What Africa can learn from Museveni

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OPINION

By Moses Byaruhanga 

Last week, I wrote about the opportunities for investing in Uganda in both government securities and manufacturing. I had promised this week to write about the issues affecting the traders. 

However, having celebrated 80 years of President Yoweri Museveni, let me join the others who have written about this. The celebration prayers took place last Sunday at Kijjaguzo Catholic Church in Luwero district.

In her prayer, Pastor Patience Rwabwogo, a daughter of the President, praised her father: “There is no fakeness or counterfeit in his character.” 

Another daughter, Mrs. Natasha Karugire, during the luncheon, said if there was something she would like to learn from her father was his “ability to listen.” 

She said through his God-given patience to listen, her father listens to people even if he does not agree with what the other party is saying.  I could go on quoting different people who talked about him.

Today, let me write about the side of President Museveni which Africa should look at and learn from him. Many countries in Africa are currently having internal strife, most of them based on sectarianism founded on tribe, clan, religion, etc... 

Uganda has had its share of internal strife, but Museveni, right from his student days saw this and started the student movement. 

John Kawanga, in his speech said when he joined Ntare School in 1965, he met a young Museveni, who welcomed him. Although Kawanga never brought it out directly, he was surprised that a young Museveni embraced him, who was a Catholic and from Buganda. 

Those are traits of a young Museveni who was not embroiled in religious and tribal sectarianism which was prevalent at the time. The same trait of Museveni embracing all was echoed by Rt. Brig. Gen. Omule, who said notwithstanding that he was from Lango, when Museveni was recruiting the first batch of young people to be trained in Mozambique, he was among the 28 who were recruited.

Only three of the 28 are still living. He also stayed at his house in Moshi and was looked after by Museveni and his wife, Maama Janet Museveni, together with their young family then.

I will not go into how Museveni led the liberation of Uganda as that is well documented. But, while in the bush, the NRA that he led recruited fighters irrespective of tribe, clan, or religion. 

His teachings in the bush and after were and have continued to be on unity. 

He always talked about patriotism, the love for ones’ country; that a patriot has no time for sectarianism. He preaches that as a wealth creator himself, he has no room for sectarianism because a wealth creator wants a market to sell what they produce. 

In his speeches, he gives examples that it was people like Bukenya, Walusimbi Mpanga, who used to buy their cows that contributed to his education. 

When his father sold cows to these cattle traders, he was able to pay his school fees. 

If his father had refused to deal (trade) with people outside Ankole and decided to deal with only his fellow Banyankole, a majority of whom had cows and bananas, there would not have been one to buy the cows. So, those African countries still embroiled in internal strife mostly based on tribe, clans, religion, etc, take lessons from Museveni. He managed to liberate Uganda and after 1986, when fighting groups like LRA, ADF, FOBA, Rescue Front and others started a rebellion against the NRM Government, Museveni united the country and dealt with the insurgencies. 

Today, Uganda is secure and more united. In elections, the NRM gets votes across all tribal sub-regions of Uganda. Even some of the opposition parties even notwithstanding that they lose, they manage to get votes across the country. How did he do it?

Museveni started by recruiting into the army (NRA) and later UPDF, all Ugandans who qualified irrespective of their tribe, clan or religion. 

Apart from recruitment, he trained the army and today the UPDF is a well trained and an equipped force led by younger people. 

The old men have been retired honourably with a relatively good take home package. 

This is what happens in developed countries. I have read biographies of USA generals like the ones of Gen. Collin Powell, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, and Gen. Tommy Frank. 

What you read from books about these generals is that, in the army, the important things are; training, discipline, equipment, service in various posts and retirement at different times and ranks.

The trainings rhyme with the different leadership centres starting from platoon, company, battalion commanders’ courses, for junior leaders and senior staff college and defence college for the senior leaders in the army. In all these colleges they also teach political economy. So, the African countries need to build armies without any regard to sectarian sentiments. The army should be national in character and embrace all clans, tribes, religions, etc...

It should be well trained and disciplined and a pro-people army. The national army of any country, if it is based on patriotism, well trained and disciplined, it will deal with any form of internal strife especially, where such is politically initiated.

The other attribute on Museveni, which Africans can learn from him is his listening ability which Karugire referred too. 

In uniting Uganda, President Museveni has been listening even to those who were initially opposed to him, including those who were fighting against him. 

In his first Government in 1986, the majority of ministers were not the people he came with from the bush. It had leaders like the then DP president general, the late Paul Kawanga Semogerere. 

His politics has been to bring on board anybody willing to contribute to Uganda notwithstanding the past political differences with his ideological stand.

The current DP president general, Norbert Mao is a cabinet minister. Musa Echweru, who was among the fighters in Teso who fought against NRA is now a minister, Gen Moses Ali, who was one of the rebel leaders, is a Deputy Prime Minister.  

The political groups in Africa like the SPLM in South Sudan and others should learn from the politics of unity and absorbing all the fighting forces into the national army and government as practiced by Museveni.

On the military side, Museveni has always been a peace maker. He fights, but if the other side is willing to talk peace, then he goes for it.  In 1985, under the chairmanship of President Moi of Kenya, Museveni attended the Nairobi peace talks notwithstanding the fact that he had a military advantage of taking over the Government in Kampala, which he eventually did when the Government of Gen. Tito Okello never lived to what had been agreed upon in the talks.

When he took over government, Museveni fought the insurgencies at the same time left the door open for talks.

The other fighting forces that fought the Obote II Government as the NRA was fighting, were incorporated into NRA after 1986. These were the late Kayira’s UFM, the late Nkwanga’s Federal Democratic Movement, Gen. Moses Ali’s Uganda National Rescue Front and another group led by the late Gen. Ali Bamuze. 

During the fight against LRA which was brutalising people in northern Uganda, President Museveni after listening to many calls, agreed on amnesty where those who surrendered were never tried for treason. 

Many of those who responded to amnesty were resettled back home and some joined the UPDF. When Kony/LRA was finally dislodged from Sudan where he was operating from, he went into hiding in DRC. 

There were calls for talks with the LRA leaders, Museveni accepted the talks which were held in Juba.

Why would former adversaries or political opponents accept to work with Museveni? It is because of his character as mentioned by Rwabwogo that there is no fakeness or counterfeit in Museveni. 

He lives by his word. That straightness in him helps him solve military/political issues.

Maama Janet Museveni talked of her husband being a believer in God and as such he is a promoter of justice. 

I recall in 1994, it was not easy for the then NRC to accept the return of Asian properties which were being managed under Custodian Board. But Museveni, the crusader of Justice, told the NRC that it was unfair for government to keep holding properties that were confiscated from their rightful owners. 

He asked how would you convince investors to your country, when you are holding properties confiscated from their rightful owners? 

It is against the same spirit that in 1995 during the debate on the new Constitution, Museveni advocated the return of Mailo land that had been nationalised by the 1975 Land Decree. This makes Museveni an advocate for the private sector. 

From this attribute of belief in the private sector, Museveni promotes regional integration to allow free movement of goods, services and labour.

Remember as a wealth creator, he believes that the local market is not enough, hence, the need for a regional and finally the African market. It is this that will consolidate the Africa Free Continental Trade Area.

The regional blocks and eventually the consolidation of the Africa Free Trade Area will lead to prosperity of the Africa. Museveni has been telling Africans to learn from the USA where the colonies united to form the Unites States of America and were joined by others.

Today 50 states make up the USA. This is in contrast to the states in Latin America that remained small independent states, but now their citizens look up to going to USA for better opportunities and because of unity, America is the most prosperous country in the world.

The writer is a Senior Presidential Advisor/Political Affairs State House