George Muhimbise is a member of the Alliance for National Transformation (PHOTO/Courtesy).
Last week, the MK Movement rebranded itself as the Patriotic League of Uganda and formally registered as a civic organization that intends to champion patriotism!
However from what the architects say in the media and public gatherings, this outfit is a political vehicle that is championing the Presidency of Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba in 2026 or later! The credentials and capabilities of Gen Muhoozi is a topic for another day!
The now Patriotic League of Uganda claims that they will address the challenges that Uganda is faced with like corruption, unemployment, poor service delivery etc.
Surprisingly, 90 percent of the core leadership and membership of the PLU occupy senior positions in NRM Party, Cabinet, Parliament, local governments etc where they have failed to address the said challenges.
For starters, whatever they say is an acknowledgement that the NRM government has failed to meet the expectations of Ugandans, however what they tactfully do is to run away from responsibility regarding the mess they have created. Actually if the Ministers, MPs, Generals like Muhoozi etc cannot take responsibility for this mess, then they are indicting President Museveni as the one who has failed. This implies that they have either watched him mess the country without advising him, or they have aided him in doing so, only to turn against him and claim that he is incapable of delivering the Uganda we desire.
Whichever way, it’s a sign of hypocrisy and deception, how then are we sure that they won’t do the same to Gen Muhoozi if he was to become a President? If for the past 38 years they have been cheering Gen Museveni as he messes the country how sure are we that they won’t cheer Gen Muhoozi too into the same mess?
The challenge that Uganda faces today is despondency. A nation where citizens spirits have been crushed. A state where everyone has resigned and thinks he can’t change anything. Public funds will be squandered and everybody will watch in silence, not even the institutions mandated to fight graft. People will steal construction materials on government projects & nobody cares it after all it’s a government project, leaders at all forums will support wrong positions for fear to challenge the powers that be, people will bribe traffic officers in broad daylight and nobody will be bothered!
Wetlands are destroyed, land titles issued on lakes, national forests encroached on or destroyed through deforestation, land for public schools & health centres grabbed, case files disappear at Police or Courts, government contracts inflated, electricity stolen, road signs vandalized, etc and no one seems to care because the duty bearers think they have no duty or power to fix this country.
It’s virtually a country where ‘everyone’ in a public office thinks that ‘someone’ else will fix our situation and at the end ‘everyone’ is doing ‘nothing’ to fix it, sad!
That is how far we have degenerated! By extension Cabinet Ministers think they have no power to change anything, MPs think the same way. Permanent Secretaries or Managing Directors, RDCs, CAOs, IGG, Police, Judiciary etc all think someone else should fix the country’s problems.
It’s actually a country where everyone is lamenting! I saw on Twitter Deputy Prime Minister Hon Rebecca Kadaga and Minister for Health Margret Muhanga mocking Ugandans by declaring a ‘hunger strike’ because of potholes in the Capital City, yet they seat in Cabinet where decisions (to make roads or not to make them) are taken from! I saw Hon Alex Rugunda on NBS Frontline say that he has no power to change anything, yet Parliament where he seats has powers of appropriation, oversight and legislation.
The same Muhanga & Ruhunda, incidentally all Fortportal City MPs are the ring leaders on Gen MK bandwagon. In their mind, they think Gen MK will change things by miracle, yet they will export same incompetence to his government!
The other factor is the method that Gen MK and his supporters are using to get into power. He has a right to vie for the Presidency but should do so with respect to our laws. The Patriotic League of Uganda knows clearly that the Constitution does not allow a serving soldier to engage in politics. They know that what they are doing is against the law but they do it with impunity simply because they are in power and therefore ‘above the law’!
They know that it’s corruption to use state resources (like vehicles, fuel, government employees) to do politics, but the same people escort Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba as he breaks the law through holding political rallies!
The bible says, he who is trustworthy in small will be trusted with much and vice versa. If the PLU cannot respect the law when they are seeking power, how can they respect the law when they get into power? Humility is not a lack of power, it is power under control. Respecting the law even when you have the means to abuse it is not a sign of being weak but a sign of integrity! How can they claim to fight corruption yet they are using corrupt means to ascend to power? Can they give what they don’t have?
So in brief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s group does not offer any hope. It’s just an attempt to continue the same plunder and squandering of our country’s resources. It’s an attempt by the same NRM leaders to cosmeticise themselves as a new hope. It’s just recycling the old wine into a new bottle! Precisely it’s like getting a prostitute from the streets and then dressing her in a wedding gown and deceiving people that she is a virgin!
Muhimbise George
muhimbiseg@gmail.com, 0787836515
The author is a member of the Alliance for National Transformation!
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