This mistake should not be repeated. We know Musevei will go, Who should succeed Museveni as next president of Uganda? Who should succeed Museveni as next president of Uganda? The principal purpose of studying history is not to memorize names and dates but to draw lessons so that good practices are emulated with modification as appropriate and mistakes are not repeated. Under civic education we have been writing and discussing the history of Uganda and the Great Lakes region. We have seen the adverse impact of Tutsi on the political economy of the region and how the NRM regime is using exploitative and debilitating methods of pre-colonial Rwanda where the Hutu and later Bairu in Uganda were dispossessed, exploited and even sold as slaves by Tutsi. Human trafficking which is currently taking place in Uganda is slave trade under another name. Land grabbing that is occurring in Uganda is a repeat of what happened in pre-colonial Rwanda. Our current leaders have roots in Rwanda and Burundi. By Radio Free Buganda on Sunday, 14 July 2013 at 12:20 In this contribution we are going to examine the mistakes we Ugandans have made in selecting political leaders, with a view to avoiding a repeat of those mistakes. There are three major problems. First, shortly before independence, experienced politicians were replaced by inexperienced ones – mostly in their thirties. Matayo Mugwanya was replaced by Ben Kiwanuka; Ignatius Musazi by Milton Obote; George Magezi by John Kakonge and William Rwetsiba by Grace Ibingirae. Kakonge and Ibingira had just come out of school. Obote had been in Kenya during Mau Mau, returned to Uganda in 1957 and didn’t know Uganda and Uganda didn’t know him. Second, those in the opposition have focused on unseating the head of state and forgot about the successor. Some had concluded that any successor would automatically be better than the incumbent. After the 1964 referendum on the lost counties and the 1966/67 political and constitutional crisis, some Ugandans decided Obote had to go. They spent their efforts on unseating him and did not bother to think about the successor. When Amin landed in State House after the 1971 military coup with foreign help, there was jubilation particularly in the nation’s capital City of Kampala. Amin’s murderous record in Kenya and on Mengo was ignored and Amin was received with open arms as the savior of Uganda. When Obote returned in the 1981 election considered rigged by those in the opposition although the Commonwealth Observer team had passed it given the prevailing circumstances, some people including those in UPM who had genuinely lost decided not to wait for the next election but to wage a guerrilla war without carrying out a cost/benefit analysis. The assumption was that a Catholic or DP supporter would automatically be the next president because it is DP and not UPM that felt victory was stolen from them. So when Museveni offered his military services and got overwhelming support of Baganda and Catholics, they never thought Museveni had a chance of becoming the next president. Even when Lule (RIP) passed on a year before NRM/NRA captured Kampala and Museveni advised that the priority was to defeat Obote regime, none thought Museveni would betray them. Consequently, none bothered to dig into the history of Museveni including where and how he grew up and even where he was born. By the time Okello regime fell, it was too late to raise the issue of Lule’s successor. Museveni, the acting chairman of NRM who happened to be the army commander of the guerrillas became president by default and he knew it and was aware it was going to cause him problems if he did not confuse Ugandans with a short-term government of national unity in which Baganda and Catholics had the lion’s share of cabinet posts. This four-year term gave Museveni the opportunity to weed out those he feared – real and imagined – and consolidate his position. By 1990, nobody would push him out because he was no longer a chicken to be chased out of the house, as Museveni observed. Going back, the same thing happened at the Moshi conference of 1979 where the government of Tanzania didn’t know what to do when Amin government was about to fall. It hurriedly convened a conference of Ugandans in exile in Moshi without adequate preparations. The only thing the majority agreed on was not to let Obote become president again. They forgot about who should succeed Amin. Someone gave them Lule and they had no choice but to comply. This mistake should not be repeated. We know Musevei will go and it could be sooner than many Ugandans think. The opposition is focusing on chasing Museveni from power and virtually little attention has been paid to who should succeed him. All that we have been discussing is whether the next president should be a soldier, another Mututsi or tutsified Uganda or a civilian. Before settling this issue we need to correct the third mistake namely suggesting names before agreeing on the profile for the next president. We have had independence for fifty years and we are now in the 21st century that has introduced major changes or consolidating globalization where the weak are being swallowed up by the strong. We are entering a phase of development that calls for integrating economic, social and environmental dimensions in a sustainable manner. There is also a new thinking of economic growth that is inclusive and equitable. These are fundamental changes come post-2015 when a new development agenda will be adopted by the international community of which Uganda is a member. Therefore before we begin to think about individuals for the post of president, we need to agree on a comprehensive profile of the kind of president we want that will lead Uganda with confidence, experience, patriotism, impeccable character and no excess baggage. Then those interested will come forward and make their case that they are the best. We then need an independent vetting commission to scrutinize candidates and agree on those that should compete. To avoid buying votes, Ugandans should agree on standardizing campaign finance so that all presidential candidates have the same amount of money and air time. The same vetting arrangement and standard campaign finance should apply to members of parliament. This way Uganda will likely avoid the mistakes in the past and elect credible leaders to move Uganda forward in peace, national and individual security, liberty, justice, dignity and happiness for all. SUMMARY RADIO FREE BUGANDA Ugandda history going back in time, the same thing happened at the Moshi conference of 1979 where the government of Tanzania didn’t know what to do when Amin government was about to fall. It hurriedly convened a conference of Ugandans in exile in Moshi without adequate preparations. The only thing the majority agreed on was not to let Obote become president again. They forgot about who should succeed Amin. Someone gave them Lule and they had no choice but to comply. This mistake should not be repeated. We know Musevei will go and it could be sooner than many Ugandans think. The opposition is focusing on chasing Museveni from power and virtually little attention has been paid to who should succeed him. All that we have been discussing is whether the next president should be a soldier, another Mututsi or tutsified Uganda or a civilian. Before settling this issue we need to correct the third mistake namely suggesting names before agreeing on the profile for the next president. We have had independence for fifty years and we are now in the 21st century that has introduced major changes or consolidating globalization where the weak are being swallowed up by the strong. We are entering a phase of development that calls for integrating economic, social and environmental dimensions in a sustainable manner. There is also a new thinking of economic growth that is inclusive and equitable. These are fundamental changes come post-2015 when a new development agenda will be adopted by the international community of which Uganda is a member. Therefore before we begin to think about individuals for the post of president, we need to agree on a comprehensive profile of the kind of president we want that will lead Uganda with confidence, experience, patriotism, impeccable character and no excess baggage. By Radio Free Buganda on Sunday, 14 July 2013 at 12:20
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 11:14:24 +0000
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