Kyadondo: Ghetto president defeated Uganda’s and people’s presidents
There is a common conspiracy in Uganda that President Museveni was declared, but may not have won the 2016 elections.
And that Dr Kizza Besigye, Museveni’s main challenger to presidency of Uganda for the last four elections, was the one popularly elected, but victory was stolen from him in an election that both domestic and international observers concluded were below expected standards of being free and fair.
It will be difficult to know for sure the true winner of the 2016 presidential elections.
But what is not in doubt is the emphatic victory in the Kyadondo East parliamentary by-election of the self-proclaimed ‘Ghetto president’ Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine). Bobi Wine is perhaps one of the most intelligent and popular musicians with bold songs that speak about many social and political injustices in Uganda.
Notwithstanding the differences in style and music, Bobi Wine is perhaps Uganda’s Lucky Dube, the South Africa’s iconic reggae maestro killed in 2007.
In the public eye, there were three main contenders in the Kyandondo East by-election: NRM’s Sitenda Ssebalu, FDC’s Apollo Katinti and Bobi Wine. President Museveni, who is also leader of the ruling NRM party, backed with the State machinery, campaigned for Ssebalu while Dr Besigye and FDC party campaigned for Katinti, who lost his seat following a successful legal challenge by Ssebalu.
Bobi Wine, an Independent candidate, won that election with a landslide - thus the joke that the ghetto president defeated the Uganda’s and the people’s president.
Bobi Wine’s victory reminded me of two articles I wrote in the past - the first: ‘On a mission without a vision’, was a critique of political parties quest for power, but without a clear party agenda for governing the country. Their manifestos are often written by people outside the party or reflecting the opinions of the leader.
The second, published in this newspaper under the title, ‘Uganda must outgrow the Museveni, Besigye mindset’, argued in part that both Museveni and Besigye, for all the remarkable contributions they have made to Uganda’s politics and democracy, should not be on the presidential ballot in 2021. To me, Bobi Wine’s victory affirms the thesis in those articles in several ways.
First, Ugandans may be prepared to rise above the politics of Museveni and Besigye and their leadership styles, which I argued are not far apart. The two can continue to play other roles, but their time is up - thank you.
Secondly, Ugandans are yearning for a new leadership proposition and perhaps a post-bush war leader, who can help the country focus on the future rather than the past and present, which Museveni and Besigye represent respectively.
Thirdly, political parties in Uganda, like in many parts of the world, are in a crisis largely informed by their increasing disconnection from society and they must do more soul-searching as they remain important for Uganda’s governance.
Fourth and relatedly, Bobi Wine’s victory also affirms a sad legacy of the fraud that Museveni’s individual merit politics, introduced when political parties were banned in the 80s.
This fraud has contributed immensely to the crises of institutions and the rise of ‘Independents’ whose numbers now surpass Opposition party MPs in Parliament.
Sadly, the structural problems of Uganda cannot be solved with this kind of politics. So even if we had 150 Bobi Wine’s without institutional backing, Uganda’s politics would not deliver much in practice.
What we need are strong parties that present real alternatives of choice to citizens, independent institutions of State and a vibrant media and civil society.
Meantime, many are in party mood after Bobi Wine’s victory and believe in the possibility of a ‘third-force’ to consolidate a ‘political middle’, outside the pro-regime fanatics and anti-regime radicals.
Perhaps we need to marshal this for 2021 with a futuristic agenda and a fresh leadership brand.
