Fellow citizens, if you haven’t been following my writings, you better start now because I came to change our people’s mindset especially framing political debates. Together we shall use commonsense and apply logic to dispel indeed challenge whoever talks “ebitazimba- nonsense!” to mislead our citizens.
In the past weeks I have been here telling you about politics and how ugly it can get. We have talked about politicking, political stunts, tribalism and of individuals seeking relevancy even at the dangers of becoming irrelevant themselves.
As Ugandans, a people who have gone through so much trauma often occasioned on us by obscurantist politicians and their fake armies, now we have to shun completely any talk of tribalism; regionalism; genocide; religious divide; sectarianism; racism; ethnicity; chauvinism, name others.
That topic of tribal exclusivism and genocide (sorry Frank Gashumba) is now closed and it won’t become a political issue in the future. We want sanitized political debates based on record and issues- based (what you want to do for the citizens) not on conjecture and political grandstanding.
Having saying all that, now I want to invite you we access together the chances or the road ahead for President Museveni’s son, Four-Star Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as he navigates through uncharted territory of attempting to become our president “ceteris paribus- other things remaining constant.”
Fellow citizens, I have this long held belief that President Yoweri Museveni does not make any move, wrong or right, without first thinking deeply about it. Like Sun Tzu wrote in the Art of War:
“Great leaders (emperors) estimate everything in their courts before they make any move… they estimate victory and also estimate defeat…”
And I know for sure that our president is one of those rare people Sun Tzu was referring to.
Ever since January 26, 1971, when a young Museveni made the choice to leave Uganda to go to exile and fight Idi Amin, he has rarely taken a wrong stride in as far as fighting for liberation is concerned.
Now a pertinent question is: “Why would such a thoughtful person like President Museveni, want to throw his aquaphobic son in the deep waters of the sea?”
We shall try to answer that in a not-so-straight-forward way.
For starters, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba (MK) is the son and first child of President Yoweri Museveni and his “musika- heir” not to the presidency per se but as a bloodline to inherit his father’s cattle farms, buildings, books etc.
Therefore he is the heir-apparent as his birthright but not to succeed his father as president. No need to overemphasize the point that Uganda is not a monarchy or a kingdom where the same bloodline folks, often males, succeed each other.
A departure from this rule is only happening in North Korea where the “baba wa taifa- founding father” Kim II Song, was succeed by his son Kim Jong-il who was in turn succeeded by his son, the rocket-loving Kim Jong Un.
Therefore Gen. MK has no claim of right on Uganda as far as the seat of the president is concerned. You and me might actually have more rights to that seat than him because he is a serving military officer. But he can take that seat if and when he overthrows his father and form a military junta. He can also retire from his beloved UPDF (Uganda People’s Defence Force) and join civilian elective politics.
The only sensible avenue he can take to become president is through the constitutionally- mandated multiparty elections. As we all know, this is not like a walk in the park. It is too much cumbersome and damn difficult to convince an entire country to vote for you even in a small geographical state like Uganda.
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY:
Myself, President Museveni and many Ugandans out there, we would prefer MK to become the next president after his father retires except that politics is unpredictable.
We want MK to replace his father not because he is the best soldier in Uganda (we have Gen. Saleh with that title) and not because he is the best politician around (we have a smart man called Norbert Mao with that title). That he has a lot of money his father keeps in Bank of Uganda (money and politics don’t mix).
Surely we also know that the title of the most likeable and amiable young politician in Uganda today is already taken by Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
So what is all the fuss about MK presidency indeed his MK Movement? Said differently, what will “kweyimirira- stand in” for MK an African boy and now a man who was born just like you and me?
Alas! We want MK because he is his father’s son.
President Museveni’s story, history and record is enough to propel MK to power because “like-father; like-son” still resonates with many people. Ordinary folks especially, have this belief that a hunting dog will often always give birth to another hunting dog!
You hear them often talking about “enkoko oba ente eyolulyo- breeding cock or bull” as they move them between houses or kraals to mate.
Who hasn’t noticed that a doctor often begets children who also become doctors? There are families known for being great farmers and those of teachers. We even know some families where the profession is “busezi- night dancing” and of others where every male child becomes a thief.
That is why in the United States of America, a seemingly inept George W. Bush was chosen as president solely because he was the son of another former president called George Herbert Bush. Hillary Rodham Clinton nearly became president of America because she was the wife of a former president called Bill Clinton. How about the many voices now calling on former President Obama’s wife- Michelle Obama- to become president?
This is the same reasoning that informed Kenyans to vote in Uhuru Kenyatta the son of former President Jomo Kenyatta. Even the resource- rich Botswana saw it fit to have the son of their former President Seretse Khama called Ian Khama take over the presidency.
This phenomena of having a relative replacing or given a chance on leadership is happening often in Japan. Grandchildren of former Prime Ministers are always the preferred candidates for Prime Minister’s slots.
In Uganda, it has almost become a national pastime where children of dead MPs are replacing their parents in those positions. It is called name- recognition which is not bad for continuity.
Therefore Gen. MK, by that yardstick alone, can and will become Uganda’s president.
Rest we forget, UPC (Uganda People’s Congress) saw it fit to let Jimmy Akena, former president Milton Obote’s son to lead it. John Ken Lukyamuzi “the man” had donated his CP (Conservative Party) to his daughter called Susan Nampijja.
Therefore, if MK is endorsed by his old man regardless of not possessing even half of his father’s charm, canning, wit, magnanimity and clarity of thought, he can and will become our president the method used notwithstanding.
He can however rule by proxy through a palace coup or after a free and fair or even a fraudulent election. Even an assassination la Chad (Idris Durby) and DRCongo (Laurent Kabila) can suffice to make MK president.
Be that as it were, Gen. MK will have to plant his own garden one plant at a time. There is no free lunch when it comes to Ugandan politics especially of leadership at the very top. Sorry for the disappointment but that is reality folks!
Many factors or aspects will have to be in position if MK were to get shot at top leadership of the country.
Basically, the most important aspect of them all is the fact that President Museveni has no intention of leaving the presidency any time soon. That is why the group “Muzeyi tova kumeyini- Museveni don’t give up the presidency” is gaining more traction everyday.
In fact the MK Movement, including Richard Twodong’s NRM secretariat, is playing second fiddle to Hajat Namyalo’s ONC (Office of the National Chairman) which is spearheading the “Tova Kumeyini” campaign.
If you never comprehended the idea behind a Museveni birthday bash coming on the heels of an MK national-wide birthday tour, then you not interested in Ugandan politics.
But the path to become Uganda’s president is the more bumpy.
HOW TO BECOME A PRESIDENT:
There is no school in the world where they can teach one to become a president. I don’t know how scholars forgot to come up with college programs where we would learn to become presidents of countries! We know the path to become reverend fathers or bishops. We also know where one goes if he want to become an Imam or Sheikh. Charlatans and other forms of criminals can take university causes to learn how to steal customer deposits.
There is even no “mulogo- witch-doctor” out there with enough juju to guarantee one leadership of a country. I know of an individual who was wrapped in cow intestines (ebyenda) for a week ostensibly to win the presidency but ended up becoming fourth in the national presidential elections!
Therefore for one to become a president (Uganda has had about 9) there are some intervening factors or esoteric forces, majority of them beyond human knowledge and comprehension.
Looking at it critically, it is actually God who chooses leaders for us. Our only job is to clap our hands and follow them to wherever direction they wish to take us.
In a way, we have to blame God for the state of human rulership on earth. How He intends wayward characters like Idi Amin and Hitler to rule over us defeats even commonsense itself!
Except that politics, indeed leadership of a country, follows a completely unknown path. Therefore Gen. MK will not become our president just like that or automatically even if his father and mother wishes it so.
How they became presidents is a story or journey we can’t even comprehend. Take a read below.
Gen. Idi Amin Dada:
Who really knew that a semi-literate cook (Idi Amin Dada) would rule a country like Uganda for so many years? He had alright fought in the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and earlier served as a cook in the King’s African Rifles (KAR). With little or no education, he found himself the only man standing after Milton Obote’s political blunders.
He told a stunned world in 1972 that: “I had a dream where God instructed me to chase all Asians (Indians) out of Uganda.” Just like that and an illiterate man declared some 80,000 Indians “persona non grata- prohibited immigrants” therefore ordered deported.
But he went on to do many permanent projects for our country like buying the presidential jet; buying permanent embassy buildings like one in New York and London. And of course destroying completely the nation-state of Uganda.
He left the national economy in shambles after dishing most of it’s resources to his friends, tribes mates and illiterate soldiers. Actually there was one former taxi taut (bulooka wa taxi mu park) who became a Brigadier in Amin’s Uganda army!
Dr. Apollo Milton Obote:
What about a man who dropped out of university in year one (Apollo Milton Obote) and went on to rule Uganda not once but twice? This man became president because he was the most canning politician to ever grace our soils. He had prostrated (yakuba amavi) before the Kabaka of Buganda and he worn himself the title of Prime Minister at independence. He later married a Muganda, Miria Kalule Obote, for the same purpose of hoodwinking Baganda people!
He ruled Uganda twice and in different decades because of no apparent reason but because God wished it so.
The Okellos:
Then a completely uneducated duo of Tito Lutwa Okello and Bazillio Olara Okello replaced Obote and baptized themselves as the most important Ugandans.
These fellows, if you don’t believe me, once appointed who run Bank of Uganda and the finance ministry. They could, if they wanted, even change the name of our country to whatever pleased them and if they so wished, they could easily force Makerere University to offer degrees upon them in whichever fields of their choice.
Gen. Tito Lutwa Okello surrounded by Bazillio Okello and Gud Wilson Toko said the following after the Nairobi Peace Talks (Peace Jokes according to the NRA):
“chichi (sisi) kwichatoa meno kwacharambwa- we have detoothed the snake!”
The “charambwa- snake” he was referring to was none other than the NRA supreme commander Yoweri Museveni.
Milton Obote called these Okello fellows “illiterate soldiers” he made a mistake of elevating and trusting to command the army. Yoweri Museveni on the other hand, would call them “idiots” and “swines”.
I think they were those things they called them but they ruled Uganda regardless and had a chance to mess things around of course under the supervision of God.
Yoweri Museveni:
And now wait for this. The greatest shock or surprise of them all, was a teacher and son of a nomad: cattle keeper with no permanent abode and a questionable certificate education. He dashed to the Luweero bush in 1981 aged 37 years leading other even young people (including yours truly) to liberate Ugandans from the not-so- serious adults named above.
In case you don’t comprehend the enormity of what Museveni did at 37, look around for today’s 37 year-olds and see what they do with their lives or do for country!
Mr. Kamulegeya (yours truly) was 15 years old when he went to fight alongside Museveni in the bush. What do you find our nowadays 15 year-olds doing with their lives? You tell me Sir or Madam!
If in the 1970s you had met Yoweri Museveni somewhere or at a place called Namanga (Kenya- Tanzania border) and they told you that the small- slender man standing over there with a stick, will be Ugandan president one day, you would have laughed your heart out.
Even his future wife, Janet Kataaha, questioned Museveni’s ability to fight Idi Amin or become a president. She had written in her memoirs, My life’s Journey, interlia the following:
“When I asked (Museveni) what work he was involved in (1972)…he said: “I am fighting Idi Amin.” How funny, I thought to myself. He said it as if it was his job or profession. How could one man even fight a dictator…?”
Well folks, that sums it up. A president comes from nowhere except that God’s invisible hand must be always in the background pushing and encouraging.
It is therefore fair to say that perhaps the invisible hand is behind MK and perhaps not!
Museveni has gone on to rule a country with some of the best scholars in Africa, indeed a clever population to boot, for nearly 40 years! Only three or four presidents have achieved this mark in Africa. And one of these leaders was Muamar Gaddafi (42 years in power) and a great buddy of Yoweri Museveni. It is likely that they used to joke over who would rule longer! After 2026, Museveni will need three more years to win that wager or bet he made with Col. Gaddafi.
Unfortunately for MK, his father is not yet tired and God seems not interested in changing the status quo. He was, singlehandedly, the architect of what Uganda has become and it is only him who knows when to call it quits. He will eventually go but I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
But God, in His infinite wisdom can still make MK or even Bobi Wine our president. How about Norbert Mao, the Gulu gladiator who shakes whatever he touches?
After what you have read above, can you still say “never” for anyone, anyone at all, to rule Uganda after Museveni?
Now also know this: President Yoweri Museveni is a genius and a prophet too. He already has his 2026 “kibalo- calculation” worked out and like the dogs we are; he disguised MK as aa born and all of a sudden we are all salivating. In our small realm of reasoning, we are excited and sharpening our weapons ready to sacrife MK.
It is a decoy folks therefore you still have to contend with Africa’s premier fighting general who is bent on completing 40 years in the wilderness like Prophet Moses.
Knowing Museveni, he must be busy with his 2031 “kibalo” and having a hearty laugh with his beloved cows. Ugandans: he knows; we will never acknowledge that some things are better left to those who know!
Today’s last word is a Banyankole saying:
“Akazaare kakye nokashanga aha muhanda- you meet on the way and become friends or relatives!”
Adam Kamulegeya
adamkam2003@gmail.com
0779104336
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