Museveni sacked me while on leave - Muntu

1.Won’t the verbal attacks and counter-attacks between your campaign team and that of Nandala Mafabi break the FDC party?
I don’t have the impression that there are attacks and counter-attacks. The impression I have is that there is one camp that has been attacking but the other side has simply maintained silence. It’s been a trend right from the time we started this campaign. It was deliberate and conscious on our side that we do not engage in negative campaigns. Why? It’s rooted in the understanding of our history, the desire of where we want to go and where we want to see our country going. Our team believes that we should not target taking power alone. That’s not the most critical issue. It’s the taking of power and changing the political culture of this country. The poor political culture we have is the root cause of all these problems we have. We have to change that culture. But this change must start from the party.

2.What is this culture you are talking about?
What this country has been lacking, is the leadership based on values. We are talking about honesty, transparency, fairness and evenhandedness. Leaders in this country make decisions based on ulterior motives. Do they do them out of selfish motives or because of general good? These are the questions people must ask. However, some leaders cannot give what they don’t have. Unless you have got those values embedded in the thinking processes and belief systems of leaders, you will always see contradictions between what they say and what they do. Such contradictions are not only in this country, they are beyond our borders. When it comes to do what needs to be done, everybody can promise anything, especially those that appeal to people. They will talk about democracy, human rights, equal opportunities, preservation of separation of powers. But in the last 50 years, the practice has been completely different. Therefore, what is the problem? People cannot give what they don’t have. The majority of the politicians lie, cheat, misuse national resources, don’t deliver services to the people, they divide people so that they use them as ladders to get into power. They use deception all the time. They corrupt people’s thinking and eventually you find corruption is deeply rooted in all the systems. But when they are campaigning, they say all sorts of good things. Until we get leaders who consistently do what they say, we will not have change in this country.

3.The leaders of this country came to power speaking the same language and using the same words you are talking about but today the story is different. How sure are we that you won’t be the same?
What they are doing today is what was in their belief systems. They have not changed. Never believe people by what they say, believe them by what they do. In our campaign to take the FDC leadership, we are not only campaigning; we are also involved in a teaching process. At least that’s one of our intentions. Even when I ran the first and second time, I wanted to win but I knew I could lose which happened twice. But I also knew that even if I lose, there were certain seeds that I would have planted and that would germinate and mature into values that I need established in this country. Many people - even senior FDC members - thought I and Dr Besigye would not survive that competition. For the last 50 years, our country has been associated with negative things that come as a result of political competition. When leaders come in whether at the national or political party level, they want to stick there and do not want to leave.
That’s why I don’t go into negative campaigns because even when you are competing, you must have it in your mind that even when you win, you must have a party that is cohesive. I believe that the process is as good as the end. But if you look at the way some of my colleagues are operating, I see that their philosophy is; the end justifies the means. I don’t believe in that philosophy.

4. What do you think will happen to FDC if these “colleagues” of yours take the leadership of the party?
Well, the members will have to make their own judgment. There are three options we have as a party. We can regress, stagnate or advance. That’s the option of the delegates. That’s why the delegates have to scrutinise the three of us.

5. What do you make of those who say FDC is full of disgruntled people with one intention; to capture power and not implement the values you are talking about?
Well, there might be some who are frustrated with the conduct of the regime. They hoped that the regime would do things in the right manner, but it never happened. In FDC, when we congregate, we all show and talk about the feelings of where we want to take this country, not the individual emotions and feelings.

6. What’s your response to your opponents who say you have failed, as secretary for mobilisation, to gather support for the party to win the previous elections?
We are a party of seven years. We are a party that operates without resources. We are the largest opposition party that has a national spread with 37 Members of Parliament. We are in a position to expand tremendously on what we are building now. It’s wrong for people to make judgment. I don’t go to the districts and sub-counties to blame them. I thank them for what they have done amidst hardships and sacrifices because nobody funds them. But we know that we are moving in the right direction. That’s not the way you build an organisation.

7. What about those who say you are soft and not abrasive like Dr Besigye and therefore not strong enough to confront your opponents in NRM?
I don’t know why people say, I’m soft. I joined the bush when I was 23 years when I had a choice to do privileged jobs. I decided to go to the bush. I finished my exams on March 14, 1981 and I joined the bush on March 21. I could have joined the UPC government.
I was shot in 1981, brought to Kisekka Hospital, treated and went back. I didn’t go back because I thought we were going to take power. We were far from that. At that time, we were 48 and we had four guns. It was clear in my mind that we were not about to take power. We went through difficult circumstances. People were starving to death. We captured power in 1986. I was appointed Director Military Intelligence, I later became chief political commissar, division commander and was made commander of the army in 1989 until 1998.
By the time we took over Kampala, we were 15,000. From 1988 to 1992, the army had grown to 100,000. I managed that army which was still a guerilla force and secondly, it expanded so fast, integrating many other armies with different backgrounds. You cannot manage that force if you are soft. By the time I left, we had built discipline and systems in the army. In 1998, when I left Command, President Museveni wrote to me. I had taken a two-week leave after all those many years. He wrote to me a letter, shifting me from command and making me a minister.
I wrote back to him within that very short period thanking him for having appointed me the Commander, and for the period I served but turned down the offer he had given me. I remained a Member of Parliament representing the army until 2001 when I run on individual merit for East African Legislative Assembly until 2004. Even in 2004 when we formed PAFO, I would have remained in the Movement. There is nothing that could have stopped me because I had not clashed with anybody at an individual level. Again, I chose a difficult path to join the opposition. If softness or toughness people talk about is going physical, I won’t take part. If it’s mental, then they are making wrong conclusions.