximum of 10 consecutive years by one person given the country’s bad history.
3. “The Republic of Uganda, by acts of looting, plundering and exploitation of Congolese natural resources committed by members of the UPDF in the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and by its failure to comply with its obligations as an occupying Power in Ituri district to prevent acts of looting, plundering and exploitation of Congolese natural resources, it violated obligations owed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo under international law…, and the cost of President Museveni’s adventure to the people of Uganda which was initially at USD 10bn to DRC, has shot up to USD 23 billion, said the former Attorney General, Mr. Peter Nyombi,.
4. President Museveni has learnt to live without minding his image more so when he shifts goal posts to suit his desires. In his 2001 Election Manifesto, he went to the voters claiming it was to be his last term. If he had been the type who keeps his word, however much people would have wanted him back as he alleges, he would just retire.
5. President Museveni sings about zero tolerance to corruption, unfortunately, he is not serious about this. If he were, Government would not be losing astronomical sums of money due to skipping of the proper procurement procedures. There are many cases in point for example the bicycles which were meant for the LC chairpersons, the Identity cards deal to mention but a few.
6. Corruption goes to impact on utility costs. Today, Uganda has some of the most expensive projects after completion. This development makes doing business noncompetitive. The Power tariffs are highest in Uganda when you compare with the case in Kenya and Tanzania, just to reflect on one sector. The commission by some people in Government is greatly responsible for this development.
7. As far as President Museveni is concerned, it is political sense that rules and not economic sense. When you look at the big administrative budget he has all along been advised to keep small, he is reluctant; as long as it serves his patronage purpose and seeing him retain power (uneconomic districts, the army of the RDCs and the so-called Presidential advisors, to mention but a few). This keeps the country lagging behind and cannot make the breakthroughs it would otherwise make if decisions were purely on economic viability.
8. President Museveni is the Executive period! He does the work of the Ministers and he finally complains that they don’t perform. Even a project that would be launched by the LC 3 Chairperson needs the President to launch, and the cost to the country is astronomical given his security detail and motorcade.
9. The Presidents security is a big liability to the country. The conflicts he has got himself involved in and the country are such a huge cost that the best is to see him retire to manage a cheaper person in the chair.
10. Uganda would be far as regards development, but Museveni’s vision cannot allow this to happen. His priority on expenditure for the available resources is better termed consumption. His wish to emerge the most powerful military person in the region or even Africa just leaves the people of Uganda paupers.
11. The Agricultural sector would be far given that it is supposed to be the mainstay of the economy. But trust President Museveni’s experimentation. When technical personnel would be needed, you get shocked to hear that he has put military personnel just as any tired person would. The economy cannot seriously be run on experimentation yet when many of the country’s programs/projects are excellent on paper, but implementation under President Museveni is a real disaster.
12. Museveni is a military man. He uses the Iron hand to rule. The people of Uganda want a Federal system of local government, but he has refused to see it implemented, and today it is just disaster as many regions are in dire need as development is unevenly spread, yet the federal arrangement would better address regional balance hence development.
13. The country continues to lose a lot due to patronage. This patronage will increase as more so – called NRM supporters lose in the 2016 elections and will turn to Museveni for jobs if he happens to win the election.
14. Museveni’s leadership still has the identity with its guerrilla foundation. This is a great liability to the country and its future.
15. Musevei has completely failed the regional balance puzzle. In the UPDF where one would expect to see a balance of officers from all regions of the country, the picture is different, and this is across the country in many political appointments he has made, with the biggest proof to this being his current cabinet line up with so many from Kabale.
16. Finally, President Museveni can ignore calls for what is right to do locally, and when he realizes that his international image is not good, instead of responding positively to the wishes of the people, he is at liberty to sink tax payer resources in cleaning his image.
Elections: Rugunda, Kayihura disagree on power transfer
Written by JOHNSON TAREMWA
According to Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, if the opposition wins the February 18 election fairly, the NRM will hand over power gracefully. But to police chief Kale Kayihura, this is all but unthinkable.
“We are ready to give power to [Amama] Mbabazi or [Kizza] Besigye when there is free and fair election,” Rugunda said last Saturday, while presiding at the police sports gala in the eastern Kapchorwa district.
Rugunda, however, insisted that if the opposition rigged the elections, NRM would not surrender power. The NRM emerged out of fighting groups that took up arms after the 1980 elections were allegedly rigged for Milton Obote.
However, since it came to power in 1986, NRM has been accused of rigging elections to stay in power, although courts ruled the rigging was not significant enough to topple the will of the majority of Ugandans.
With elections due next month, independent presidential candidate Mbabazi and FDC’s Kizza Besigye are leading the push to end President Museveni’s 30-year hold on power.
But Gen Kayihura, the inspector general of police, had told a similar audience a day earlier that the NRM could not hand over power to an opposition winner.
“We shall not hand over power to the opposition to destabilize the peace which we fought for,” Kayihura said at the passing out of crime preventers.
He, instead, urged the crime preventers to get ready for war.
“We are going to change you from having sticks to rifles and get ready to defend this country in case of any attack,” he said.
“The constitution gives police powers to protect the nation in case there is war and I want you to get prepared for this; anytime, we shall call on you,” he said.
“The constitution gives police powers to protect the nation in case there is war and I want you to get prepared for this; anytime, we shall call on you,” he said.
Rugunda reminded his audience that Uganda is a democratic country. But this clash of perspectives between the country’s chief minister and its police chief raises the old question about whether the ruling party believes in democracy – 30 years after it shot into power, and 20 years since it organized its first general elections.
In 2011, shortly after losing to Museveni for the third time, Besigye told The Observer that elections had no chance of removing the president. A year ago, Museveni himself said he was not ready to hand over power to opposition leaders, whom he likened to wolves.
Then, in August, a poll conducted by Research World International showed that 45% of Ugandans did not believe that elections could remove Museveni. More recently, on January 10, 2016, Museveni declared he was not ready to leave power now, not least because he had saved the country.
The main opposition party, the FDC, has since condemned Museveni for those remarks. Gen Kayihura said that the Front for National Salvation (Fronasa), a Ugandan rebel group formed by Yoweri Museveni in 1972, was not a trained army but it helped remove President Idi Amin from power.
“Fronasa were crime preventers but fought Amin who had become a problem to Ugandans,” he said.
Crime preventers, Kayihura said, will be given warrant cards similar to those issued to police officers, uniforms, gumboots and whistles, among other items. He urged them to fight opposition leaders who try to disturb the peace.
According to Kayihura, by 2021, each village will have 300 crime preventers to support police in maintaining law and order.
johnsonkagame@gmail.com
johnsonkagame@gmail.com
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