Politics is about tolerance, people and resources, and Dr.Kiiza Besigye, like Museveni, has always been good with people. He knows what motivates them, what incentivizes them, what inspires them. The key to his success in opposition politics has been about identifying talented individuals and harnessing their efforts.
Therefore, I think Its smart business to work with NUP’s Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, just like we were agitating for it between 2018 and 2019 before the presidential elections. The later would fit in perfectly with FDC if Museveni isn’t interested in the NUP project anymore (LOL). He could be secretary for Mobilisation in FDC if he ever gets tired of the NUP outfit.
Regular people in many parts of the country have been looking at the madness in opposition and scoffed in confusion or anger. On this note, I would like to thank all those that have worked behind the scenes to see this new cooperation, not unity, between FDC and NUP happen.
I don’t think the opposition is at the stage of unity yet, because there’s a lot of water under the bridge – too much damage has been done in the last four years. But I hope that they, ultimately, get there and start working on common problems.
Unity will be got by rejecting things like tribalism, favouritism, defamations, fake news, worshipping leaders, and classism, but focusing on our common enemy and on the common good. To be clear, Nupians should stop practicing identity politics. Many of them explicitly appeal to tribal groups, like Baganda, just to name one example.
Nupian bloggers, such as Fred Lumbuye, Koja Omugezi, et al, have been using identify politics mostly as a means to side-line Besigye and FDC, or those that support them; the consequences of this cannot be overstated. It is a key reason why the opposition is so divided and its lowest since 1986. You cannot call a Muganda a ‘non-Muganda’ simply because he doesn’t support a Muganda politician.
NUP shouldn’t, therefore, be used anymore as a tool to hammer Besigye and FDC back to the stone age. This is Bobi’s chance to seek unity with those genuinely seeking change.
We should all promote a platform of national values which would benefit everyone regardless of their background.
However, not every Nupian is bad and unreasonable; People, like everywhere else, are very different in character and temperament. It’s like saying that all grapes are red, just because they are grapes. We should, therefore, promote Unity in diversity (UID).
UID is a concept of “unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation”. We are not obligated to change and be the same. We only have to love and respect each other’s differences. FDC/NUP cooperation on which candidate to support in local elections in Soroti and Pallisa, is an example of unity in diversity. Diversity means differences.
True diversity is when people of differing tribes, cultures, languages, political differences and religions, are able to work and live together under a spirit of mutual tolerance and cooperation.
Tolerance does not demand that I agree with your opinion. I can still disagree with any of the bloggers belonging to NUP or FDC without necessarily labelling them as ‘moles’.
Tolerance does demand me to respect my fellow Ugandan as a brother or sister, whether he is NRM or FDC or NUP, Muganda or Munyarwanda or Munyankole, Christian, Muslim, protestant or Atheist.
And because I have been impressed with Bobi’s actions since Soroti, I’m going to throw in a sweetener — I’m going to avoid any criticism of him in the next few months, and I see where this goes.
Like most people who have been criticising Bobi for years over certain obvious blunders and mistakes, I’m not jumping at the opportunity of seeing Besigye and Buganda Kingdom being betrayed again, but I’m trying to keep an open mind about the developments. That’s why I urge FDC not to give up total control of where they want to be in the next 10 -15 years.
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