Home or away, Museveni wins

Onapito Ekomoloit to the PointTHE biblical reference to a prophet not being believed in his own home could not hold truer for President Yoweri Museveni. Of course, millions of Ugandans still have faith in the President’s ability to steer the country to greater heights. But there is a vocal minority lurking in the shadows that is desperate to take the rest of us into an overdrive of pessimism about the merits of the nation’s chief executive.Events involving the President on the world stage, when he was out of the country recently, however, belied any prophecies of doom about his stewardship of the state.To our home grown Doubting Thomases, the message from the world was once more loud and clear: Your President is firmly on course to the Leadership Hall of Fame.Tuesday, the President returned from twin trips to Britain and Australia with bouquets. First in London, he mesmerised an audience at a discussion on technology management with his trademark economic wit. And the group, gathered at a famous London club, was no ordinary audience. In the words of the club chairman, its membership boasts of more Nobel Prize laureates than any nation in the world.Seeing this group of the intellectual mighty listen to and applaud the President’s original explanations about Africa left one in no doubt that the country was investing its money well having him out their batting for us. The President crossed south from London to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM ) in Australia.In a summit clouded by dispute over how to treat Zimbabwe’s bad boy Robert Mugabe, Museveni was a silver lining. He became the first individual to get a special Commonwealth award for the fight against HIV/AIDS, an honour hitherto received only by institutions.The basis on which the president bagged the Commonwealth award, and for which he has been feted at other anti-AIDS discussions, told it all about what makes Museveni tick: being simple and logical.While the world gored itself silly over the trivialities of AIDS, such as its origin, the President’s message to Ugandans, from the word go of his presidency, was straightforward. The disease is here and it’s killing us; fortunately we know how it travels; all we need to do is to keep out of its path, he argued.More significantly, the President made it sure that the alarm, as he calls it, about the danger of AIDS was sounded to all Ugandans; day in, day out-even if it meant mentioning some words that were culturally considered a taboo.Years down the road, the results are there for all to see: a fall in HIV/AIDS incidence from 30 % in 1986 to 6.1 % today, and still falling.And lending all credence to the common saying that behind (should be beside) every successful man, there is a (capable) woman, First Lady Janet has always been shoulder-to- shoulder with her man in the anti-AIDS crusade.Before joining the President in London and Australia, the First Lady had just delivered a keynote address at an international Christian AIDS conference-winning rare praise even from a conservative U.S. Senator, Jesse Helms, a man with very uncharitable views about Africans.As the temperature rose over the question of sanctions against Mugabe, Museveni’s reasoning had a cooling effect. The President argued that both Mugabe and the CHOGM bloc seeking sanctions against him, led by Britain’s Tony Blair, had a point, but both were making grave mistakes in their approach to the conflict. With cool heads, Museveni argued, it was possible to have a win-win situation for the two sides. The summit decided to postpone any possible punishment against Mugabe until after the March 9-10 Zimbabwe presidential elections. The Ugandan leader had argued that a Mugabe victory would not necessarily mean lack of democracy in Zimbabwe. It depends on how it happens. Let’s wait and see.What was most sobering to observers was Museveni giving Mugabe some credit — for his heroic past — at the Zimbabwean’s greatest hour of need, when he appeared alone and frightened. This notwithstanding that Mugabe has not been quite charitable to his Ugandan counter part. He poked his nose into the Congo — where he has no compelling national interests — against Uganda, which has genuine security concerns there.