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Hello Mr President:
By David Ouma Balikowa |
Did Odoi ‘fox up’ his boss’ game plan of 2006?
Nov 26, 2004
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Mr Fox Odoi the president's legal assistant declared last week that his boss is standing for office again in 2006. From early last year when the 'third term" saga begun, State House and government fought hard to suppress any suggestion that President Museveni was fighting to lift the two term limits so that he could be eligible for stand. In 2006, Museveni would have ruled this country for two decades. The children born in the year he shot his way into power will in 2006 enter their second year at university. This year alone, there were numerous clarifications in the media whenever it alluded to the fact that Museveni would stand in 2006. At that material time there was a painful attempt to try separate the bid to lift the term limits and Museveni's self interest as the direct beneficiary.
Such assumptions seemed to ignore even the very basic rules in politics. A late surprise announcement would neither help his party the NRM/O nor the person he would want to replace him as president. It is important to understand how Museveni operates - something many of his opponents and supporters alike never do. As early as 1996, it was evident that Museveni harboured no intention of quitting power; not even in 2001, 2006 or 2012. Yet the mere mention of this earned one the wrath of Museveni's die-hard supporters, some of them now in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). They rubbished any suggestion that Museveni would try to stay on after 20 years in power as very pre-sumptuous and at worst a hatred campaign against the president. The plot to burst the two term limits was kicked into motion as early as 2001 soon after Museveni commenced on his fourth term in office. During the campaign for his fourth term, he told the nation that he didn't care if people elected MPs who went into parliament to sleep but as long as they woke up in time to vote on the president's side. There had been a consolation among the opposition that some MPs will eat Museveni's money but vote with the opposition. Or that they will pretend to sleep in parliament but wake up in time to vote against Museveni. If there are MPs in this category, they seem to have failed their first test. Last week they voted against the opposition's attempts to probe the source of the Shs 5m the NRM/O dished out to them to support the lifting of the term limits. The test proved that they are more inclined to vote by the pocket and not their conscience. The high stakes are simply too high and Museveni will do everything to retain office at all costs. The opposition -- especially the FDC -- might be better off working on the assumption that they are instead the ones being duped by these MPs who are pretending to be simply eating Museveni's money. Some of FDC's MPs have not broken link with NRM/O and it is very difficult to gauge exactly where they belong. To the contrary, the bitter truth is that Museveni has a higher capacity to infiltrate the opposition with more precision. The entire state security and intelligence machinery is at his disposal to carry out the dirt job. Never mind that he would be using taxpayers' money to penetrate the opposition and gain political advantage over his opponents. To this day, former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye might still not know the extent to which his camp was infiltrated during the 2001 campaigns. The inside story of the dirty work by the intelligence organs will be a master seller when finally written. The "bribing" we witnessed at the MP level will soon trickle down to the districts if it is not doing so already. As early as 2002, the NRM started recruiting in the districts mobilisers for the 2006 project. Many of the recruits are district employees. They ferried them to the so-called political school in Kyankwanzi where they prepared them for the 2006 project. The "force" will soon be motivated the way the MPs were and unleashed on the opposition. Those screaming about the treasury being raided haven't seen anything yet. They will soon scream their throats hoarse. Unfortunately, not many influential voice's will respond to their alarm. The donors will try to threaten Museveni, but he will not be deterred by "diplomatic noise." He is got used to it and can afford to ignore it. Besides he can juggle government spending in a manner that disguises political expenditures and easily shake the donors off his trail. An American friend recently remarked to me: "I suppose international pressure will not be nearly sufficient to turn Museveni from his goals. What a shame to relinquish the possibility of a honoured retirement for the certainty of a dishonoured entrenchment. I guess it takes some personal greatness to willingly step down… "I'm afraid President Bush will be a hindrance rather than a help; as usual the American president will overlook the democratic lapses in an 'ally'…" It is now almost certain that parliament will rubber-stamp the lifting of the term limits and make Museveni eligible for presidency in 2006. But the fracas in parliament when MPs nearly came to blows, revealed the deep emotions running down the population. The international community currently has its eyes glued on to the ongoing peace deal in the north with Joseph Kony's Lord Resistance Army. There is all the hope that war in the north will end. The stakes to end the war are even higher for Museveni. He calculates that the end of the war would somehow renew his credentials before the international community and justify his bid for a fifth term. But while the eyes and ears are glued to the north, the international community is forgetting that the political fracas in parliament last week and the wider political landscape ensures that the vicious cycle of war in the country will most likely continue. If Odoi had made the remark about Museveni's plan to contest for office in 2006 before the Shs 5m went around the MPs, he would most probably have been accused of "sexing up" Museveni's intentions. At most he can be accused of "foxing up" the boss' intentions at the right moment. That is rewardable. Very soon anyone who "foxes up" Museveni's intention to stand will be rewarded the way MPs were. [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
© 2004 The Monitor Publications
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