Opinions
Why victory is not guaranteed for Museveni even via scientific elections
Museveni is concerned about the lapses by the public in its handling of COVID-19 guidelines
A cloud of uncertainty continues to hover over the much anticipated 2020/21 general elections.
The crisis stems from the disagreement between the various stakeholders on the way campaigns should be conducted.
The government insists that no public gatherings will be allowed as they threaten to spread the deadly COVID-19 disease that is killing hundreds of thousands of people in many parts of the world.
But opponents say the directives, which will impact the selection of candidates right from the lowest levels through primaries, are undemocratic, unconstitutional and are meant to favour incumbents.
Leading opposition politicians have vowed to boycott the polls especially if the incumbent continues to show interest in his seat.
The reality is if Museveni blunders, with his courts, and they order for the postponement of the elections supposed to happen before May 12, next year arrives, those who will be still be alive, will tell those absent what they will witness happening in this country then.
Although COVID-19 has killed more than half a million people already, in Uganda we have reason to thank God that we’ve at least avoided the worst case scenario.
Uganda remains one the very few countries in the world that have not lost a patient to COVID-19.
Despite the big efforts of our leaders, and health experts, life in Kampala city has almost returned to normality, if people’s movement can be used as a guide.
I can tell you that, almost everyone in Uganda is t today defying more than two presidential directives, on a daily basis. People no longer sanitize or wash hands before accessing public places, including markets and health centres.
Boda boda cyclists, despite daily warnings from authorities, are carrying passengers again instead of the luggage they were told to carry, by the president. They operate beyond the hour of 5pm in the evening that they were ordered to stop operating.
Today, hundreds of people are seen attending burial ceremonies and while this happens, notorious LDUs and other men and women in uniform look on just and never do anything to enforce their bosses’ directives.
Kizza Besigye will perhaps, in the coming days, come out to openly tell us that he has not given up dreaming big but now let’s take it that it is Bobi Wine and former New Vision sports columnist, Joseph Kabuleta interested in unseating ageing Museveni.
We learn but forget quickly, about the lessons learned. A 65 year old Lazarus Chakwera was recently sworn in as the new president of Malawi. The opposition here know perhaps better than anyone else that victory is not achieved because one has fought less.
Chakwera looked carefully and realized that Malawi’s problem was incumbent Peter Mutharika. Chakwera became the main man behind Malawian’s hope for change. He asked other weak and very small parties to rally behind his tested Malawi Congress Party.
They formed a solid bloc, the Tonse Alliance, that consisted of nine parties. They all joined hands and whole-heartedly shook the oak, Mutharika, who still had all the interest of ruling Malawi for another five years.
Museveni, like Malawian Mutharika, can be defeated in an election regardless of the name that election is called. People wanting to topple the incumbent in Uganda lack the needed confidence.
Joseph Kabuleta the other day petitioned the constitutional court. He wants the polls to be postponed.
But if Kabuleta, thought Ugandan courts were independent, he would be sitting at home relaxed knowing that perhaps this thing named “Scientific Elections” will never happen in Uganda.
Kabuleta knows the truth and so does Bobi Wine or Besigye and Norbert Mao and his party DP. All peace loving Ugandans must pray that we vote as prescribed by the constitution of Uganda and so by the revised election roadmap, launched by the Election Commission last month.
No sane incumbent can allow himself head into a period beyond February next year with no poll conducted, to determine whether he or she will remain president or not. Bobi Wine recently told people in a press conference that he was ready to face Museveni and that all this he can successfully do, as Chakwera and the friends in Malawi did, in June.
There is nothing impossible in politics. Rulling NRM party Secretary General Kasule Lumumba admitted last time that opposition parties can as we speak canvass for votes better than them using media.
It is true, and this is the chance the Kabuletas and the rest should use and see change in leadership happen in Uganda for the first time in more than three decades.
God has perhaps made this happen, so that we may sort boys from men. And why would you call for the postponement of an election yet you are not very aware of what will happen in the years to come, beyond this moment? Coronavirus broke out in China in 2019. More than six months since, the virus is still wreaking havoc there.
It is perhaps your time to learn how things are done in the new world Covid-19 has delivered to us. There is no need for the opposition to fear.
The elections should be allowed to go on as demanded by the Constitution of Uganda.
People can still refuse to vote Museveni. They have seen this man for three full decades now. They now know what he has done and what he can never do. It will always be God’s will.
The God who brought Museveni is the same God who is about to show Ugandans his successor. We all thought the whole of this year would be a year of opportunities for all. It has been, just for some.
The majority of people around the globe are in tears. It is already a dead year to some, especially teachers who continued to despise farming despite seeing it with naked eyes that the schools would still remain closed until this time. A peace loving Ugandan should kneel in prayer today.
Scientific Campaigns and Elections are possible and they should not be opposed by opposition parties in Uganda. It will only take unity and determination for the opposition in Uganda. Peter Mutharika lost to a united opposition led by Lazarus Chakwera.
Anything can happen in politics. It will not be escorting Museveni to easy victory, if you allow Scientific Elections to happen. Fear not, ladies and gentlemen yearning to see Museveni replaced.
You can form a solid thing similar to a Tonse Alliance, in Malawi. Museveni can be trounced. We need a peaceful Uganda.
We need elections conducted as recommended by the revised 2020/2021 electoral road map. This is a full country. It should be business as usual, as soon as possible. I knelt in prayer at night. I want elections!
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