WAS MUSEVENI'S WAR CALLED FOR?

At this material time, one can say authoritatively that the Museveni '5 year so-called Uganda liberation war was meant to benefit some of those who were involved in it and a good number who have joined the looting spree for the national resources. It is absurd that people who came de-campaigning those who were in power are rated negatively across the board. The NRM is a sad story for Uganda and Africa at large and it is shameful. There is a lot that has gone on during Museveni's Presidency which is a shame for democracy, and good for the greedy and those who are there to lot national resources. The stories in the oil sector are so scandalous, but cannot be wised away given the degenerated nature of the regime which could rape the Constitution that had been made with the country at large. We see terrible expenditures for security just to sustain bad governance. It is greed which is currently reflected in developments in form of infrastructure where big names hide their real identities. it is a scandal to hear of would responsible people in NRM involved in purchase of buildings in town and with such developments, corruption cannot be rule out.
What may be most unfortunate is the development of violence as we are witnessing today, which is counter to positive economic development. Museveni would have done a service to Uganda if he had stopped is tenure in 2006. That was long enough, but for him to assume that because he made struggles to power a life job, that Ugandans will stand the type of situation they are going trough is simply to deceive himself. It is hard to fight poverty when the Government of the day instead promotes poverty. How do you explain the currency which came into the system to support the NRM to bribe voters so that the victory is theirs? If only leaders like Museveni were wiser, they would not ruin their countries, but because power corrupts and it corrupts absolutely, now Museveni is waiting for an uprising to get him out of office which is most unfortunate.
Look at UPE, the hospitals, everything else has gone to ruins a part from developments by a few. The Museveni leadership has unfortunately gone into the books of History where a would be freedom fighter turns around and only looks for his own ends, otherwise how does one explain what is going on? Buy jets when there are no drugs, surely, we deserve better.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

MUSEVENI ON SPOT AFTER 26 YEARS IN OFFICE

Consolidation of national security and eliminating sectarianism is one of the aims of the NRM government.
By Yasiin Mugerwa

Posted Thursday, January 26 2012 at 00:00

In Summary

Twenty-six years after President Museveni shot his way to power after a five-year bush war, there is growing criticism that he has betrayed the ideals which persuaded thousands of comrades, some fallen today, to join the struggle. Uganda’s democratic deficit, despite the promise that elections would never be rigged again, economic stagnation, widespread corruption, state-inspired terror and other forms of impunity describe the national debate.

KAMPALA

Today, President Museveni celebrates 26 years in power amid accusations by opponents and independents that he has betrayed Ugandans.
Mr Museveni promised the country as he ascended to power on January 26, 1986 that “No one should think that what is happening today is a mere change of guard; it is a fundamental change in the politics of our country.”
This promise stirred a lot of expectations within a traumatised populations. Twenty-six years after, and about 15 years since Mr Museveni’s 1996 landslide victory in the first general election since the controversial 1980 polls which he lost, the popularity of the regime has waned.
In 2005, the 1995 Constitution was amended to remove presidential term limits after some MPs in the 7th Parliament received Shs5 million each to vote for removing term limits, paving the way for Mr Museveni to run for office in perpetuity.
Former bush-war comrades like Maj (rtd) John Kazoora and the Forum for Democratic Change leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, have long abandoned Mr Museveni, accusing him and other “liberators [of] becoming establishment reactionaries”. Such criticism is, however, thought too harsh by some political analysts.
“Any fair-minded person would give Museveni and the NRM credit for the good things they have done, or those that have happened because of the relative stability they brought to this country’s politics,” political analyst and Makerere University researcher, Dr Fredrick Golooba Mutebi, said.
“And one should not forget to mention the economy which has grown thanks to management by very competent technocrats at the ministry of finance and the central bank.” Available figures indicate that in 1986, the government was collecting only Shs5 billion as opposed to Shs6,000 billion today. But the economy is presently struggling.
Dr Golooba says significantly security personnel no longer kill and rob on the scale Ugandans used to see before 1986. “We have also seen continued attempts at improving the lives of ordinary people. Educational and health facilities have been built, attempts have been made to modernise agriculture, micro credit has been made available,” he said. These interventions have generally brought the regime some goodwill.
The fact that Mr Museveni was also originally enthusiastic about a broad-based government which encompassed all shades of political opinion including the then Democratic Party president, Dr Paul Ssemogerere, would have formed good ground for future political stability.
But Uganda has steadily reverted to a brand of divisive and vindictive politics not dissimilar from the factionalism which ruined the country between 1966 and 1980 as Mr Museveni consolidated his position. Opposition politicians bemoan their conviction that the President has split the country through nepotistic tendencies.

No change
“Nepotism is a reality in Museveni’s government,” Uganda Peoples Congress’ Okello-Okello told Daily Monitor. “If we may carry out an audit of all public employees in juicy ministries and agencies you will appreciate what some of us have been talking about all along. One cannot be employed on merit.”
The veteran Chua MP believes that: “the President’s failure to combat corruption is making matters worse. The fat cats in his government are busy amassing wealth as Ugandans get poorer. The economy is messed up and service delivery is in shambles because of corruption.”
To opposition politicians and independents, say the celebration of the NRM’s liberation day has lost its appeal. Countrywide poverty, restrictions on democracy under Uganda’s pseudo multi-party political dispensation, entrenched corruption, patronage, police brutality and widespread unemployment are some of the reasons Mr Okello-Okello feel “fundamental change” was lost.
Maj. Kazoora, now a senior member of Uganda’s largest opposition group, FDC, notes that the country lost its way when Mr Museveni chose to cling onto power. “President Museveni wrote a book ‘What is Africa’s problem?’ and answered himself, saying ‘it’s overstaying in power’. Unfortunately he is about to clock 30 years in power and he doesn’t see any problem with that. He wrote in the 2005 manifesto eight times, saying that it will be his last term in office but it appears this was a lie”.