Prime
At 80 Mr Museveni has to cut his losses
Author: Moses Khisa. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Interviewed by Al-Jazeera in early 2017 and asked about whether he would step down after reaching the constitutional age-limit of 75, Mr Museveni repeatedly said he would follow the Constitution.
- Pressed by the interviewer if he would support changing the Constitution so he rules beyond 75, he cavalierly and mischievously stuck to his line of, ‘we shall follow the Constitution of Uganda’.
Our ruler of nearly four decades, the Ssabalwanyi (chief fighter), ruler-in-chief, President Museveni recently celebrated 80 years of life, officially. It’s a monumental feat in a country where male life-expectancy is in the lower 60s. Ugandans above 70 are a tiny fraction. At 80 it is a good time to look back at life and introspect deeply, more so reflecting on one’s legacy and place in the world having been at the highest echelons of authority as the most powerful individual in a country of close to 50 million people.
Mr Museveni has been President of Uganda for nearly half of his age: simply surreal! It’s likely after completing the current five-year term in 2026, he will do another lap, up to 2031, by which time, at 86, he would have been president for 45 years, more than his age! Mr Museveni rules over a hugely young population; the vast majority were either not born or were babies in 1986 when he took the reins of state power.
My old man (God/Allah bless his soul), an incredibly perceptive and thoughtful person who lived a long and happy life and signed out of this world at the ripe age of 90, once told me pithily on the eve of the 2001 elections that it was about time Mr Museveni gave way having been at the top for so long.
It’s incredible that nearly a quarter-century later we are still at it! For Ugandans not born then or too young or who do not keep close tabs with the news and political discourse, it merits noting that in his 2001 re-election manifesto Mr Museveni explicitly stated that he was seeking a second and last term to complete two tasks: professionalisation of the army and the East African integration project. A manifesto is a kind of written contract for an election bid.
In effect, and the reason why many leading figures stuck with him and ducked his main challenger, Dr Kizza Biesgye, Mr Museveni put forward an explicit proposal – to be entrusted with the mantle of leading the country for only one more term of five years. Just two years later in 2003, however, a nefarious plot was under way to amend the Constitution and remove the two-term limit provision to make Mr Museveni eligible in the 2006 presidential election.
We should also recall that in 1986, he had categorically stated what was happening wasn’t a mere change of guards, but rather a fundamental change, that he and his politico-military movement would be in power for four years, then hand power to a new government chosen by the Uganda people. This never happened. In fact, Mr Museveni ruled for 10 years without subjecting himself to any form of popular choice.
If the promise of 2001 to step down after serving a final term by 2006 was not a clear piece of political duplicity, a clearer pronouncement came more than a decade later with regards to the age-limit constitution provision capped at 75.Speaking to NTV’s Patrick Kamara, Mr Museveni was categorical that after 75 years one does not have the vigour to be President, so it was right not to have a President past that age.
Pressed by Mr Kamara if he was saying he wouldn’t be party to any move to change the Constitution to delete the age-limit requirement, the President was unequivocal – no, he can’t support or be involved. At the time, in 2012, it was generally believed that Museveni was likely ceding the seat to his powerful long-time protégé, Mr Amama Mbabazi who was secretary general of the ruling NRM party and became a powerful prime minister. It was never to be.
Interviewed by Al-Jazeera in early 2017 and asked about whether he would step down after reaching the constitutional age-limit of 75, Mr Museveni repeatedly said he would follow the Constitution. Pressed by the interviewer if he would support changing the Constitution so he rules beyond 75, he cavalierly and mischievously stuck to his line of, ‘we shall follow the Constitution of Uganda’.
Well, later that year, through a dubious and chaotic process in Parliament, the 75 year-age limit was deleted from the Constitution, paving way for the 76-year-old Mr Museveni to be a candidate in the 2021 elections.
Over the past decade Mr Museveni has emphasised that what matters is not ‘who’, but rather ‘why’, that’s, it’s not the person at the top but the mission and ideas they are pursuing, also coached in terms of ideology not biology, meaning the agenda, not the age. But having done only two jobs in his life, first to fight to be President, and second, to be President this long, at 80 Mr Museveni has no choice but cut his loses!
