KAMPALA – Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has vowed to reduce the current size of the public administration structure as a blueprint for winning the presidency come 2021.
In an interview, Bobi Wine also said his People Power movement can effectively defeat President Yoweri Museveni, whom he accused of commercializing politics and using guns to intimidate the opposition.
“One of our core principles as People Power (movement) is having a lean and effective government. President Museveni is widening the government and its administrative costs because his ambitions have since changed; his government is no longer bent on service delivery, but patronage. When you cut the number of MPs and ministers (there are currently 458 legislators and 81 ministers), there are savings [to be] made which can go into service delivery,” he said in an interview published in Daily Monitor on Monday, August 26.
“We have abnormally many ministers and I believe in a smaller Parliament who are monitored by the people who have put them into those places. We shall move the civil service from working for the president to serving the people,” he added.
Four-time presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye has consistently said that an election alone cannot take power from Mr Museveni.
But Bobi Wine said he has enough support to overwhelm the ruling party.
“We all agree that the nation is united against dictatorship. I am a firm believer in democracy and people power over gun power. I know with an overwhelming vote, we can take overpower. We shall replicate the precedent we set during the Bugiri Municipality election, Arua Municipality, Rukungiri and Kyadondo East by-elections. We must win by knock-out,” he said.
He also said that he will win the election even with Museveni’s campaign cash.
“We are prepared because we are sensitising the nation and we continue to do so. We have identified like-minded leaders to carry this through. This is going to be a different election because it is a revolutionary one,” he said.
Bobi Wine was widely criticised and his knowledge of national economy questioned when he failed to articulate fiscal policy during an interview with NTV. Asked whether he feels prepared to be Uganda’s President, Bobi Wine said: “In many cases, I will be wrong on articulation. I do it sometimes deliberately and at times involuntarily. I have always and I will repeat, I didn’t present myself as any kind of [an academic] professor or the most experienced politician in the world. I am just one of the millions of Ugandans who have been served unfairly and oppressed. I don’t work alone, Uganda is endowed with many talented people who can be put to use and help this country to produce the best ever government.”
He also said he will offer President Museveni immunity so that he doesn’t fear prosecution for the wrongs his government could have committed.
“We are short of ex-presidents who advise current presidents. We want to set a new precedent as a generation where we shall have a former president giving wise counsel to a current one. We will give President Museveni amnesty and always consult him on issues of governance. That is why we are preferring peaceful means to have a transition of power,” he said.
On his ability to handle security forces, Bobi Wine said: “[Former two-time President] Milton Obote was a civilian like myself, didn’t the army salute him? He ruled twice. That means it is possible. We have been approached by some army officers and the police, telling us that they are not happy with the [Museveni] regime. They all work on orders and that is why you have been hearing them fronting the saying [that they are acting on] ‘orders from above’.”
“I will empower police to enforce law and order, revive its Criminal Investigations Department and the Special Branch for the serious investigations, pay them well and make sure they deliver. The UPDF will handle the national security and guarding of the boundaries,” he added.
Bobi Wine also vowed to reduce Uganda’s debt that currently stands at Shs42 trillion.
“As a country, we do not have the financial muscle and sometimes resort to debts. We will make sure that every money we borrow goes to a sector that is productive enough such as agriculture so that at the end of the day, we are able to service it (debt). We shall re-channel some of the money to developing more tourism centres and agriculture to widen the country’s revenue base and close the debt gap,” he said.
He also said he will revive agriculture by reviving cooperatives and have farmers sensitised on climate and soils they have so that they grow the right crops to maximise productivity.
“As government, we shall have a special plan for bumper harvests where we buy from farmers, store the crops and sell them at minimum price to the population in times of scarcity. This is a plan to ensure constant food security in the country,” he said.
