My open letter to President Museveni

Your Excellency,
Recent developments in our economy and politics have compelled me to write to you an open letter.
 I do not know, Mr President, how much you understand and appreciate the miserable and despicable living conditions of the vast majority of the people of Uganda. 

ALSO READ: Will Museveni hand over power to Among?

I believe your long uninterrupted stay at the zenith of the leadership of our country has made you lose touch with the unbearable living experiences of the common man and woman. 
I am talking about living the experience rather than reading doctored reports and statistics from cadres.

I have news for you, Sir; the vast majority of Ugandans are wallowing in dire conditions of poverty and deprivation. Please don’t be lulled by the deceptive statistics that your agents feed you with. The real statistics are the hundreds of lives lost as a result of starvation in Karamoja and other parts of the country. 

The real statistics are the tens of mothers who die every day while giving birth. The real statistics are the tens of citizens we lost to floods in Bugisu. 

Mr President, Ugandans are currently experiencing an unprecedented spike in commodity prices. We hoped against hope that your government would have forecasted this and designed measures to cushion Ugandans against it. You have since addressed the nation twice about the situation. 

Unfortunately, nothing practicable, in terms of solutions, has come out of your addresses. We don’t know whether, in your government, there is any thinking to solve the people’s problems anymore. In that regard, we are evidently, an orphaned nation.

In terms of the politics, Your Excellency, the country has witnessed unprecedented criminal and immoral behaviour in the conduct of by-elections, from Kayunga, Omoro to Soroti. 

READ: Museveni-Mao pact: A voyage into uncharted waters of political party collaboration

Regime operatives arrest and detain Opposition supporters and leaders with impunity. Ballots are pre-ticked and staffed in boxes in broad day light. Voters are bribed with money and material things before the glare of cameras. Lest you forget, this criminal behaviour, Mr President, is what drove you to the bush in 1981. 

I am not a doomsday prophet, Your Excellency, but your regime is pushing the people to the precipice. You are creating a conducive environment for a current day Museveni to emerge and do exactly as you did in 1981. This will not be good for our country, if Uganda’s history of violent change of power is anything to go by. 

You have made your contribution, Mr President. If you care about your fate, your family, community and the country, I beseech you to rise to the occasion and nip in the bud the prospect of re-living that sad epoch of our history. How will you do it? 

Please make a genuine commitment, in word and action, to implement the cooperation agreement between National Resistance Movement party and the Democratic Party. 

Then strengthen the hand of Mr Norbert Mao, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, to initiate a genuine and inclusive national conversation to resolve many of the governance and economic issues plaguing our country. 

If Ugandans see from you a genuine commitment to the process, I bet you; Uganda will transition peacefully from your long rule to a new democratic dispensation. 

ALSO READ: Daniel arap Moi's secret deals with Museveni and Garang

This way, you will have insured yourself, family, community and the country against catastrophes that could be a consequence of a violent change of power. 

Your Excellency knows Ugandans are a forgiving people, if you bequeath to them a peaceful transition, they will forgive you. 

Seize this moment, Mr President, and end our history of violent change of power.

Mr Robert Mr Mugabe is  a politician, trainer and writer
[email protected]