The hazards of Besigyeism in the Opposition: Has Mwenda got a point?

What you need to know:

  • Mwenda was lionised as a man with the clarity of mind, confidence and conviction to tackle the issues bedeviling our country.
  • On this account alone, he should have earned the pips to be considered an honest critic of the group whose flag he hoisted. Instead, all this is forgotten. Mwenda has not said anything that has not been said before. It is simply that he is Mwenda - a friend to Kagame and Museveni.

Of late, Andrew Mwenda has been the subject of intense controversy. After years of denouncing Musevenism in government, he has now turned his guns on Besigyeism in the Ugandan political space especially in the Opposition. Mwenda believes that he is putting a mirror in front of us in order that we may see what we look like, warts and all. Those who don’t like what they see in the mirror have unleashed all manner of crude attacks on the person of Mwenda. He has been accused of being a tool in the hands of the Museveni regime being wielded against anti-Museveni forces.

Others have said Mwenda’s mirror is broken and therefore presents a distorted image. The root of Mwenda’s woes is simply that the Opposition took it for granted that he would be an uncritical opposition voice spitting fire against Museveni and his regime. For years, Mwenda used various media platforms to vilify Museveni. Mwenda’s name became synonymous with talk radio. He treaded where angels feared to tread. He defended Milton Obote’s record, attacked David Tinyefuza’s human rights abuse in northern Uganda, exposed Museveni’s patronage, patrimonial and family rule, condemned corruption in high places and roamed the globe denouncing the bogus policies of international financial institutions.
Mwenda was lionised as a man with the clarity of mind, confidence and conviction to tackle the issues bedeviling our country. On this account alone, he should have earned the pips to be considered an honest critic of the group whose flag he hoisted. Instead, all this is forgotten. Mwenda has not said anything that has not been said before. It is simply that he is Mwenda - a friend to Kagame and Museveni. He is also a friend to Kizza Besigye and Mugisha Muntu. He is also my friend. In my view, Mwenda is simply paying the price for irreverence. Mwenda is Mwenda. He reveres no one. As to whether Mwenda is conflicted is for another day.
What is it that Mwenda has said that has attracted so much fury from the pro-Besigye quarters? In his own words Mwenda’s distilled dose of bitter pill is that “The time has come, and indeed is long overdue, for FDC and the wider Opposition to question Besigye’s obsession with capturing the presidency as the best means to promote the cause of reform in Uganda. In addressing this issue, the Opposition might find it important to also question the suitability of Besigye as the leader of any reform movement.”
There it is, in black and white. But that is only the prescription. The diagnosis is what appears to have rattled people most. The first diagnosis is startling. “FDC is at crossroads. It needs to rethink both its strategy and the continued role of its de facto leader, Besigye. There are many people saying FDC needs to change from Besigye’s leadership because his strategy is wrong.”
Mwenda’s criticisms are valid. When we appear obsessed with capturing the presidency we concentrate the energy of NRM. When we stretch the NRM into tackling us in countrywide battles for parliamentary and local council seats we disperse the NRM’s energies and thus weaken it’s blows. In Mwenda’s words “the Opposition stands to win more if it attacks the flanks of NRM where its defenses are relatively weak. The district and local councils and Parliament are the NRM’s flanks. Over time, the Opposition can leverage gains made in the flanks to launch a frontal attack on the presidency.”

Mwenda has a point. He seeks to disabuse us of any illusion that Museveni is weak. He thinks that the broad aim of the democracy seeking forces in Uganda should be the building of a democratic and prosperous Uganda. He exhorts us not to underestimate Museveni.

Mwenda is, however, off target when he suggests that our struggle shouldn’t pinpoint Museveni as a target. Museveni is the biggest single obstacle to a democratic and prosperous Uganda. His removal is a precondition to the achievement of that goal. On account of his long hegemonic rule, Museveni personifies an unholy trinity. There is Museveni the man, Museveni the machine and Museveni the mindset. That is what we call Musevenism. Therefore Museveni is a prime target in the struggle for emancipation of Uganda. We can cut off the branches of the tree but our strategic objective is to fell the tree. That is when the man will go, and with him the machine comprising a captive state apparatus and the mindset of slavish submission.