[Ugnet] Re: [Ugandacom] NRM pushing Ugandans to levels of an uprising

[Edward Mulindwa]

Kironde   As much as I agree with your sentiments, I don't think Besigye is the current problem of Uganda, I think the talks fracas in Juba today are the major problem in Uganda today. For some of us wonder what Museveni and Konny hold in the bag, and we do not have a population in Uganda to know that these talks are a game of a shrewd Museveni who has used the same games to be in power this long. Museveni throws a born and the entire population jumps on it unquestionably.   So one can wonder, Eriya Kategaya who FDC introduced as their man, ended up being a Movement man, is Konny a Museveni man created to destabilize North? Is Kiiza Besigye a Museveni man created to clean up the West by getting to know who is who in Western Uganda politics? Was for example Kiiza Besigye used to make Dr Muniini Mulera show his true colors that he is not a Movementist as he claimed to be?   And the rest of us as Ugandans wait on side lines as this one man uses the entire population.   Em Toronto    The Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"             Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Kironde To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 9:04 PM Subject: Re: [Ugandacom] NRM pushing Ugandans to levels of an uprising Likewise, Dr Besigye needs to be aware that uprising is not proprietary.  I do not think that he will be surprised to find that there are many Ugandans determined not to be taken 20 years back, but  are willing to build on what has been achieved and move forward.  If FDC registered Violence ® as their trademark, someone is bound to infringe those rights.   gook makanga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: NRM pushing Ugandans to levels of an uprising Dr Kizza Besigye, leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), was the runner-up in the February presidential election. In an exclusive interview with Rodney Muhumuza, he explains why internal dissent is good for a political party, and why Kampala hosting the Commonwealth Summit next year remains a bad idea Your party is rocked by internal dissent and suspicion. Are you still in the right direction? As you say, ours is a political party. A political party is an organisation of political people brought together by political interests. In any political party, you will find a lot of debate about political directions, and this is perfectly healthy. It is not a sign of disharmony; it is a sign of vibrancy. It means that contradictions are being discussed and points taken are rising out of those contradictions. In fact, it is contradictions in any organisation that really propel progress. As someone said, the only place you don’t find any dissenting voice is the graveyard. Photo by Ismail Kezaala I think junior party members are challenging the power, judgement, and responsibility of Prof. Ogenga Latigo. Do you find that he inspires confidence in the party? Nobody is challenging any authority. Even myself, when members of my party, at whatever level, express a different view of myself or of the views I hold, it is not a suggestion that they do not respect me. It is just that they differ from the view I hold. The fact that they express criticisms or differences even with those with high offices of the party is a healthy position, because it means that no view is being gagged. That must actually be encouraged because we are running away from the situation of the [National Resistance Movement] where there is only one person with a vision and any alternative view is subversion. It is perfectly okay not only to oppose or differ from the positions of Prof. Latigo but even of Besigye. It is incumbent upon me to articulate supportive evidence for my view so that I convince others to buy into it, but not simply to go along with the idea that whatever the president says is right or if it is challenged, that there is a problem in the party. Prof. Latigo does not share your passion. And there are those who feel that he is too relenting or even lenient for his own good. Do you buy that assessment? Well, if he did not share my passion, he would not be within our party. Our party is one of very passionate leaders, and in fact, the party is built around a kind of enthusiasm for change that any person who is not passionate is not likely to be a member of the FDC. You know how much we have been harassed by state agencies, and a lot of sacrifice has had to be made by members of our party, especially the leaders. So no person of the level of leadership of Prof. Latigo could be less passionate. And I am certain that Prof. Latigo is indeed a passionate leader of the opposition in Parliament and of the party as its Vice-President. What people must realise is that all leaders will differ in terms of their style and approach. I have been criticised personally for being aggressive and for exhibiting expressions that suggest that I am an angry man. That is my character: that is my style of leadership, my style of _expression_, which obviously would be different from that of Prof. Latigo. He comes from the background of an academic, and I think he is more diplomatic in his engagement and _expression_. But on the principle, we don’t differ. I think there is no indication at all within the party that he does not inspire the party as its leader. You are known to have said that the Museveni administration will not survive until 2011. Were you speculating? It’s not just an idle speculation. It is arising out of an analysis of what is going on in the country. The fact is that the NRM regime and the leadership of Mr Museveni has failed the country so badly that there is mounting discontent approaching levels of an uprising, with people extremely frustrated by the failures of the NRM. Apart from the appearance of a central coercive authority, the functions of the state have generally failed. You find that the medical services are not functioning, education institutions are not functioning, infrastructure is totally broken down, there is no air transport, ferries are gone, there is no power and it’s like we are living in the 50s. So there is general discontent not only within the opposition but also among people who voted for President Museveni. The direction the government is taking, judged alongside the state of the country today, cannot give a different prediction other than that this regime will collapse at any time even before 2011. So if the Kampala regime were to collapse, it wouldn’t be so much because of what FDC has done or how strong it is? What the FDC possibly does in that context is to shine a torch on those problems so that everybody clearly understands where the problem is and how it has come about, and also to show them that these problems are not inevitable. That if a regime took a different course, the results would be completely different. It is completely possible to turn around this situation. If you recall, we were in almost a similar situation in 1986. Everything had broken down and the society was as hopeless, but by around 1990, the situation had drastically changed. So it is perfectly possible to reverse the situation in which we are today. The popular view is that Besigye is the only credible political challenger to President Museveni. Is that a weakness? Even before it comes to strength or weakness, it is not a correct statement. Besigye is certainly not the only credible challenger. There are many credible challengers to President Museveni, not only within the FDC, but also within other parties and even outside the political parties. In the last elections, you had Dr [Abed] Bwanika, who came out of nowhere. Within two months, he had hundreds of thousands of votes, without any institutional support. So this country is endowed with capable leaders; what has been frustrating has been the political environment. Some of the capable leaders out there consider that the cost of engaging in politics is too high just to give the country a contribution. And so if somebody considers that in order to do that, I must go to Luzira and wear chains and be abused, some people say that that cost is too high. Who knew about Museveni until he emerged out of the bush? Even in 1980, he went to contest in Nyabushozi in his village and he couldn’t recover the money they deposited; you had to deposit some money that was recoverable if you won a certain percentage of the vote. Defeated by [Sam] Kutesa, he got too few votes that he could not recover his deposit. So are you suggesting that Kutesa could not lead the country if he was able to defeat Museveni so miserably? Maybe Kutesa is a better leader than Museveni. There is a plan to massively recruit party members. How is it going? We launched a strategic plan for the party; it is a plan for what we intend to do in the next five years. This plan is important for the party because it is the basis on which our members can seek accountability from us. In this plan, there are several important areas on which we intend to concentrate, one of which is the reorganisation of our structures right from the grassroots to the national level. Previously, our structures were based on a branch at the sub- county. Now we amended our constitution to lower that branch to the village. In every village, that branch is supposed to elect its leadership and from that village, we are supposed to have leadership elected at all levels up to the National Delegates Conference. That work has already begun. Now we are in the process of launching our party cards probably on Independence Day. And once the cards are out, they will be like a re-certification of our membership. We had already registered our members; they have registration cards. Now they will bring those cards but new members will register and be given cards, which are at Shs1,000 for an ordinary card. Apart from the ordinary cards, we have what we call the corporate cards, which are for the more able and supportive people in terms of funding the party. The most expensive of such cards costs Shs5 million. So once we have now got a paid-up membership, which is the next phase, then the paid-up members will elect their leaders following that structure from the village up to the national level. We expect that soon we will have revamped nation-wide structures of the FDC and that the membership is going to be much higher than where we had stopped over the last elections. It is reported that the issue of procuring luxurious cars for MPs has divided your party Yes. And our party is certainly not for what I saw being depicted in the Monitor - that we want our members to drive 4-wheel Mercedes and so on. Even that controversy that you say has divided the party is just an exaggeration. There is nothing at all like division of the party. We discussed it at our last meeting but was just one of so many issues we discuss every Thursday. Our position is that members of Parliament should be facilitated but that facilitation should not be viewed in isolation of the facilitation of the other essential public servants. I get services from a wide range of public servants who are essential for my survival-I want all of them to be reasonably facilitated. It will be inequitable to give Shs60 million to an MP when we are even failing to pay Shs200,000 to a [primary school] teacher. Our position is that MPs should be facilitated, but in order to achieve that, the number of MPs should be reduced. In our platform, we pointed out that every 200,000 people should be represented by one MP, in which case, with our 26 million people, we should not have more than 130 MPs. What is the FDC’s position on Kampala hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting? Our position on Chogm has never changed. What we said of the Chogm was that it was a wonderful thing for Uganda, but that it must also be used by the Commonwealth to insist on the standards that the Commonwealth has set itself for member states. Heads of state should not come to Kampala and dine and wine when people are rotting in safe houses, when people are illegally detained in Luzira. Gook Yahoo! 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