UPDF, KIZZA BESIGYE AND THE KILLING OF THE GENERAL COURT MARTIAL; THE UNSAID

By Ofwono Opondo

MINISTER AMOS LUGOLOOBI; PLEASE MAN UP, CARRY YOUR OWN CROSS

By Ofwono Opondo

39 YEARS IN POWER; NRM MUST BANISH INDISCIPLINE TO REMAIN CREDIBLE

By Ofwono Opondo

THE RETURN OF DONALD TRUMP; A NEW WORLD ORDER OR DISORDER

By Ofwono Opondo

LAWYERS, BANGING THE TABLE IS NOT NEW IN UGANDA UNDER NRM

By Ofwono Opondo

BROKE UGANDANS: ENJOY TOO MUCH FOREIGN FOOTBALL, RELIGION AND WASTEFUL CHRISTMAS

By Ofwono Opondo

ESTRANGED MATHIAS NSAMBA MPUUGA FLEES NUP IN A LEAKING VESSEL

By Ofwono Opondo

KIZZA BESIGYE KIFEFE AGAIN ON A FOOLISH TRAITORS ERRANDS

A week is a long time. Many political pundits, and probably even Kizza Besigye, despite his public rattling had written himself off as no longer of any serious significance in Uganda’s future political equation. Then, he ‘disappears’ from a Nairobi hotel in Nairobi, only a few days later to be arraigned before Uganda’s military Court Martial in Makindye on charges of possessing two pistols. From the grapevines, he was also an errand contriving a plot to buy arms including war-grade drones from underworld dealers, so he could bring down the presidential plane and military helicopters. His main objective is to change the government of Uganda by force of arms, accusations he faced before in the courts of law, but was acquitted for lack of credible evidence. But even if the courts acquit him again, Besigye must face the harshest public rebuke if these accusations bear any merit. His people, led by wife, the high-flying Winnie Karangwa Byanyima, in a dejected, but calculated low tone, breaks the news, designedly calling it a kidnap to invoke public sympathy. His surrogates fall in line to drum up the narrative dousing flame in an increasing media crescendo which will be short-lived. Yet by own public confession, Byanyima says Besigye was lured into a hotel away from the official engagements at Martha Karua’s book launch, akin to dodging a high-level conference only to get mugged in a brothel! Byanyima, falsely praised as a rule of law, and Human Rights advocate, rather than let the rules play out in the courts, has instead, launched political appeals to President Yoweri Museveni to save Besigye. It would be very foolish of Besigye 68, tried and defeated many times on multiple fronts to engage in armed rebellion. With his politics and popularity in the twilight, many doubt he can succeed, let alone find a foothold on Ugandan soil. But as a known commercial political entrepreneur, who has solicited, and heavily relied on foreign money, he could be hoodwinking gullible audiences to continue dolling to his lost causes. Fighting for political space, Besigye has publicly questioned Robert Kyagulanyi’s authenticity as an opposition leader in a futile effort to win back the anti-Museveni coalition. Both are a feather of greedy political entrepreneurs who thrive in misleading Ugandans into criminal schemes, for selfish benefits, the reason Besigye cannot give up even after many defeats. It’s isn’t Besigye’s first in subversion. There was a trail of him, after he lost the 2001 presidential election, when he formed the PRA, which domiciled in DRC’s restive Ituri region, but was promptly smashed in Pandora by the UPDF under Gen. Kale Kayihura’s command. Many got killed or captured injured but alive, returned to Uganda, prosecuted, pleaded guilty, but later pardoned under a general amnesty. Among these were my three friends Dennis Mulindwa (RIP), and lawyers Sam Okiring (RIP), and Lt. Col. Vincent Tumwesigye Bakarweha still in the UPDF. A medical doctor who survived, later fled to Sweden where he lives to-date, but occasionally returns to Uganda still carrying shrapnel in his body. The link of UPDF renegades Lt. Col. Anthony Kyakabale, Col. Samson Mande, and Col. Edison Muzoora is well documented. Besigye fled to exile in South Africa but returned in December 2005, and has refused to rule out armed rebellion to change government. In 2001, he sent his political aide James Opoka to join Joseph Kony’s LRA where he died in a power struggle. But Besigye and Byanyima denied that Opoka had joined rebellion, and on one public radio talk-show insisted they knew his whereabouts but to-date haven’t disclosed. And Ugandans don’t even have to stretch their minds over the so-called walk-to-work violent protests that rocked Kampala between 2011-2015 as Besigye and FDC received funding from foreign countries including Omar Bashir’s Sudan to topple President Museveni.

By Ofwono Opondo

PDM, EMYOOGA, NAADS, OWC ENTANDIKWA: WARNING SHOTS TO NRM LEADERSHIP

President Yoweri Museveni’s ongoing countrywide political assessment and mobilisation for the Parish Development Model (PDM) as NRM’s 2021-26 flagship program is good as it kicks energy, and unearthing pitfalls of policy in wealth creation and rural economic transformation agenda of the last thirty-eight years. Entandikwa, Naads, OWC, Emyooga and now PDM, while correct, genuine, necessary programs that have scored successes, have faced the same problems starting with poor, and often compromised selection of the beneficiaries. These flagship programs have over the years been riddled by the noncompliance with regulations, set guidelines and standards. The responsible officials often supply substandard inputs and late delivery to farmers when the planting season is running out. There has also been inadequate or irregular funding, and lack of diligent supervision along the value-chain characterised by endemic corruption, yet we haven’t learnt much to correct the malaise. With all the boastfulness that NRM is an enlightened vanguard mass-party, one would expect its popularly elected leaders at the most critical levels at the village, parish, sub-county, parliamentary constituency and district to put good efforts, but alas. The leaders are often absent to guide the population, except when they too are directly benefiting. Many of them, including ministers, MPs, and other leaders will troupe down to President Museveni’s functions to show cosmetic appearances, cris-crossing the event venue, and elbowing each other for photo opportunities with the president. This is how petty some of them have become, completely devoid of any embarrassments. With a huge, but unserious and unfocused political bureaucracy, the NRM is still struggling to fine-tune its own policy formulation, implementation, funding, monitoring and supervision to deliver the desired economic outcomes. By the latest official statistics, and our own public admissions, many Ugandans are still trapped in undeniable and evident poverty of want for the common essentials of life. Although the numbers have gone up, universal education school enrollment and completion rates don’t match up well, literacy and numeracy are disappointing, and critical skills attainment is wanting. Twenty-seven years of implementation of the Universal Primary Education (UPE), no district, most of them led by NRM has bothered to enact a bye-law on education, and as a result, have left laxity and negligence to impede its success. It is coming to forty good solid years of NRM’s relatively unchallenged hold, and overwhelming dominance in political and public policy space, yet the results of its foremost agenda of socio-economic transformation is mostly mixed, if not evidently disappointing although many NRM leaders will be shy to admit publicly. It is time that NRM leaders conduct a thorough and sustained self-introspection on many fronts, if we don’t want to end up in the history dung-heap like the Uganda Peoples’s Congress (UPC), KANU (Kenya).and UNIP (Zambia), or where the African National Congress (ANC) (South Africa) seem destined for. For some time now, I have received quiet blowbacks from sections of NRM and government leaders with timid minds, and infertile ideological outlook, afraid that open and frank criticism, although a correct foundations of NRM, is now unhealthy because it exposes the lackluster methods of work. NRM’s agenda has always been correct, noble, and genuine, but conception, planning, funding, execution, implementation, supervision and monitoring have been half-hazard, inadequate, and sometimes deliberately distorted through abuse and corruption. This abuse has consequently led to mixed results, often much to embarrassments, considering the thirty-eight years of NRM leadership most of which in an unchallenged dominance in policy making and setting its own priorities. The nascent, but rising chaotic noise of a perennially unserious and ever tiny opposition, both in and outside parliament has in the recent past been able to drown, disorient, derail, and sometimes even defeat NRM’s noble agenda. It is truly hard to comprehend, that which, is left of the NRM, but possibly mainly careerism and selfishness.

By Ofwono Opondo

POLITICAL LIES AGAINST MUSEVENI: REFLECTION OF A VANQUISHED OPPOSITION HANGING ON A STRAW

The debate, now settled in Parliament, with Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zzake, lying flat, back on the floor, after abrawl, to mainstream the Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) back to the Agriculture ministry has once again exposed a vanquished political opposition hanging to a straw. Uganda's opposition groups and leaders especially since NRM's advent in 1986, have sought to build their collective careers, on naked and untenable lies particularly against President Yoweri Museveni. It's sad, but probably an indictment on NRM's failure to deepen a progressive ideology and politics. It's truly absurd, that these lies are being picked up with gusto by young rising politicians in DP, UPC, FDC, and NUP, mostly under forty years, successful yet spew and circulate venom on social media unabated. It all started four decades ago 1983 when then President, Milton Obote, facing heat from Museveni's armed rebellion, labelled him a Rwandese refugee, who had taken undue advantages of Uganda's hospitality. The old political elites especially from DP, then accused Museveni of being a Marxist-Communist who intended to abolish private property, and even women would be shared, a hollow scare to Ugandans not to support him. DP tongue-waggers have spent the last 38 years haranguing, without any proof, NRM's political education in Kyankwazi as communist indoctrination. During the Constituent Assembly that debated and promulgated the 1995 Constitution, remnants of DP and UPC conjured up new lies, among them that Museveni intended to 'steal' land in Buganda, Lango, Teso and Acholi, a lie the collective opposition continue to circulate with varying degrees of hyperbole to score cheap political points, without any sense of shame.. UPC and DP surrogates led by Paulo Kawanga Ssemwogere, Cecilia Atim Ogwal, Yafesi Okullo-Epak, John Ssebaana Kizito now dead, and Ben Wacha, Daniel Omara Atubo, Damiano Lubega and others raved those lies to gain votes in the 1996 elections. They also accused Museveni of having 'sold' the entire Lake Victoria although to-date haven't disclosed the alleged buyers. During the 2001 general election, a super liar, Aggrey Siryoyi Awori, a presidential candidate, and his official agent Jacob Oulanyah, lied to Ugandans that the DRC government under Joseph Desire Kabila had captured 114 UPDF soldier's as Prisoners of War (PoW) but couldn't prove when challenged. A verification through the UN and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) found no merits in the claims, but Awori didn't recount and eventually went to his grave with the falsehoods. Dr Olaara Otuunu, brand new from two decades in exile said publicly without shame that Museveni had 'sold' Lake Kyoga. It was his shallow attempt to woo voters in Lango, but was rejected because he was part of the Acholi military-cum-civilian junta that overthrew UPC II government on 27 July 1985 in their internal ethnic warfare for an aborted supremacy. The open lies told by Kizza Besigye, an NRM turncoat, and many of his now erstwhile sidekicks in the Reform Agenda and FDC, since 1999-2001 to-date, pursuing a yet unfulfilled ambition to be president of Uganda, are too many to list here. But we are comforted that majority Ugandan voters haven't bought into many of his lies which, appear to blunt his political aggressiveness. Mengo establishment, a foremost recipient of President Museveni's mega handouts that ought to be his ally, is running false storylines of receiving cold shoulders instead. Mengo exhibits ungratefulness even after Museveni, Amidist opposition in most parts of Uganda, reinstated its cultural institution, privileges, leadership and expansive estates that Obote dismantled in 1966, destroyed and confiscated what remained, as Kabaka Edward Muteesa fled into exile in Britain, where he died a lonely man in 1969. As a footnote, fickle John Ken Lukyamuzi the Man, perennial Secretary General of the Conservative Party (CP) accused Museveni of selling off Mabira forest until his political end came on its own.

By Ofwono Ofondo

IMPEACHED KENYA VP GACHAGUA: A POLITICAL SKUNK WITH A TOUGH SPIRIT

It is often said that in politics, it is not over until it is over. Kenyan MPs, Senators and other architects of the impeachment of VP Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua are now discovering that removing him from office will not be an easy walk in the park. Gachagua failed twenty-nine times to have courts halt his impeachment. After resoundingly impeaching him in what many observers see as shambolic in supersonic speed, laced with flimsy, malicious, and unproven accusations driven by viciousness, Gachagua is proving he is probably a political skunk with a tough spirit which when provoked, emits strong offensive odour to scatter his pursuers. A throbbing headache must be rocking President William Ruto’s State House and other corridors of power after an impeached VP’s ghost has refused to go down silently, and is instead kicking back violently, threatening to drag many down with him. It is an unenviable situation President Ruto finds himself considering that Kenya has not fully recovered from the GenZ demonstration and the violent crackdown that forced government to back-peddle on the controversial Finance Bill. After the political drama in the National Assembly and Senate, even seasoned lawyers, seemed to have forgotten that the next battlefield would be at the High, and Appeal and Supreme Courts in twists and turns whose final outcome could take much longer than anticipated. While President Ruto had fourteen days within which to name Gachagua’s replacement, he instead chose three hours, and parliament sat within fifteen minutes sidestepping the sixty days granted by the constitution to approve Prof. Kithure Kindiki, shortcuts, challenged in Kenyan courts of law. Looking at recent political trends in Kenya, including the aborted Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga which took four years in the courts, Gachagua’s ouster could run much longer unless he loses the appetite for legal battles if defeated at the High Court. It appears that the architects of the impeachment imagined that once they piled false, embarrassing, horrendous, and unverified allegations of corruption, theft and political malfeasance, no reasonable person, let alone a politician, would stand strong to be dragged through the sewers. Their calculations must have been that Gachagua would flee, which partly explains the fake apology and resignation letters that were circulated yet he showed up in the Senate as the impeachment process was underway. The unverified accusation of amassing one hundred business companies, huge tracks of prime land from Nyeri to Nairobi, accumulation of five billion Kenyan shillings, and stealing from his dead brother, were so ignominious, possibly aimed at breaking Gachagua’s human spirit but which he has withstood. Gachagua’s impeachment is reminiscent of the 1997-98 censure of ministers Jim Katugugu Muhwezi and Sam Kahamba Kutesa in the 6th parliament mostly by novices who, at the time did not even know them that much, led by Okwir Rwabwoni and Emmanuel Dombo respectively, but being fed on falsehoods by disgruntled Winnie Byanyima and Maj. John Kazoora. Although with hyperbole, Okwir and Dombo even without being cross-examined by lawyers, looked so shallow on the facts they presented on the floor of parliament, but were somehow believed, more like what Kenyan MP Eckomas Mwengi Mutuse found himself last week while prosecuting Gachagua. Today, that scenario is being replayed over the coffee debate in parliament, making one conclude that politicians enjoying parliament and senate floors are probably the same, often looking stupid poodles, although never ashamed of their false accusations, usually easy for one skunk with courage and facts to scatter them. Gachagua’s shambolic impeachment, removal of legal entitlements and privileges like transport and security looks so panicky, rushed, and smirks political witch-hunt against a poodle, that only yesterday barked for President Ruto, ought to be given a treat, and not smash its head.

By Ofwono Ofondo

NEGATIVE AND CHEAP TALK ON GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS; THE FAILURE IN COMMUNICATION

One year to the next general elections, and government finds itself in running shadow boxing with critics who trash its achievements often without substance, but causing substantial damage locally and internationally. And when the crisis hits, hard, some of the critics become turncoats, silenced and co-opted at huge costs, at which point, fortune hunters also come, posturing as the problem solvers, but often do a conman job at heavy budgets, and disappear in thin air. Over the years government has failed, refused or not found the need to proactively plan, provide consistent and adequately fund its communication strategy and platforms, a sector many governments today give priority because it is the era of new media and digital revolution, and ‘war’ theatre as it provides easy, fast and cost-effective access to multiple audiences. The government flatfoot has ignored its communication including the directorate of information, Uganda Media Centre, national broadcaster UBC, and the various communication platforms in ministries, and agencies to a peril, unable to fight back disinformation, misinformation, fake news, and toxic narratives deliberately being driven with malicious intent. There has been an endless lamentation that Agriculture and health are paid the least priority, yet by the most current data they score highly in the success stories in food production like maize, milk, grains, sugar, eggs, and rising life expectancy, declining infant and maternal mortalities. Many people also claim that Uganda is rated poorly by the superficial outsiders on democracy, yet at every election circle has one of the highest voter turnouts, number of candidates participating for each electoral position, and highest attrition rate for incumbents. Even the highest in government, well-connected and with money like a vice president, and senior ministers, have often felled at the feet of political novices. Save for Kampala’s potholed roads and dirty environment, mainly due to mismanagement and corruption, Ugandans like to mourn poor energy and economy, yet figures show that Uganda enjoys the lowest inflation, debt to GDP ratio, and a more favourable balance of trade in the region. Comparatively, Uganda’s attraction of FDI, tourism, and entry through Entebbe International airport has been consistently on the rise since Covid-19 restrictions were ended in 2022, yet Ugandans including MPs shout comparing infrastructural costs with some neighbours often without any iota of shame. Things are not any better over governance, security, and corruption perception index when the IGG’s reports are alarmist, often without context as recently claimed that Uganda’s daily loss due to corruption stands at 25bn, yet it bundled together factors delays occasioned by absenteeism, bureaucracy, litigation, contract reviews, and lack of due diligence. The common mind is made to be falsely believe that trillions are lost through direct theft by individuals. There is also the tendency by government officials to throw about health concerns like Ebola or Murburg alerts, yet tropical diseases we live with daily. Other countries usually don’t rush with alarmist reports that scare, but are measured. It’s much the same with security agencies who when they detect or arrest suspects in criminality, in order to attract relevance, or funding, often classify the as ‘terrorism’ which provide fertile to western diplomatic missions to issue negative advisories to potential tourists or investors. By failing to fund its communication, government has surrendered the media spectrum across the country to disinformation, misinformation and fakes, mostly to people with malicious intent. Over the last three years, opposition surrogates have mounted a sustained negative propaganda to paint Uganda black to domestica and foreign unsuspecting audiences. As a result, government’s media and communication strategy to debate and persuasively explain, an otherwise well-intentioned, but poorly packaged policies like the anti-homosexuality, or land issues have run into unnecessary troubles. It’s my view, that government must realise the critical role proactive and effective communication plays in today’s world.

By Ofwono Opondo