Open letter to Gen Mugisha Muntu

Dear Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu,
I first met you physically nine years ago. I was looking for moral and financial support to run for the Omoro parliamentary seat in the 2011 general election. I had, of course, been following your political activities for some time. In that constituency, FDC, the party that you helped give birth to, had a candidate.
So when I approached you for assistance, I thought that you would do what many of our political leaders do; support another party’s candidate as well as your party’s candidate for political expediency.
I was wrong. You said to me that in principle, it would be improper for you to support my candidature in the same constituency that your party, the FDC, was also fielding a candidate.

When you said this, I told myself, this gentleman is distinctly different from the typical lot of politicians we have in contemporary Ugandan politics. Therefore, rather than take offence for your refusal to help me, I was happy that I had met a politician who practices what he preaches.
That meeting left a lasting impression on me. I knew deep down in my heart and soul that I would hang around you for the long haul. This was mainly for two reasons.

Foremost, I understood that, although I was already being mentored by another of your ilk, a revered statesman, Mzee Jaberi Bidandi-Ssali, I would need more mentorship from you to augment my understanding of value-based and principle-driven leadership. Secondly, I knew that my world views and political outlook were pretty much in line with yours.
Shortly after the 2011 general election, our paths again crossed when I sat by your side on the same plane, en route to Nairobi for a meeting of all political parties in East Africa.

In the whole time that we were together, we engaged in deep political discussion. Again, you shared with me something that remains indelible on my political thought. You stated that acquiring political power should never be an end in itself, but rather, a means to an end.
You corroborated this statement by citing the example of the National Resistance Army (NRA), when it captured power in 1986. You said that many of your colleagues on capturing power were hit by the ‘arrivalism’ syndrome. They believed that capturing power was the end that they were looking for in the five-year struggle. Yet for you, capturing power was marking the beginning of another long, hectic journey of transforming society.

Therefore, as a young, upcoming leader, I yearned for a common political platform through which we could collectively advance our shared political beliefs. This opportunity has come through Alliance for National Transformation (ANT). Incidentally, before I forget, allow me to congratulate you and all the members and promoters of ANT upon successfully launching the party. It has been a long, tedious 13 months of hard work, perseverance and sacrifice for all of us in the Alliance. Certainly for you Gen Muntu, it is nearly 40 years of relentlessly pursuing the objective of transforming Uganda as a nation.
Evidently, the Alliance has now achieved some key milestones. It has been successfully registered and launched. An interim leadership has been put in place to steer the party through the transitional period that will eventually lead to the convening of a delegates’ conference which will elect the substantive leadership of the party to take it through the 2021 general election and beyond.

True to your word, Gen Muntu, the launch of the party depicted what you have always advocated, high level organisation, characterised by very competent human resources, use of ICT and great inspirational speeches.
You and the guest speaker spoke to our hearts. You raised our hopes and lifted our souls. You made us believe that it is possible to build an inclusive, just, united and prosperous nation when we are organised and focused.

It is now time to get to work Sir. Like you have always opined, the raison d’être for founding ANT is to institutionalise political power.
This means that we must build foolproof institutions within the party. It also means that we should cultivate a culture that respects and adheres to democratic ideals and institutions.
That culture must be lubricated by a value system that will drive the institutions. When that happens, I have no doubt; ANT will put Uganda on the path of irreversible transformation.

Mr Mugabe is a member of the Alliance for National Transformation party
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