When the People Power Movement was formed to resist the removal of presidential age limits, it did a good job of attracting more young people in politics and made them realise that politics actually do affect their lives too. For a long time, a substantial majority of the younger generation have been following Uganda politics, though, recently, so many of them have been brainwashed to think that Besigye is bad, Museveni is bad, and Kyagulanyi is good.
Nevertheless, there are no detectable differences in the political attitudes of people in their late teens and people in their early 40s. It is very rare for people to grow out of their political ideas as they get older.
Most voters born after 1979 believe that Idi Amin was a good president for Uganda, and that both Obote and Amin were better presidents than Museveni. Most of those born before 1971 see Obote as a better leader than Amin and Museveni. Most of the over 60s see Museveni as better than any other president.
I come from a generation that has grown up under only one president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni. I started primary school when he was president. I finished university and I’m now a dad, and he’s still president. I have taught myself Uganda political history, and I believe Amin, Obote, Museveni have all contributed enormously to Uganda one way or the other, regardless of their weaknesses.
NRM and Museveni aren’t bothered by your age or worried about future voters. They’re only concerned about maintaining power. Museveni knows most young people like songs and dancing, so, he would make an ‘Mpenkoni’ song and sing in it, just to make an impression on you. He knows you like music so much, so he can easily create his own opposition through a musician or musicians. He knows that regardless of the fact that Uganda has the youngest population in the world, his party will cheat at the next general election by votes going missing, excluding people from voting, and if there’s a huge turnout, the polling stations will be closed before the queuing voters have cast their votes.
Museveni knows that most Ugandans are totally ignorant of politics. They stick on some slogans and words said by politicians and run with them. If, for instance, some novice politician said something, like, ‘ebitayina Makulu tetubiwa Makulu’, in response to something he had no answer for, you will find all ignorant people running with it in their responses.
It’s really crass, nobody’s opinion deserves to be rubbished basing on their age. A lot of young people speak as much sense as elders. I started Ugandans at heart in my early 20s but a lot of people I meet now thought I was in my 50s or 60s, because I respected elders and learnt a lot from them.
Museveni came to power with the help of the NRA ‘Kadogos’(teens). So, he knows how the mind of a teen works very well. Your age as a teen or 20 old something, is something old people always take advantage of if you aren’t careful.
It absolutely bewilders me how young people can still be saying things like: ” Kyagulanyi is a leader of our generation”, “muntu mukulu lwakebuza magezi”, e.t.c. yet they are responding to people that are in the same age bracket as Kyagulanyi, or even possibly younger than him, considering that they are question marks on his actual year of birth (1979,1980 or 1982). I am just sorry that the NUP party has allowed and manipulated the appalling character assassination of such a true and fine person as Besigye.
Uganda’s main problems: ignorance, diseases, poverty and corruption, since independence haven’t changed. Poverty, for instance, affects a teen in the same way as a 50-year-old, and the solutions to this problem remain the same. Please respect people older than you, because, within a short time, you going to be like them or worse(Quran, Surat Yasin, Verse 68).
What’s astounding is that most NUP supporters accuse people like Besigye of being Museveni apologists not by refuting Besigye’s facts (which are documented) but by arguing that whoever doesn’t support Kyagulanyi is a mole. As though, the truth becomes false as soon as it doesn’t serve Kyagulanyi’s interests.
This dirty tactic is popular with the Israel lobby. Write a piece exposing ugly facts about Israel and they’ll scour the net till they find a neo-Nazi site that republished it. Then, they don’t need to address the facts. Truth becomes a lie just because it serves neo-Nazis too.
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