Prime
Why we should worry about the political trends
A few days back, President Museveni made reshuffles in the security institutions. Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba was reappointed as the commander of the Special Forces Command (SFC). This broached debates in the public with some people alleging that it is a move fore-running the transition from President Museveni to another person, possibly First Son.
The Bible says: “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” It looks like Ugandans want to cast out the mote out of the ‘brother’s eye’ with the beam in their own eye! In 2015, when the news about the passing on of the Bukomasimbi District Woman MP Suzan Namaganda (my thoughts are still with the bereaved family) fell into my ears, a woman from Sembabule District told me “ What a loss of such an indefatigable woman!”
When I take a trip down the memory lane, the grief the woman had-- was as though it was her constituency MP that had died! After all that, MP Veronica Nanyondo, replaced her deceased sister to run for the seat on the DP ticket.
If you can recall the good products that have come from Koboko District, how can you leave out the late Francis Ayume! Here we are in 2020, the son of the former Speaker, Dr Charles Ayume, holds the NRM flag for the Koboko Municipality MP seat. And many hope that should he serve the way his late father did, then the Koboko ‘flag’ will rise sky-high.
This year has been more of the ebbs than flows. We have lost our beloved ones mostly to Covid-19! The pandemic has robbed us of very valuable lives, including MPs Rehema Watongola and Robinah Ssentongo. The deceased lawmakers were seeking re-election so it was a requisite to front candidates to replace them. The mantle was handed over to the daughters of the deceased in their quest for political offices.
Indeed, “a dog begets a dog” but there is no gene for leadership ability, conscientiousness, criminality, etc. Ugandans should not just rubber-stamp the candidatures of siblings, children or relatives of the deceased leaders. Rather, they should also scrutinise them. I mean we have all witnessed some distinctions between some parents (even in leadership positions) and their children.
I live in Nansana Municipality and the incumbent MP was elected at his first quest (after the death of his father) on the basis of his father’s deeds in the then Kyadondo North Constituency. In the previous General Election, he was outvoted and if it wasn’t court that ruled in his favour due to the anomalies blamed on his contender, perhaps he wouldn’t be in Parliament.
Ugandans should learn how to choose political leaders on the merit of the contestants’ accounts rather than on the merit of their biological relationship the contestants have with the then good leaders. Genetics may talk of intelligence, but not leadership. Therefore, every contestant should undergo scrutiny as individuals and not as relatives of the deceased leader.
Yusuf Wasswa,
