Museveni team apologises to Mbabazi as Besigye defies EC chairman

Mr Amama Mbabazi (R) this week received a warm reception in Arua Town.

Dr Kizza Besigye, son of Kifefe right in the blue corner. Yoweri Museveni, son of Kaguta in the yellow corner and Amama Mbabazi in the orange place. Three political heavy weights once in the same political shell, one prize.

That should make a great debate. Great not because the skies will fall. No. It is a thing or two about good manners which our key actors have over the years drained away from the politics of this country.
That a man cannot even meet and talk face-to-face with his former personal doctor. That a political marriage of four decades can break so irretrievably and the parties involved would rather chop wood than share a coffee table.

That the fate of Uganda, today’s generation and even posterity can only be discussed amid the turbulent current of non-tolerance, name calling and cursing. Oh Uganda, who hath bewitched thou?

Tossed the dice
Well, Dr Besigye last week tossed the dice. Any day he is ready to debate with Mr Museveni. And the old man with a hat thinks he too is ready. Mbabazi sounded more ready this week. If the ghosts of 1996 when Museveni and Paul Ssemogerere were a no-show at a similar debate stay home, then this election’s debate, slated for early January by the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, should be able to add a point to our politics.

Again, not that it will change the price of coffee. But it will add a point or two to our score card. Uganda is not America.
Mbabazi’s maiden visit to the north which saw Aruu County MP Odonga Otto’s T-shirts burnt and locals cleanse the area of his mock burial of Mbabazi a few months ago left something to write home about.

A reception as warm as that of Arua, may be even warmer than Museveni’s, but also refreshing to hear Mbabazi speak inclusive growth for the north, a region arguably left out of Uganda’s development picture during the two-decade LRA insurgency. Why does he keep pushing the line, as he did in his on-the-field press conference, that he had no powers while in government and if he did, Uganda would be better by a thousand fold?

Possibly in that debate, assuming it takes a shorter while than the age-long return of Jesus, we can once and for all crack, penetrate and sink into Museveni’s mind over some of his promises. In 1986, the National Resistance Movement vowed theirs was a four-year stint in power to put the house in order.

The National Resistance Council reneged on that and extended its stay. In 2001, the NRM manifesto bore a promise, written in the inner pages and highlighted at the back, that it was the President’s last term.

Change of address
Ugandans understood and granted him his wish. The next was the vow to change address from State House back to Rwakitura in 2006, with a screaming headline in the New Vision. Whatever happened thereafter is for all to see and say. We are back there.

John Nagenda, the President’s senior media adviser, caught Dr Besigye’s attention this week when he told a group of young people this was Museveni’s last term.

Speaking in Bugisu sub-region, the charismatic doctor doubted if Nagenda believes Ugandans still listen to his boss’ last term song. Well, the boss says he will abide by the Constitution which can, in typical 2005 fashion, be amended to lift the age limit.

It is important for the Besigyes and the Nagendas to keep this conversation going because should Museveni win the mid-February 2016 election, the country will be watching to see if the Constitution will be amended or left intact.

But the ball Besigye rolled this week is his ping pong with the Electoral Commission (EC). Put yourself in the shoes of his supporter. How and where do you get the confidence to vote for a man whose faith in the EC is as thin as a cat’s hair? Like Mugisha Muntu once pointed out, the doctor runs the risk of leaving supporters confused on his next move.

“The Electoral Commission is not independent and not even competent to conduct a free and fair election. It has failed before,” Besigye told a weekly press briefing this week before heading to Mukono where he gathered a mammoth crowd and procession, almost bringing the town to paralysis as he did on his nomination day.

In Budadiri where all MPs and Local Council leaders subscribe to FDC, Besigye’s message has not changed from that of “liberation through the ballot, restructuring government and pursuing inclusive growth.”

So the defiance campaign continues even as EC chairman Badru Kiggundu warns of the wrath of the law should the doctor keep ringing his defiance bell. But who warns a seasoned poacher about the wrath of thorns?

Instead, Kiggundu should be smiling his way to the mosque to thank Allah (Most Gracious, Most Merciful) for the wisdom he bestowed upon him this week. With Mbabazi’s lawyers waving a red flag of scary threats,

some lawyers found them “empty and despicable”, saying the lawyers had “stooped so low” by dragging the EC boss to the International Criminal Court for condoning electoral violence against their candidate.

With images of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto in the dock, the ICC threat must have got the old man’s head spinning even when everyone laughed it off. But yes, unlike with the rest of the complaints that have been shelved, he summoned NRM secretary general and police chief to explain Lt Gen Henry’s Tumukunde’s actions in Fort Portal Town; we called them cowboy stunts last week.

An apology in a matter of hours flew from Plot 10 Kyadondo Road to EC and Mbabazi’s lawyer Fred Muwema’s chambers. So this ICC hook really works, just throw it in the water, even when no fish exists. The crocodiles will shudder.

The same way Museveni felt he needed to explain the hoes drama. Was it even real? Yes, and the old man explained it.

“I have been hearing people saying I am contradicting myself, when I talk of commercialised agriculture, then I talk of the hoe. Hoes are for the rural people with small plots, the hoes will definitely help the local people to farm on small scale,” the President said.

He also scratched the old wounds by justifying the lifting of term limits, another reminder this age limit talk could get new currency next year.

“I do not know why the people of term limits want to exclude one of the players like Museveni who is most experienced, and bring in Besigye. How sure are you that he will do the work?” Mr Museveni asked.

Three-time candidate
This is when politics breaks the heart and you want to listen to soothing music which only Abed Bwanika can offer. He insists the police should be brought to book for human rights violations.

The man of God, throwing his hat in the ring for the third time, may not have the earth shattering charisma of Besigye, Museveni’s ways that seem to always work, for Mbabazi’s swagger and composure but you have to give it to him.

Bwanika keeps his dose of relevance on the scene in our heads, especially after people like Maureen Kyalya are now peeping from the Queen’s courtyard and Joseph Mabirizi, Prof Venansius Baryamureeba and Benon Biraaro still struggle to get the media noticing they are actually saying something.

With presidential candidates suspending the vote hunt to attend the Holy Mass, the rest of the campaign period should be interesting as Mbabazi claims he is starting real campaigns after hosting the Pope and will even revisit some districts to do a county by county. Whatever that means, we wait to see.