The real crisis of Uganda

By Andrew Mwenda

Here is the real crisis of Uganda and why change of government cannot create a change in governance. The most potent force that can defeat Museveni is the one led by FDC cult leader and opposition presidential candidate for life, Dr. Kizza Besigye.

The quality of post Museveni governance therefore has to be predicted from the capacity, ideology, behavior, beliefs, practices, mentalities and attitudes of Besigye’s core supporters, often radical extremists. For we must always remember that a government can only reflect its social/political base.

So who are the supporters of Besigye? What is their ideology? How do they behave? What is their shared mentality? What is their attitude towards government and their opponents? We know them and their ideas because they are the most loud voice on social media.

For the most part, opposition supporters are extremely intolerant of divergent views. Whoever disagrees with their half baked, hare-brained ideas, they respond with vitriol – insults and threats. That tells you that the only government they can run is an intolerant despotism.

On policy, they have no ideas of what is needed to fix education, agriculture, industry, health, tourism, banking, ICT etc. For example what is their attitude towards foreign direct investment? What do they think about tax policy and administration? What is their policy towards industry and manufacturing? Ask them and they will go blank.

And they are worse when it comes to institutions on which they talk a lot . No wonder their so called party, FDC, lacks even the most rudimentary organizational infrastructure. How they hope to build state institutions (a bigger job) when they have failed to build basic party institutions is always a puzzle to me.

Let us look at their attitude: if u disagree with their emotional rants (which they mistake for analysis), they accuse you of having been bribed by Museveni. This is not a judgment of those they accuse but a reflection of their beliefs and attitudes about power. They see power as a source of money and those whom they associate with it as rich. Give them power and they will loot the state with reckless abandon, just like a hyena does its prey.

These opposition activists do not recognize any independent voice that stands apart from both them and Museveni. You are either with them or against them (which is another way of saying you are with Museveni). The crisis of Uganda is that our country is caught between Museveni’s frying pan and the opposition’s fire.