Museveni should retire - minister Uganda needs to see Museveni hand over to another leader, says veteran Minister Kabwegyere President Museveni’s regime longevity is beginning to generate debate from unusual quarters: his cabinet. Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere, the minister for General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, said in a Tuesday interview that the president needs “to retire and hand over to a new one.” On October 6, as former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi handed over office to his successor, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Kabwegyere caused quite a stir among his cabinet colleagues when he said such a peaceful handover should be emulated by the presidency. “The historicity of this occasion is very important because I have seen many prime ministers handing over to others,” Kabwegyere said. “On Thursday [October 9] we are going to be celebrating 52 years of our independence but for all this long I have never seen a president peacefully handing over to another,” he added. In a separate interview with The Observer on Tuesday, Kabwegyere said he meant exactly what he had said. What I said is the truth. Have we had any president peacefully handing over to another?” the minister asked. The Kabaka [Sir Edward Mutesa II] didn’t hand over to [Dr Apollo Milton] Obote [in 1966], Obote never handed over to [Idi] Amin and neither did Amin hand over to [Prof Yusuf Kironde] Lule, and all the presidents we have had,” Kabwegyere noted. The professor of sociology has been active on Uganda’s political scene since the 1970s. In 1979, he served as minister of Lands and Natural Resources in the short-lived post-Amin government. Kabwegyere returned to his teaching job at Makerere University in 1982, bouncing back to cabinet in 1987 when Museveni appointed him minister of state minister for Foreign Affairs. Besides previously representing Igara West in parliament, he has served in different cabinet portfolios since 1987. Four-time winner Since coming to power in 1986 following a five-year guerilla war, Museveni has stood for elections four times and on each occasion won comfortably, notwithstanding opposition charges of rigging. In Kabwegyere’s view, Uganda needs to hold an election through which power can eventually change hands. Since 1986 [when NRM came to power], what we have had is the same person receiving instruments of power, [but] we are talking of a moment after an election where an outgoing president hands over to a new one,” Kabwegyere said. That is the moment we are all looking for. The pinnacle of all this is to have a president retire and hand over to a new one,” he added. Many Ugandans believe such a transition, even if within the same political organisation, would help consolidate Uganda’s political stability. In Kenya and Tanzania, this culture has now become entrenched, with leaders changing at least every 10 years. However, Kabwegyere may have to wait a long time to see it happen in Uganda because during its February retreat at Kyankwanzi, the NRM caucus passed a resolution seeking to declare Museveni unopposed as the party’s chairman and president in the 2016 elections. In 2005, the constitution was amended to remove a clause that restricted the president to two five-year terms. Asked if he doesn’t risk being misunderstood and probably hounded like his colleagues who have previously spoken out against Museveni’s long hold onto power, Kabwegyere said: I am not in the category of shallow [thinkers].At independence I was about 22 or 23 years; I am [therefore] talking about a history of Uganda that has been here and will be here for tens of thousands of years.” He added: “There is a tomorrow for Uganda, and that tomorrow is bigger than a few individuals among us. We are just players in the building of tomorrow, and our quality of play is what will guarantee a peaceful and happy tomorrow.” Asked whether he was sympathetic to Mbabazi, whose sacking as prime minister last month is believed to be linked to his unstated presidential ambition, Kabwegyere sounded philosophical: “I am in this country not by mistake; it was not by accident that I was born here and it was not my choice. We have to think about the future of our country, and the kind of history we will leave behind.” He added: “Our mistakes will be separated from our good works; our successes and failures combined will educate future generations on how to make a better Uganda.” Recent press reports suggested that Prof Kabwegyere had attempted to reconcile Museveni and his erstwhile confidant Mbabazi. Talking to us, he neither denied no confirmed this. Earlier this week, another senior NRM figure, Francis Babu, a former minister and the party’s vice chairman for Kampala, also expressed concern about Museveni’s long hold onto power. In an interview published by The Observer on Wednesday, Babu said the time has come for a transition from Museveni to another president. observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34285:-museveni-should-retire-minister-&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 02:43:49 +0000