Besigye must think of new plans to keep in the press
Apr 06, 2006
ALL great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely, not only in body but in spirit as well. It was also Moses who issued the famous law of “An Eye for an Eye,†which is actually revenge.
ALL great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely, not only in body but in spirit as well. It was also Moses who issued the famous law of “An Eye for an Eye,†which is actually revenge.
Coming from the original NRM stock “Historicals,†Dr. Kizza Besigye should know the longstanding NRM warfare principle of never to completely and ruthlessly annihilate the “enemy.â€
And now that it is all over, and over, Dr Warren Smith Kizza Besigye one of the four losers in the last presidential election who had petitioned the Supreme Court seeking nullification of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s election must look for new plots to keep him positively alive in the media.
In a decision of five to two judges, the Supreme Court upheld Museveni’s election, and Besigye has no other plausible choice but to submit.
Unlike in 2001 when he fled to the Diaspora, Besigye is now better advised to stay around and organise his party, the FDC from the sidelines since he won’t be the official Leader of the Opposition (LoP) as recognised by the Uganda constitution. Apparently the Supreme Court verdict coming the way it did was not a surprise to Besigye who has been preparing the minds of his supporters that he would lose the petition because the courts are ‘biased or timid’ to take decisions against Museveni’s election!
This is the reason Besigye told his gullible crowd at Nakivubo stadium last weekend, “If the Supreme Court does not nullify Museveni’s election, it will be the last time I go to that court to report election rigging or seek redress on election matters.â€
Besigye is at liberty to “warn†government “never to dare re-arrest me again, and risk a tsunami,†because that is just hot air, for he can be arrested if there is reason, otherwise he is advocating others to be above, and below the law, which he cannot be accorded.
Giving the Supreme Court “Notice,†about his intention should his infantile political desires fail, Besigye said, “I have no doubt about what will come from Court, but if it doesn’t help, I don’t think anyone will ever go back to court over election rigging.â€
It appears that with this ballooned ego, Besigye falsely believes that he is the complete embodiment of the various aspirations of all Ugandans.
FDC leaders should remember that brute belligerence against the NRM as a mass political organisation has been a slow but sure suicidal venture to some opposition or political turncoats.
They can ask Michael Kaggwa of the famed DP Mobilisers’ Group, or Omulongo Wasswa Ziritwaula of Tap Dialogue of the 1980s. Alternatively, look for DP’s Paul Ssemogerere and Evaristo Nyanzi, or Mrs. Cecilia Ogwal, Yona Kanyomozi, James Rwanyarare, who while still purported to have Milton Obote’s ears worked the soles of their shoes dry maligning the NRM. Those thinking of armed rebellion can look for Aggrey Awori of the Force Obote Back Again (FOBA), Peter Otai of Uganda Peoples’ Army (UPA), and Gen. Ali Bamuze who all got badly bruised before abandoning military adventure.
And when Brig. Smith Opon Acak tried to build an armed group the Citizens’ Army for Multiparty Politics (CAMP) in Lango, he was not so lucky because he was nipped like chicken in a little forest at Bar Opok at the Lira-Apac border in August 1999. And the UPC that kicked dust at the NRM 20 years also failed to reclaim its political fortunes even after parading Milton Obote’s corpse through a long trek from Kampala via the eastern route before a supposedly high profile burial in Akokoro during which Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya as chief government representative was turned down.
So, now that Besigye is electorally down although not yet out, the NRM should temporarily rest its political case against him to offer an olive branch for self-reflection on his and our part, and hopefully constructive engagement, as Paul Ssemogerere would wont to say. While many, including in FDC like Besigye and Reagan Okumu have been quick to ask the NRM, and Museveni not to “sideline,†the opposition, and seek “reconciliation,†the losers, and NRM winners have as much responsibility to warm up to each other.
The NRM should not be expected to negotiate while the opposition is using blackmail, intimidation, and guns over its head.
While the NRM shall extend the “olive branch,†as it has often done, it is the responsibility of the defeated opposition to recognise their weaknesses and to know that intransigence does not pay and hence seek appropriate audience with the NRM and Museveni.
Of course the NRM can or will be defeated when it fails to stay the course, deliver services, and other aspirations of Ugandans, which means NRM workers must ensure that designing, and implementation of development programmes must answer to the peoples’ real needs.
For this reason, the NRM must be extra vigilant with itself, actions, and allies.
Ends
Coming from the original NRM stock “Historicals,†Dr. Kizza Besigye should know the longstanding NRM warfare principle of never to completely and ruthlessly annihilate the “enemy.â€
And now that it is all over, and over, Dr Warren Smith Kizza Besigye one of the four losers in the last presidential election who had petitioned the Supreme Court seeking nullification of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s election must look for new plots to keep him positively alive in the media.
In a decision of five to two judges, the Supreme Court upheld Museveni’s election, and Besigye has no other plausible choice but to submit.
Unlike in 2001 when he fled to the Diaspora, Besigye is now better advised to stay around and organise his party, the FDC from the sidelines since he won’t be the official Leader of the Opposition (LoP) as recognised by the Uganda constitution. Apparently the Supreme Court verdict coming the way it did was not a surprise to Besigye who has been preparing the minds of his supporters that he would lose the petition because the courts are ‘biased or timid’ to take decisions against Museveni’s election!
This is the reason Besigye told his gullible crowd at Nakivubo stadium last weekend, “If the Supreme Court does not nullify Museveni’s election, it will be the last time I go to that court to report election rigging or seek redress on election matters.â€
Besigye is at liberty to “warn†government “never to dare re-arrest me again, and risk a tsunami,†because that is just hot air, for he can be arrested if there is reason, otherwise he is advocating others to be above, and below the law, which he cannot be accorded.
Giving the Supreme Court “Notice,†about his intention should his infantile political desires fail, Besigye said, “I have no doubt about what will come from Court, but if it doesn’t help, I don’t think anyone will ever go back to court over election rigging.â€
It appears that with this ballooned ego, Besigye falsely believes that he is the complete embodiment of the various aspirations of all Ugandans.
FDC leaders should remember that brute belligerence against the NRM as a mass political organisation has been a slow but sure suicidal venture to some opposition or political turncoats.
They can ask Michael Kaggwa of the famed DP Mobilisers’ Group, or Omulongo Wasswa Ziritwaula of Tap Dialogue of the 1980s. Alternatively, look for DP’s Paul Ssemogerere and Evaristo Nyanzi, or Mrs. Cecilia Ogwal, Yona Kanyomozi, James Rwanyarare, who while still purported to have Milton Obote’s ears worked the soles of their shoes dry maligning the NRM. Those thinking of armed rebellion can look for Aggrey Awori of the Force Obote Back Again (FOBA), Peter Otai of Uganda Peoples’ Army (UPA), and Gen. Ali Bamuze who all got badly bruised before abandoning military adventure.
And when Brig. Smith Opon Acak tried to build an armed group the Citizens’ Army for Multiparty Politics (CAMP) in Lango, he was not so lucky because he was nipped like chicken in a little forest at Bar Opok at the Lira-Apac border in August 1999. And the UPC that kicked dust at the NRM 20 years also failed to reclaim its political fortunes even after parading Milton Obote’s corpse through a long trek from Kampala via the eastern route before a supposedly high profile burial in Akokoro during which Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya as chief government representative was turned down.
So, now that Besigye is electorally down although not yet out, the NRM should temporarily rest its political case against him to offer an olive branch for self-reflection on his and our part, and hopefully constructive engagement, as Paul Ssemogerere would wont to say. While many, including in FDC like Besigye and Reagan Okumu have been quick to ask the NRM, and Museveni not to “sideline,†the opposition, and seek “reconciliation,†the losers, and NRM winners have as much responsibility to warm up to each other.
The NRM should not be expected to negotiate while the opposition is using blackmail, intimidation, and guns over its head.
While the NRM shall extend the “olive branch,†as it has often done, it is the responsibility of the defeated opposition to recognise their weaknesses and to know that intransigence does not pay and hence seek appropriate audience with the NRM and Museveni.
Of course the NRM can or will be defeated when it fails to stay the course, deliver services, and other aspirations of Ugandans, which means NRM workers must ensure that designing, and implementation of development programmes must answer to the peoples’ real needs.
For this reason, the NRM must be extra vigilant with itself, actions, and allies.
Ends