Matembe calls for Museveni removal

MBALE

Former Minister of Ethics and Integrity in the NRM government Miria Matembe has rallied the youth to carry out massive campaigns to remove President Museveni from power in order to restore good governance in the country.

Ms Matembe, a human rights activist, was on Thursday speaking at a public dialogue organised by Hope Initiative Club at Islamic University in Uganda main campus in Mbale. “It’s your obligation as the current generation to resent and resist President Museveni.

You should comb your constituencies with anti-Museveni content to defeat him peacefully and restore constitutionalism, rule of law and human rights in our beloved country,” said Ms Matembe, who was the guest speaker. She said the final tool to remove Mr Museveni from power is the youth using their demographic numbers and resentment of the President and his henchmen.

Ms Matembe was among the four ministers - Bidandi Ssali, the late Eriya Kategaya, and Sarah Kiyingi who were sacked from Cabinet in 2003 after they opposed President Museveni’s move to amend the Constitution and remove the two five-year presidential term limits from the Constitution to allow him stand for presidency as many times as he wished.

Removed
The Constitution was ultimately amended and the term limits removed in 2005. In a rebuttal against the Western media recently, minister for the Presidency Frank Tumwebaze said President Museveni follows the Constitution. “What these Western media channels do is to target and frame the portraits of these resolute African leaders like President Museveni and others in the stereotype of their attitudes towards Africa and her people,” Mr Tumwebaze said, in a commentary published in the Daily Monitor.

However, at the Mbale dialogue, Ms Matembe decried corruption and poor governance in Uganda and said President Museveni has created fear among Ugandans by using “iron means” against the population. “This government has instilled fear among Ugandans due to heavy deployment of security forces and excessive use of tear gas,” she said, adding “but don’t be scared. It takes sacrifice to achieve risky missions.”

Ms Matembe urged the youth to be vigilant, enthusiastic and consistent in their decisions to avoid falling into President Museveni’s “trap again”. She said President Museveni’s government has lost direction and needs to be redirected.

Wake up
“Youth, you have to wake up and take on the responsibility of stopping this government from stretching further. Because the more it stretches, the more you feel the pinch,” she said. Ms Matembe said President Museveni’s government can no longer take care of its people, citing several failed youth projects and the pension scam now under investigation by police, which has already taken several suspects to trial at the Anti-Corruption Court.

Ms Sarah Birete, the programme director of Centre for Constitutional Governance, said the youth in universities should use their platform to engage in national affairs. Ms Birete wondered why the current university students are inactive on governance issues in the country. “In this seemingly hopeless situation, I wonder why university youth are dormant yet they have education power to liberate this nation,” she said.

Ms Birete said university students are wasting their knowledge power in gambling, imitating celebrities and abusing drugs. Hope Initiative Club, a Non-Governmental Organisation, spearheads debate in higher institutions of learning on constitutionalism, human rights and democracy.

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