To the sympathizers and supporters of the Failed Democratic Conspiracy a.k.a FDC,I think this rather innocous article below will get most of you out of your political trance and truncated analysis of Uganda's political situation.
Thank you.
Kipenji.
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| Opinions | April 27, 2006 |
|
| Besigye is a liability to FDC and a problem to multipartyism |
| Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere |
I wrote an article for The New Vision before elections on how FDC’s Dr Kizza Besigye would not lead the transition from the Movement system to the multiparty dispensation. I gave numerous reasons the most relevant ones for this article are two.
I argued that Besigye would not win the Presidential vote and that in the unlikely event that he won the Presidency, FDC would not win a majority of parliamentary seats to enable him run a government.
These two reasons, highly predictable at the time if one keeps an eye on what is going on in Uganda, have been confirmed. However, time is beginning to show further that Dr Besigye is even a liability to FDC in which case he is even a bigger problem to multipartism and democratic development in Uganda.
Dr Besigye decided to stand in a context of the existing law. He could have chosen not to stand if he were dissatisfied with the situation or the
law. He campaigned albeit with constraints, some of which cannot be said to be independent of his doing. He fully knew that of all those who stood only one would win even if there was a tie or a closeness of votes to warrant a repeat of elections.
Should his petition have succeeded, there would have been a re-run with no guarantee that Dr Besigye would be a sure winner. On standing again and losing, the Besigye we now know would still not be satisfied since he does not trust the law, the Electoral Commission and interestingly, the voters.
I want to state it here that Dr Besigye does not believe in a process unless that process produces him as the president. Dr Besigye, therefore, cannot be a democrat and material for building democracy in Uganda.
The judiciary has no legitimacy unless it turns out a verdict in his favour. The reason why there are judges and a judiciary system is that we live in an imperfect world. The judges look at the pros and cons
of the case and come up with a judgment. To Dr. Besigye justice exists when judges agree with him. But then why have the accuser and the accused, if the accuser must be right?
Dr. Besigye does not believe in justice as administered by the courts. His sense of justice is outside society. How would he operate as a president in an imperfect society, which Uganda is? I cannot guess that Dr Besigye is a perfect person to help Ugandans to produce a perfect society.
Since elections, Dr Besigye has shown that he avidly wants the presidency even if that presidency may not improve on what has been achieved. In fact he appears to have discovered that FDC was not the vehicle he should have climbed to pursue the presidency.
I can see him disowning FDC or FDC disowning him. Currently he appears to be of it but not for it. His public image vis-a-vis the judiciary, the NRM government and what appears to be his personal anger must be causing some concern in FDC
circles. Does UPC guide him in his public appearances? What is the difference between UPC and FDC over the issue of KY indirect representation to Parliament and now Besigye’s FDC for a non-elected Katikkiro? Is Dr Besigye proving to be anti-democrat after all?
Building democracy needs patience, understanding how society works and a belief in democracy as a value system and a growing social system.
Dr Besigye is proving to be a bad loser and a chronic one. It may well be a good idea for democracy and FDC to ask him to retire before he becomes a liability to both FDC and multipartism in Uganda. You may not like the looks of President Yoweri Museveni but he has proved that he is a winning horse.
Unlike Museveni, Besigye has no time for studying society. As a doctor he should have what it takes to listen to the patient touch where the pain is being felt which may not be where the problem is, before an attempt to prescribe a cure.
At least attempt to be
a doctor of society or else give FDC a chance to try next time without you.
The author is the Minister of Local Government | |
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