Tell me, has Museveni lost majority support?
May 15, 2005
SIR — I have read in the press and heard in the mass media about some opposition politicians threatening to go to the bush if the two-term presidential limit is lifted.
SIR — I have read in the press and heard in the mass media about some opposition politicians threatening to go to the bush if the two-term presidential limit is lifted. I wish to remind such politicians that before they involve us in another war, they must satisfy themselves that the majority of Ugandans in the rural areas where the war will be fought have completely lost support and confidence in president Yower Museveni, otherwise they will fail. I wish to illustrate my point. In 1970, Idi Amin was an uninvited guest to a function at Makerere University where President Milton Obote was the chief guest. In order to test his popularity, Amin drove himself to Makerere to attend the function and was given a rousing welcome by the students. He was give a seat just a short distance from Obote which made the president uncomfortable. He was all the time looking in the direction of Idi Amin possibly remembering the 1969 Lugogo incident where an assassination attempt on his life had failed by a whisker and in which Amin was implicated. This, in my view, was an act of support and confidence in Amin by Makerere students. In 1971, Obote was overthrown by Idi Amin, and the coup was given overwhelming support by the Baganda, not because Amin was a good man but rather, they had suffered a lot during the five years ‘state emergency’ slapped on Buganda by Obote. The celebrations to welcome the coup lasted for weeks.
In 1972, Obote’s liberation army from Tanzania where Obote was living in exile tried to invade Uganda to overthrow Idi Amin. They passed through Mutukula but never made it beyond Masaka. This was because the Baganda had not forgotten Obote’s murderous regime and could not support his comeback. Most of the the soldiers who were found in the bush and cassava plantations, were killed by civilians and the invasion failed mainly because of lack of support from the rural population which was dominated by Baganda. A big contrast can be drawn from the 1981-1985 liberation war under the command of Yoweri Museveni in the Luwero triangle. It succeeded mainly because of the Baganda who fully supported it and this fact was recently confirmed by Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu himself at a press conference. So Muntu and Eriya Kategaya should first ask themselves one question: Have the majority of Baganda lost confidence and support for Museveni? If not, then they should stop alluding to war all the time which causes a lot of anxiety among Ugandans. Instead they should concentrate on organising their parties for the presidential election in 2006.
Kulumba-Kiingi
Kampala
In 1972, Obote’s liberation army from Tanzania where Obote was living in exile tried to invade Uganda to overthrow Idi Amin. They passed through Mutukula but never made it beyond Masaka. This was because the Baganda had not forgotten Obote’s murderous regime and could not support his comeback. Most of the the soldiers who were found in the bush and cassava plantations, were killed by civilians and the invasion failed mainly because of lack of support from the rural population which was dominated by Baganda. A big contrast can be drawn from the 1981-1985 liberation war under the command of Yoweri Museveni in the Luwero triangle. It succeeded mainly because of the Baganda who fully supported it and this fact was recently confirmed by Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu himself at a press conference. So Muntu and Eriya Kategaya should first ask themselves one question: Have the majority of Baganda lost confidence and support for Museveni? If not, then they should stop alluding to war all the time which causes a lot of anxiety among Ugandans. Instead they should concentrate on organising their parties for the presidential election in 2006.
Kulumba-Kiingi
Kampala