The only lesson man can ever learn from history is that man never learns from history. there is no shortage of examples to illustrate that statement. Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye is a a good example. It is only because Dr Besigye failed to learn from history that he could ever imagine that he would create some impression by announcing that he would boycott the 2006 elections. A lesson from history would have reminded the medical doctor-cum soldier-cum politician that the boycott theory had been tested by two others â Dr. Apolo Milton Obote and Dr. Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere â and had been proved futile.
In the absence of any lesson from history Besigye could not judge his boycott threat against the numerous boycotts claimed to have been declared by Oboteâs UPC and Ssemogerereâs DP in respect of various election exercises. When the Constituent Assembly elections were conducted, Oboteâs directive was that UPC must boycott the exercise. Many UPC members defied the directive of the âLife Presidentâ and a handful managed to filter through to the Assembly but were not many enough to prevent the Movementâs grip on the vital issues. UPC repeated its boycott proclamation in the 1996 and 2001 presidential and parliamentary polls, and ended up with exactly the same state of affairs. In the same manner, Semogerereâs DP could not in the 2001 polls retrieve from Ken Lukyamuzi the parliamentary seat they stupidly let slip into his arms when DP boycotted the 1996 parliamentary elections. So what is Dr. Besigye dreaming about when he tells his Reform Agenda he has no agenda for returning home and has decided to boycott the 2006 polls? The bitter truth is that the elections in 2006 do not depend on the participation of Besigye as an individual or the Reform Agenda as a political party. Ugandans will exercise their right to pick who deserves to lead this country and it will not matter if some people are too timid to venture on the weighing scale. Be that as it may, I am heartened by the decision by the Reform Agenda leadership to register as a political party. I have on several times in this column endeavoured to convince the Reform Agenda spokesperson, Beti Kamya that registration is the only way forward. It seems that the Reform Agenda have now discovered the futility of disguising themselves as a pressure group and realised the fact that in politics one has no option but to take the bull by the horns. Ironically, Besigyeâs call for a polls boycott and Reform Agendaâs registration u-turn, do not seem to tally. But I suppose those are anomalies that will have to be ironed out in the course of time. But it is pertinent to point out that the Reform Agenda gave the wrong reason for leaving the other G7 members â DP, UPC and CP in the cold. They advanced the view that those three parties could continue operating as political parties without having to register because they are recognised by the Constitution. That is a misconception. The constitution categorically states that those partiesâ existence is recognised up to the enactment of the law that prescribes the manner in which political parties are to be set up which includes registration. That law is now in place, and every political party has to be registered under that law in order to be legally recognised. Ends |
