On Monday this week, former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu instructed his lawyers to withdraw his election petition challenging President Yoweri Museveni’s January 14 victory.
Kyagulanyi, the first runners up in the polls had argued that the Electoral Commission had organised the most fraudulent election in the country’s history. He claimed that not only the security apparatus had made it impossible for a fair and free electioneering but that the regime also connived with the EC to announce falsified results.
The withdrawal of the election petition from Supreme Court has, as expected hatched varying reactions from the public with sections taking sides on whether this was the right thing for Kyagulanyi to do or a sign of timidity. Some radical opposition supporters have already gone ahead to suspect the Kamwokya based political establishment had pocketed big sums of money just to let Museveni swear in unbothered!
Whereas the above allegation may not be true, it points towards a pertinent responsibility that Mr Kyagulanyi owes the public and his party members to regain their confidence and trust in preparation for the next opportunity to try his luck once again.
In his presentation before the media on the withdrawal of the petition, it looked as if the outgoing Kyadondo East Lawmaker will be insisting to take a combative rather than a reconciliatory approach in respect to the failed legal challenge. Although this might have been intended to provide more hopes for the already frustrated opposition supporters, it could boomerang upon him at a later stage after people have waited for the next killer alternative against Museveni’s government to no avail.
In 2016, four time presidential candidate had promised the population he would fight tooth and nail to reclaim what he called ” the FDC/ people’s victory” from president Museveni. As a show of determination, he went on to stage a mock swearing in ceremony as the elected president of Uganda the same way Museveni was being sworn in at Kololo. This would land him in prison rather that State House!
With the rise of Bobi Wine in the country’s opposition politics, former Besigye lovers and haters alike ganged up to accuse him of double standards that have worked to entrench the Museveni administration rather than weaken it. When he desperately tried to allege the absence of democracy as the main reason he had not been able to attain regime change, it was Kyagulanyi who took the lead as hostile opposition fanatics trolled him with ” You can’t stand four times and tell us there is no democracy in Uganda. There is democracy and we believe it works…,” Needless to say, a verdict had been passed. Besigye was a traitor and a new messiah had come who would certainly deliver the very exhausted Israelites to the promised land.
And now that Joshua too has seemingly failed to execute the task, won’t the disappointed Israelites be tempted to look back at their journey under Moses or at the worst look else where?
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