By Emma Mutaizibwa
July 2, 2003
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President had no answer, says MP American leader, Mr George W. Bush, who is visiting Uganda next week, has told President Yoweri Museveni to "forget" the third term. According to information available to The Monitor, President Bush "advised" President Museveni to respect the 1995 Constitution and retire in 2006 when his second term ends. The “advise” reportedly came last month during Museveni's visit to the United States where he met with Bush at the White House. According to Mr Geoffrey Ekanya, the Tororo County MP who has just returned from the United States, Bush acknowledged Museveni's leadership in fighting HIV/Aids and his support for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). That was the good news for Museveni, according to Ekanya, who quotes sources at the State Department and the US Congress in Washington, D.C. Two Movement organs, the National Conference and the National Executive Committee, recently proposed that the Constitution should be amended to lift term limits for the president. Critics responded with charges that it is Museveni who is pushing for the amendment so that he can run again in 2006. According to Ekanya, however, sources at the State Department said that after all the praises, Bush "shocked" Museveni when he asked the Ugandan leader to retire in 2006. Bush reportedly said that he would like to be introduced to Museveni's successor the next time they meet, Ekanya told The Monitor yesterday. MP Ekanya, also secretary general of the opposition Reform Agenda, said that Museveni did not immediately answer. Another source in Washington, D.C. also said that Museveni was shocked. "It was like he had been hit by 15 atomic bombs," the source said. According to the source, the original agenda arranged by Museveni's promoter, Ms Rosa Whittaker, had only two items – Aids and Agoa. The State Department, increasingly critical of Museveni's style, had been left out of it, the source said. "They even got the US ambassador in Kampala to brief Bush before he met Museveni. That threw Whittaker and the Ugandan president completely off balance," the source told The Monitor on phone. According to Ekanya, Bush told Museveni that they should both respect their constitutions and retire to go and look after their cattle in Rwakitura and Crawford (Texas), respectively. Bush keeps a ranch in Texas while Museveni keeps cattle on both his farms at Kisozi and Rwakitura. Sources in the State Department said that Bush also detailed Secretary of State Colin Powell to emphasise the need for Museveni to leave power in 2006. The Americans also reportedly told the president to do something to quickly end the 17-year conflict in northern Uganda. Ekanya said that Museveni responded by blaming the Sudan for supporting and arming Mr Joseph Kony's LRA rebels who have sown mayhem in northern Uganda since 1988. Bush also reportedly told Museveni not to send Ugandan troops back into the DR Congo "under any circumstances", another source close to the State Department told The Monitor. Some members of the US Congress also reportedly gave Museveni the same message when the president visited Capitol Hill. Museveni is said to have recovered his composure to hit back at the US Congress when some speakers criticised him over Uganda's role in the DR Congo conflict. "If you people [Americans] had not killed Patrice Lumumba [DR Congo's first Prime Minister assassinated in 1961] all this mess in the DR Congo would not be there," Museveni reportedly hit back. The Congress members present fell silent, the source said. According to Ekanya, the Americans also told the president to free political parties and restore full democracy without any conditions. Bush reportedly also asked Museveni to deal firmly with corruption in the army (UPDF) and the government, sources said. Museveni’s request for funding from the Millennium Challenge Account was reportedly rejected, according to other sources at the World Bank and the US Treasury Department. The Millennium Challenge Account funds are granted to developing countries that adhere to the principles of democracy, human rights and fight against corruption. Ekanya said that part of the American civil society is furious that Museveni signed the so-called Article 18 Agreement with the United States to exempt American soldiers and officials from prosecution at the International Criminal Court. Officials at the American embassy in Kampala have refused to comment on what Bush said or did not say to Museveni. An embassy official, who asked not to be named, said that they would not wish to embarrass any of the parties ahead of Bush's visit here next week. However, Ms Mary Karooro Okurut, the president's press secretary who travelled with him to the United States last month, denied that Bush or anyone else had talked to Museveni about retirement or against the third term. I never heard any talk about the third term, Okurut told The Monitor yesterday. But according to a Ugandan journalist living in the United States, "Bush literally told Museveni to go and look after his cows after 2006". "Of course, Museveni can decide to ignore the Americans and go for the third term. But that means that he may have to look elsewhere for new allies," he said. A political analyst in Kampala yesterday told The Monitor that Museveni has made up his mind that if the "external pressure becomes unbearable" he would endorse Vice President Gilbert Bukenya to replace him in 2006. "I think he has decided on that already and what they are doing now is to try and cultivate an impeccable image for Bukenya so that he can stand tall and high when presented before the electorate in 2006," the analyst said. According to the analyst, President Museveni's aide, Mr Moses Byaruhanga, has recently been headhunting for a suitable press secretary for the vice president. "They are looking for someone who can build Bukenya's image? someone who can tell him; 'don't say this or say this,'" the analyst said. Information available to The Monitor indicates that one of the names being floated for Bukenya's press secretary is that of Sunday Vision journalist, Mr Simon Kaheru. Sources said that South African President Thabo Mbeki and former President Nelson Mandela are the other leaders who have recently asked Museveni not to go for the third term in 2006. "Mandela and Mbeki have both asked Museveni not to take the path of Frederick Chiluba [of Zambia] or Bakili Muluzi [of Malawi] because it would destroy him too," a source said. According to the sources, however, Museveni has dismissed Mbeki and Mandela's fears. The president reportedly responded that "Uganda's case is unique and not like that of Zambia or Malawi". |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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