People Power: Why it is NRM's achievement

Sep 28, 2018

If anyone is to be saluted for giving power to the people then it should be President Museveni and the framers of the 1995 Constitution and not Bobi Wine.

OPINION

A week ago, I watched young people donning T-shirts with words reading "People Power Our Power" during the burial of Denis Muramago at Buhamba village in Kitoba sub-county in Hoima district.

The youthful Muramago was hit on the head by the iron bar thugs on his way back home from attending  the "Embarangure" a yearly festival organised by Liberty FM Radio, a Hoima-based radio.

The youth dressed in these T-shirts kept shouting and attacking the Government for the murder of Muramago and other people who have been killed in similar circumstances.

I do agree with these youth for expressing their dismay over the unfortunate killings of Ugandans including this one of Muramago.

However, I disagree with them for politicising these unfortunate incidences and using the "People Power" project to undermine the Government and also create a situation to suggest that the Government is insensitive about people's lives.

As responsible and patriotic Ugandans, we need to join the Government in fighting this urban crime where criminals are killing innocent Ugandans and even offer intelligence information to security agencies that could help them arrest the killers instead of criticising the Government and politicising these killings are targeting all Ugandans.

In fact the Buhamba incident forced me to write this article after noticing that the youth countrywide are misusing and also misinterpreting the word "People Power" to abuse the county's' laws by promoting violence, attacking and stoning Government officials, especially those belonging to the NRM and also destroying Government property while promoting their "People Power" project.

During the burial of Muhammad Kirumira in Mpigi, the youth dressed in "People Power" T-shirts heckled and threw bottles at the Minister of Internal Affairs, General Jeje Odongo and blocked him from addressing the mourners, which was an act of indiscipline.

The supporters of "People Power" project should be reminded that being members of this group does not mean that they are above the law and should use the same to undermine the Government or abuse other people's constitutional rights.

These youths are misguided by the Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi, commonly known as Bobi Wine who started this slogan forgetting that it is the NRM Government under the wise leadership of President Museveni who in 1995 made the Constitution and in Article 1 of the Constitution passed that power belongs to the people.

If anyone is to be saluted for giving power to the people then it should be President Museveni and the framers of the 1995 Constitution and not Bobi Wine.

Bobi Wine and group are  talking about what is already enshrined in the Constitution a reason why Ugandans go for elections to elect their leaders every after five years and use the same power to remove some of the leaders from their offices once they discover that such leaders have not performed to their expectations.

So Bobi Wine and group should not confuse Ugandans, especially the youths that they  are the ones who have brought the power to the people. It is the Museveni regime that gave Ugandans power to take part in the affairs of the country since 1995 when the Constitution was made to date.

It is unfortunate that Bobi Wine and company are taking advantage of the lack of seriousness of NRM to effectively utilise the media especially FM Radio stations that are available countrywide to explain to the people the achievements of NRM since they came to power in 1986 to date.

Bobi Wine is currently attracting crowds, especially from the youth because of his cunning and deceptive message of "hope" and the young people unknowingly believe him yet his message cannot offer anything tangible to them.

President Museveni empowered the youth with the formation of youth councils from the village to the national level. He also created a ministry for the youth and also created special regional constituencies for Members of Parliament representing the youths.

So many other projects intended to boost the youths economically have been put in place and what pains some of us who believe in NRM and President Museveni in particular is people who surround the President and deliberately frustrate our efforts of meeting him to share with him the challenges on the ground yet we know and we are confident that he has the solutions for the challenges including the youths who are currently misguided.

No negative force, including that of Bobi Wine, can politically weaken Museveni or defeat him in a free and fair election.

The Government has offered services to the people created many good projects that are benefiting the people, but the media only concentrates on the weaknesses of NRM alone.

A few days ago I hosted one of the Kampala-based top business men to Hoima district and he was shocked to have traveled from Kampala to Kaiso-Tonya on the shores of Lake Albert in Buseruka subcounty on tarmack.

President Museveni has done a lot in all sectors of service delivery, but little is reported in the media. The media concentrates much on riots.

Therefore, the President needs to look for people who are genuine, honest and have constant link with the people on the ground to collect and accurate information.

The youths should not be confused by Bobi Wine because he is using them to promote his own interests because if he promises them employments yet he encourages them to participate in riots, which results into destruction of property then that one cannot help them get employed because by destroying people's properties does not mean that they will get employed they are only worsening the situation.

The writer is NRM mobiliser for Bunyoro Region

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