May Bobi not end up being the new wine in the old wine skins

Candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine casts his vote. Photo by Michael Kakumirizi

What you need to know:

  • But simply being a ‘good MP’, who articulates the well known problems of his electorate in Parliament without following it up by delivering bread on the table is risky.
  • It will see the love fading away with time. He will become just another MP, demystified by the humongous system that has been created over the last three decades. He will end up being another case of new wine being poured in old wine skins. The work is cut out for him.

Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, a popular musician who associates himself with the lowly unwashed and dubs himself the ‘Ghetto president’, is now in the news.
Like a marauding tsunami, he swept aside every lender of support, contender, pretender and joker for the seat in the Kyadondo East by-election, to become the area MP-elect on the first time of asking.
In the good book, Jesus Christ said:
“Neither do people pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17 (NIV),
Bobi Wine dives into politics in a Uganda under President Yoweri Museveni, which for the last 31 years, has witnessed a major paradigm shift in the way representative politics is perceived.
The story of a Member of Parliament (MP) being chosen to solely go to the August House to legislate and influence policy, which the Executive then puts in its plans to better the lives of the electorate, is no more.
An MP in the new 31-year-old political structure finds himself in a situation where the government school system is facing numerous challenges thus delivering lousy education for the majority poor. The hospitals as Timothy Kalyegira put it, have almost become hospices; one is admitted to die in less pain. The majority engaged in agriculture have been left to their own devices, which are inadequate. Many are now poor and desperate.
It is a challenge for most people to access justice because the law enforcers are often in cahoots and ensconced with those who benefit from law breaking and anarchy. The economy is on its knees with many stretching their hands out with begging bowls.
(These are the things Bobi Wine asked his electorate to put in his care. ‘#Bikwassekyagulanyi,’ handover your troubles and leave the rest to me, is a loose translation. They obliged.)
Now on top of legislating, the MP-elect has to lift all these matters on his shoulders and take them in his stride. He often has to dig into his own pocket to solve many of these problems. Build roads, boreholes, schools, pay for wedding and burial expenses. Things that are supposed to be done by the taxes collected in a normal situation.
In other words, the MP of the 31-year-old Museveni-led political structure, has the impossible task of replacing the government. To the electorate, he is like a hunter and gatherer entrusted by the entire clan with their only sacred spear, shield and hoe. If he fails to deliver, then it is handed to another person.
So when MPs are elected whether they are pro-NRM or from the Opposition, they soon realise the risk of losing their investment within five years if they are not compliant. They have to compromise or accept to be compromised.
If an MP wants a road repaired, for instance, then he must ‘work with the NRM’ and be supportive lest his area is starved of ‘development.’
That is how the system works for the perpetuation of Museveni. He is the State and the system, you must work with him lest you are doomed. For the Opposition MPs, this dents their credentials as accusations of being ‘bought’ fly around.
Many have tried to go it alone but with time, have come short for you can’t adequately cater for the needs of most of the people in the constituency.
That is why Uganda’s Legislature has such a huge mortality rate. Nearly 70 per cent of parliamentarians are never returned to the House in a subsequent election. They cannot fulfill the role of the government.
Going by the Bible, Uganda pours about 70 per cent new wine in the 31-year-old wine skin every five years and the vicious cycle continues.
I don’t intend to take anything away from Bobi Wine, but that is the reality he is now facing. His victory was mainly because human beings have an incessant search for hope, redemption and good leadership. Their reserves of patience are not endless, that is why they will often opt for something new if it comes in the shape of hope.
The needs of the people are in his hands. He has to answer them urgently. He has opportunities in his hands. For instance, he may mobilise resources out of his musical shows and fund projects in his area. He may work with the NRM government and persuade them to attend to his people, which means he will have to trade off some of his opposition credentials.
But simply being a ‘good MP’, who articulates the well known problems of his electorate in Parliament without following it up by delivering bread on the table is risky. It will see the love fading away with time. He will become just another MP, demystified by the humongous system that has been created over the last three decades. He will end up being another case of new wine being poured in old wine skins. The work is cut out for him.

Nicholas Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. [email protected]
Twitter: @nsengoba