Why does Museveni treat us Ugandans with such disdain?

Written by MOSES KHISA

 

The mark of true leadership is humility. An honest and dedicated leader must have the courage to concede where they have failed as much as claim credit for success.

Only then can one argue a persuasive case for making amends if entrusted to continue leading, especially in a poor country like Uganda. But not so for our current ruler of three decades, General Yoweri Museveni.

There are a few things about President Museveni that leave someone utterly incensed. For one, he believes he does no wrong. That is, he commits no error. Perhaps even more than the pope, more so the ‘popular’ Pope Francis, Museveni thinks of himself as infallible that he has previously claimed, in a rather dubious if sacrilegious assertion, that he is God’s ‘deputy’.

This makes the ongoing presidential campaigns and, surely, the planned 2016 polls a big joke and a sheer waste of precious time and resources. How can there be free, fair, and credible campaigns, let alone polls, when the biggest player considers himself an extraordinary human being who is above the standards of judgement applicable to the rest?

Uganda today faces stupendous problems, ranging from runaway official corruption and the breakdown of a national, collective spirit, to biting poverty and the appalling state of basic social services and critical public goods. The torrential rains sweeping across the country have exposed the deplorable state of roads, especially in remote parts of the country.

Yet even with such glaring national problems, instead of facing up squarely to the realities and with humility tell Ugandans that we have a monumental job at hand, candidate Museveni has been at his deceptive best.

Apparently, he has solved all of Uganda’s major problems and, so, he should be left to continue ruling the country, perhaps as a way of us Ugandans paying homage to our illustrious problem-solver who goes by the tittle of ‘Sabalwanyi’ – the chief fighter.

A few weeks ago, he said Ugandans would be mad to vote his opponents, Dr Kizza Besigye and former premier Amama Mbabazi, because only he knows how to lead the country. But early this week, he took it a notch higher, claiming not only monopoly over knowing how to solve the country’s problems, but also insisting that he has in fact successfully dealt with all the country’s problems.

Here is how Daily Monitor quoted him: “All the problems have been solved by NRM led by me. All the others have been passengers in the bus. I led the war and brought peace. What have all the others done for you?”

Such a canard should enrage any fully-conscious citizen. Museveni’s utter disdain for the people he supposedly leads is out of this world. If colonial rulers looked at Africans as uncivilized subjects in urgent need of liberation from their backwardness, Museveni sees Ugandans as children for whom he has done great things to help them grow up.

It is not just that he knows what the children need, and that they are usually misled by malcontents like Dr Besigye, he also has the definitive solutions to their problems.

The bigger problem for Uganda today, though, is not our delusory ruler who, it ought to be recalled, was once a highly-regarded charismatic, and inspiring African leader; the real tragedy is that many Ugandans are content with a contemptuous president who sees himself as the best thing to have ever happened to the country.

There are those passively hoping that we do not return to a much-talked-about bad past instead of demanding that we get the present we deserve and work for the future we desire. Others are actively working for the continuation of a decadent regime and an insipid ruler whose chief agenda is to cling to power.

The latter include a cabal of young men and women, who ought to act differently as they have a future to look upon and have everything to lose with the continuation of the retrogressive rule of General Museveni. They are all over social media, peddling a mix of outright lies, and a smear campaign, and occasioning insult to their consciences perhaps in a manner they are blithely unware of.

Others are busy scheming to be Members of Parliament, positioning themselves to become Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) or some inconsequential presidential advisor on this or that. Of course these compatriots have an inalienable right to choose to associate with a corrupt and nefarious ruling group running down our country.

Maybe I am just clueless. Or perhaps my idealism blinds me from seeing certain things, for I can’t understand why any serious young person would find it worthwhile to expend their energies to prolong such a rotten system of rule as one at the behest of General Museveni.

Is it that we, Africans, fail to look beyond immediate personal material needs, to see the bigger long-term social goals, that we remain the poorest and most materially-weak continent today?

nmoses.khisa@gmail.com

The author is a PhD candidate and teaching assistant at the department of Political Science, Northwestern University, USA.