Editorial
NRM doesn’t have to harass Opposition to win
Gen. David Ssejjusa visit Dr. Kizza Besigye at Nagalama police station
NRM is the ruling political party in Uganda, it has been in power for many years, and it is the biggest political party in the country.
Even without a fixed place of abode to talk about, and the quintessential periodic political fall-outs between comrades, NRM still comes out as comparably more organised political party around.
It has more money by virtue of being the party in power for over a considerable period of time. It is supposed to be the custodian of democracy and the promoter of national unity. It is trusted not to abuse or misuse the means of coercion entrusted with it, and it is expected to be the protector of the inalienable rights of the citizens of the Pearl of Africa.
Being a democracy as opposed to being a dictatorship, the ruling party is supposed to guarantee the rights and freedoms of other peoples and other parties especially during periods when political parties are engaged in competition to win elections.
What also gives leverage to the ruling NRM, is the weakness and the disorganization of Uganda’s opposition political parties. Opposition parties have a tendency to self-destruct. There is no single political party within the opposing parties that is united. The bickering and in-fighting within each one of them, is so fierce for them to unite and win an election.
It is this glaring disunity that has for many years been exploited by the ruling NRM. Because NRM has ‘logistics’, it never hesitates to buy-off the splinter groups which process depletes the opposition numbers to the advantage of the privileged ruling party.
Today, the ruling NRM itself is disunited but again, this is what always happens every five years. But because the opposition parties are more divided, President Museveni has continued to enjoy victory every time there is an election.
As we enter the campaign period pending the 2016 elections, NRM is divided but opposition parties are more divided. That is why it gets annoying seeing the ruling party terrorizing and brutalizing opposition members that still want to exercise their political freedoms.
The ruling party is been recently playing dirty even when it is very clear the opposition is nowhere being organised enough to put up a serious challenge. So why can’t the NRM allow Mugisha Muntu, Kiiza Besigye, Nobert Mao, Lukwago, Amama Mbabazi and all the other Ugandans interested in aspiring for leadership positions to do so freely?
This week in Kabale, it was reported that an FDC party supporter was arrested by a police over the visit of General Muntu’s visit to the area. There were complaints over allegedly authorized media ‘blanking’ among other complaints from various political competitors.
Question is, who is advising the ruling party to behave harshly against parties most of which are as good as dead? Why is NRM manifesting panic?
A story doing the rounds is one of an NRM loyal supporter who was recently branded a ‘Mbabazi supporter’ by an activist who defected to opposition over ten years ago and has just ‘returned’ to the NRM and given some assignments. The accusations are that ‘fortune hunters’ are back branding others non-party supporters.
There a really lot of room for soul searching.
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