CAN AMAMA MBABAZI EAT INTO MUSEVENIS POWER BASE - THE MILITARY?? The recent retreat by Museveni and his cohorts to Kyankwanzi was about nothing else other than the dictator reasserting his authority on the party and the country. Museveni had rightly got information that his confidant and NRA Secretary General Amama Mbabazi was mobilizing to unseat him from the party leadership during the forthcoming party primaries to elect a flag bearer. Since the scrapping of term limits, the shy Museveni shamelessly declares his intentions to seek another term at least a few days before nominations. This time round he has come forward early in order to counter the internal threat posed by Mbabazi. Museveni is very much aware that there is a big section of his NRA supporters who strongly feel that he should relinguish the party leadership if the party is to survive. Such supporters are mainly obsessed by Musevenis schemes to groom his son to take over leadership of the party and the country. Amama Mbabazi who all along had believed that Museveni would hand over to him, has also lost all hope. He had got this false belief after Museveni retained him as both Secretary General and Prime Minister. This too much power coupled by being almost the only founding member still stuck around Museveni gave Mbabazi a false impression. He was therefore shocked to learn that instead Museveni was propping up his youthful son Brig Muhoozi. Its against this background that Mbabazi decided to challenge his boss first by targeting the youth because this is Muhozis constituency. Much as Musevenis power base is the military, he has always hidden under the cover of being elected by his party and the people as the sole candidate with a vision. A challenger like Mbabazi would neutralise this long held belief meant to blackmail Ugandans and the world. The military has always provided him with a backing to his election efforts through intimidation and direct vote rigging under the guise of providing election security. Museveni has always enjoyed monopoly support from the army and security services during elections. He has always warned other contestants against encroaching on his private army. Leave alone the likes of Prof. Bukenya who are NRA supporters of convenience, Amama Mbabazi is an original NRA and a proven insider who cant call Museveni by name but Mzee (Old man). As a former Leuteant in the UNLA having been the director of legal services, Mbabazi was actively involved in the launching of the bush war in 1981. Before the attack on Kabamba Mbabazi coordinated with the collaborators like J J Odong who was based inside the barracks as the intelligence officer. After the attack, Museveni assigned Mbabazi to the external committee based in Nairobi together with Kategaya and the late Katabarwa among others. Though he later relocated to Sweden, Mbabazi remained instrumental on the external committee. He served Musevenis interest of spying on other committee members in order to check on the influence of the pro Prof. Yusuf Lule group. Museveni launched a smeer campaign to discredit and undermine members in order to contain their influence and detach them from the fighters on the ground.The likes of Kategaya and Katabarwa were recalled to the bush and grounded but Museveni maintained Amama Mbabazi on the external committee. After take over, Mbabazi continued his role by heading the external intelligence outfit (ESO). His powerful wife Jackline Mbabazi, was the longest manager of the lucrative NEC - a Ministry of Defence subsidiary that was run down completely with Museveni being awarded the Kisozi ranch. Since then he has held several assignment within the Defense and Security docket. While he was the Minister of state for defence, the then 2nd Div CO Ikondere held him hostage at Mbarara barrracks where he has stopped to refuel before proceeding for a weekend at his home in Rukungiri. As a security Minister he sperheaded the eneactment of the current draconian law that allows the intelligence agencies to monitor the private communications of Ugadans. As Chairman of the joint intelligence committee (JIC), he made alliances with key senior national intelligence actors. By supporting Mbabazi for the post of Secretary General, Museveni wanted to block Gen Kahinda Otafire from taking the up the same. In terms of threat assessment against Museveni, Otafire is far ahead of Mbabazi because the former is assessed against the link with NRA and the Hima/Bairu factor. With that background, by deciding to take on his boss, Mbabazi is very much aware of Musevenis tight grip on hispower base - the military. As Mbabazi mobilises the youth Mbabazi must have also made efforts to penetrate the security apparatus. Therefore when Museveni called for a retreat in Kyankwanzi he wanted to use the occassion to demonstrate that Mbabazi does not have the military muscle. As he donned a full military combat uniform with full insignia of a General on his shoulders and collar and an assault riffle hanging across his chest, Amama Mbabazi was shabbily dressed in an army green attire just like any other ordinary member who attended the retreat. In terms of smartness Mbabazi resembled local militia personnel (LDU) from Kanungu. To drive his point home, Museveni made sure that he took several photos while close to Mbabazi in order to depict a scenario of a full military General (Museveni) and a Militia Mbabazi). The final straw came in form of a strong statement at that Museveni issued at the close of the retreat thus AM A WAR GENERAL AND NOT A CLASSROOM GENERAL. To which of the two types of Generals does Mbabazi belong?
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 04:32:21 +0000
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