Politics of Dictator Museveni and Amamma Mbabazi. It is even more curious that the reshuffle only affected Mr Mbabazi’s position. Cabinet reshuffles ordinarily involve a number of sackings, transfers, reorganisations and new arrivals. Former Information and Communication Technology minister Aggrey Awori, however, said a full Cabinet reshuffle should be on the way in “a matter of weeks”. He said the President “must have decided to wait for Parliament to first pass the Budget” because respective ministers have to defend their ministries’ budgets before the House. Mr Awori said that could be the reason why even new Prime Minister Rugunda remained in charge of the docket of Minister of Health. If this explanation is correct, however, it raises more questions than it answers. Why, in the first place, did Mr Mbabazi have to be fired “with immediate effect” just weeks before a full reshuffle? Did the President receive any information that necessitated Mr Mbabazi’s immediate sacking? Does this explain the police deployment in Kampala on that day? Mr Awori speculated further that Mr Mbabazi would likely have criminal cases opened against him, possibly by reopening inquests into what came to be known as the Temangalo scandal, in which he was accused of influence peddling in selling his land in Temangalo to the National Social Security Fund at an inflated price. Asked whether bringing charges against Mr Mbabazi would not just radicalise him as a challenger of Mr Museveni as was the case with Dr Kizza Besigye in 2001, Mr Awori said: “The two (Mr Mbabazi and Dr Besigye) are not made of the same particles.” He says now that Mr Mbabazi is no longer Prime Minister, “the capacity to mobilise will not be there anymore”. Mobilisation is what Mr Mbabazi seems to have done in heavy doses recently. Many of his posts on Facebook are about his attendance of introduction and wedding functions and many times when he has moved out to visit different communities recently, he has received a spear and shield as a gift. A spear and shield are symbols of power in many African societies. When he received one during a meeting of the Banyakigezi community a few months ago, controversy ensued as to whether they had anointed him as their presidential candidate. President Museveni shortly afterwards visited Kanungu, Mr Mbabazi’s home district, and received a yellow present shaped as the map of Uganda with the words “NRM sole candidate” inscribed on it. It was later alleged that the person who gave him the present was attacked and his house torched. Not much has been heard about the case since. Mr Awori reckons that the deal breaker for Mr Mbabazi’s holding of the Prime Minister position was his “inciting of the youth”. Mr Awori says: “He has been telling the youth their time has come in a way to imply that they need to stick with him so he can deliver them to where they want to go.” In all this, Mr Mbabazi gives very little away. Whenever he has been asked to own up or denounce the groups that purport to campaign for him or state whether he will run for president, Mbabazi has always said his party’s constitution does not allow open campaigning before campaigns are declared officially. Only time will tell how intense the fight for the soul of NRM will go and how it will end. Whatever happens, however, Mr Awori is adamant that Mr Museveni will prevail. By the time the duo jostling for supremacy settles down, a new-look, and probably weaker NRM, could have emerged. Reactions Norbert Mao, DP president: “The chickens have come home to roost. Museveni and Mbabazi have been aiming at each other for a long time and it was a question of who would shoot first and Museveni has shot first. He [Museveni ] wants to demonstrate that he can make you and break you and that is what he is trying to demonstrate to anyone who is thinking of running against him in the NRM.”
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 10:18:11 +0000
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