Mbabazi: Museveni can no longer rescue Uganda

MBALE: Independent presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi yesterday responded to remarks made by President Museveni in Ntungamo on Sunday that it is not yet time for him to go because he still wants to rescue Uganda from a ‘forest’ where the impatient people pushing out left him.”
Mr Mbabazi while talking to journalists in Mbale, said all along ‘we’ [the country] has been living in the bush and any possibly of rescue means “going forward” to change leadership.

“I have seen a headline of [Sunday] Monitor, I haven’t yet read the story but I read on social media someone saying the President has said he cannot leave without liberating people from the bush; but precisely we have been in the bush for so long and no one has the confidence that he will take us out,” a laughing Mbabazi noted.
The former Prime Minister who was canvasing the ni region at the weekend also for the umpteenth time also vowed to deal with rigging the February 18 presidential poll results, a vice synonymous with previous elections, which he likened to a “coup.”

“It is one thing to rig and it is another to announce different results. Remember we had cases recently in NRM, for example in my constituency in Kanungu; the guys that won were not declared winners and those who were defeated were declared winners-so that’s the new NRM style,” he added.
“Something like that might happen, but you see that is like a coup and we have to handle it according to the attempt of nature they make. So as you have seen I have been giving people confidence telling them to go and vote.”

President Museveni, also the ruling NRM party candidate told journalists on Saturday he cannot leave power now because what he “planted has started bearing fruits.” He added “we can’t be in the middle of the forest and want the old man to go. This is not right. We must concentrate on development; my time will come and I will go.”
The President who took power by gun in 1986 is seeking a fifth elective term in office until 2021. In 2005 Parliament removed the two term limit clause from the Constitution to allow him stand again, a move that was voted in favour by 222 MPs at the time, who each received a Shs5m reward.

Mr Mbabazi who was among the MPs that supported removing the term limits in his campaigns has regretted the decision and said it was wrong to think only one man can lead a country.
Mbabazi also expressed optimism about the Opposition working together to dislodge the NRM’s near-to a half century rule. He said much as earlier they, together with several other stakeholders, had signed The Democratic Alliance Protocol (TDA) on opposition parties fielding a single candidate but disagreed to power sharing, they can still find middle on key working points in the struggle.

Mbabazi also prided in gatherings of his rallies which he described as genuine. “We have not ferried any single person. We have not even sent in bicycle to ferry anyone. They come voluntarily, they are genuine. Compare us to others who ferry people from all over presenting purported massive crowds---that is a sign of fear. Why would I ferry people? If I come and you attend I know that fine, and if ten people are interested in me that is still fine or I device a way of getting to the people in that area. But I want to have a real picture of how I stand.”

Later, he addressed rallies in Bulambuli, Sironko and Mbale where he likened himself to the Biblical Moses who is going to rescue Ugandans “from bondage” and deliver them to the Promised Land. Once elected to State House he pledged to address land grabbings in the area, fix roads, schools and hospitals and as well fight the steadfast poverty levels in the area which he attributed to bad government policies.
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