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Article Published on:
29th July 2004. |
| Why they won�t quit |
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By F.D.R Gureme The popular _expression_ �sweet chair,� by former President Godfrey Binaisa currently spices every political discussion. What however is generally overlooked is the precious aspect of the chair: the safe haven angle. Paradoxically, �the people� know next to nothing about the constitutional issues involved. Some councillors have naively threatened to take Museveni to court should he turn down the �people�s� wish that he rule till death doth us part, clearly oblivious of his immunity to court charges. He sacked close friends; mature and wise counsellors who openly opposed the open-ended presidency, in favour of callow, praise singing upstarts. He has initiated and pushed hasty unconstitutional legislation, whose ultimate purpose is to perpetuate his presidency, conscientiously annulled by the Judiciary, which he has brazenly affronted. I recently attended a seminar on the implications of the Constitutional Court judgement in petition No. 3 of 2000. Young presidential aide Hussein Kashillingi was the only one from the government side. Pitted against old timers like senior counsel Godfrey Lule, Dr. Jean Barya (his erstwhile lecturer), Abdul Katuntu and Augustine Ruzindana, and the triumphant Paul Ssemogerere, I really felt anxious for him. However, Kashillingi soon put my fears to rest. Given a few more Kashillingis, the President would never have put himself in the Aunt Sally position that he did on that sad Sunday, June 27, 2004 when he mercilessly insulted the Judiciary following the now famous Constitutional Court ruling. In my letter to President Binaisa dated August 20, 1979 (Appendix II of my unpublished book �From Whitehall to Idi Amin�), I posed: �What makes a perfectly intelligent African leader the docile victim of the venom of flattery; what is it that changes a broad-minded and outward-looking crusader into a self-centred, narrow-minded, little individual?� Indeed, what is it that makes an initially patriotic and seemingly selfless leader into the introverted self-interested fang-bearing racoon, overstaying his popularity, and forfeiting his precious rewards of a generous valedictory, veneration and goodwill? Artificial frenzies often characterise most dictatorships. Not unlike the story of the King�s New Clothes by the 19th Century Danish fairy story writer, Hans Christian Andersen, where conmen �tailors� bamboozled the king�s courtiers, and the king himself, that they were making new robes for the king, which could only be seen and felt by those �fit for their offices�. Although they sat at non-existent �sewing machines;� and later invited the king to try on the �robes,� the whole display was a hoax. On D-day, the king was paraded on the streets stark naked, as everybody loudly applauded the king�s �magnificent new robes�, lest they be considered unworthy of office. Everybody except a little girl, who had accompanied her mother among thousands lining the streets, cheered the �superbly attired� king. Now tell me, was the little girl unfit for her office of childhood? Compare this with the choruses, �Museveni is 70 percent popular; he is too young to retire; he is irreplaceable; he is the only man with a vision for Uganda�.� What is it that impels African leaders to resist retirement when they have done their constitutional olubimbi (quotas)? I recently cited obwooba and obwooro, translated as awe and owe. That is to say, abject fear and poverty. Awe [minus love] because Museveni arrived atop a bazooka, and is presumed to be �popular� with the numerous security organs. Also, fear by the bigger courtiers because he is the screen cloaking them from jail or exile. Owe because of our perpetual status of job seekers, where Cabinet and local councillors owe their jobs to the President. The author is a retired civil servant, regular writer and social critic. Contact: 077-401173 |
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