By Humphrey K. Rugambanengwe
Oct 9, 2003
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I read with relish President Yoweri Museveni’s rebuttal to Sunday Monitor’s Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda’s “Natasha’s Shs 180 million Jet Baby Sparks Off Uproar” and “Museveni’s Expensive Grandchild” carried in the Kenyan Daily Nation. I am particularly moved by the emotion provoked in those who hitherto thought the President preferred a non-ostentatious lifestyle. Yet the President’s daughter cannot be expected to enjoy the privileges of an ordinary citizen. When it comes to privileges, in a free market economy, in a non-welfare state, we are never at the same wavelength. The fact that Museveni can pen a response to Obbo’s concerns depicts not only intellectual confidence but also the highest level of simplicity and civility, the combative tone that pervades his entire explanation notwithstanding. The President is demonstrating his willingness to be held accountable by the taxpayer while at the same time dispelling cheap talk that he is one and the same as former president Idi Amin (RIP). Museveni articulately implies that if it were not for his family’s security, there would be no reason for such an expensive trip. Although I am unable to pick the special circumstances between the times his daughter was born and now, I find his response understandable. His immense love for his children and the precaution he painstakingly takes to ensure their safety in “order to deliver total victory to Ugandans” (whatever this means), is so touching. But what Museveni falls short of answering is why the paranoia soars the longer he stays in office. And why his children, three of whom are already blessed with their own homes, should be held at ransom. It would appear that as long as the President continues to merge his own life with the life of his children and vice versa, then they are destined to have a common “enemy”. Otherwise it is difficult to imagine that there could be an assassin lurking in wait for his son-in-law, Mr Edwin Karugire, a benign, modest and down-to-earth gentleman. Take the example of former minister Eriya Tukahiirwa Kategaya. Even when he was the de facto No.2 in this country, it was not unusual to meet the man freely driving himself to places, without an escort, something a mere presidential adviser cannot do. In 1993 while attending a cadre development course with the Kategayas (Julius & Annet) at the then National Leadership Institute, Kyankwazi, I was touched by the level of humility and simplicity they exhibited. This was in sharp contrast with the experience I had with Maj. Muhoozi Kainerugaba (Museveni’s son) two years later, when I hosted him in Kabale at a conference of Makerere University students hailing from the district. He came with twenty or so soldiers. He also never looked comfortable! The point is, it serves a good purpose if the President’s children were left to live their own lives. Only then would they be excused from their parents’ perceived `sins’. Museveni is neither a mistake nor an experiment on Uganda’s political scene. He is here for a purpose. Upon capturing state power in 1986, he promised a fundamental change, embedded in the famous 10-point programme. Although some of the promises have since fallen through, genuine Ugandans nod in appreciation when he mentions the expansion of Kampala, large numbers of school-going children, a proliferation of universities and health centres among other things. Nonetheless, some of us get incensed when he “swears” that he lives for Ugandans and that the safety of his family is the safety of Ugandans. For example, in one of the worst recent carnage on our roads, somewhere near the Katuna border post, tens of souls (Rwandans, Ugandans, Congolese etc) perished when a bus collided with a trailer. I was struck by the swiftness with which the Rwandan government responded to the calamity, while our government merely “crossed its fingers”. The Rwandan government dispatched two helicopters and a host of ambulances laden with doctors and medical assistants to take care of its citizens. When crest-fallen Ugandans asked if a ‘standby’ ambulance at Kabale hospital could be hired to ferry their dead, all that they were told was that it had no fuel. As if to underscore our ineptitude, no official statement ever came from government on the calamity. Museveni certainly cannot extricate himself from such ineptitude (the President later sent out a general condolence message - Editor). It also bothers when the President argues his “omnipotence” and insists he is not prone to Kategaya has since suffered the same fate on account of steadfast rejection of the “Project Third Term”. By sacking Kategaya, the President sent a clear message that when it comes to political power, he has no friends. And this sacking must have achieved more sycophancy within the Movement, truly a sine-qua-non for authoritarianism. Museveni should be told that he is not the Alfa and Omega of Uganda’s destiny. He should follow what Mr Nelson Mandela, one of the living legends, once said: “as a revolutionary and statesman, it is just enough to do your part and let others also do their part, for a nation’s vision will not necessarily be realised by its propagator.” If, therefore, President Museveni’s rigorous quest for another term is in pursuit of his ambition of delivering total victory to Ugandans, then this is the time to debunk such a scheme. The proponents of the third term should be told that Museveni’s popularity and agility is one reason he should let go in order for his positive legacy to live on. What Ugandans are looking at is the kind of legacy he will bequeath to posterity. Period! Otherwise, I salute him for helping pull Uganda from the abyss of hopelessness to which she had sunk due to bad leadership in the past. Mr Rugambanengwe can be reached 077 937253. |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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