KAMPALA – For those who have lived in Uganda especially under the leadership of President Yoweri Tibahaburwa Museveni know it for a fact that the policy of divide and rule works and has worked more effectively since 1986.
Buganda Kingdom has suffered the largest number of casualties with about three chiefdoms clamoring for autonomy from within while the Basoga were only saved by Kadaga. The Bagisu and the Bagwere are each having two claimants to the cultural leadership of their respective institutions but no one knows why that is happening.
On the other hand, Muslims at Kibuli don’t see eye to eye with their counterparts at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council sitting at old Kampala and am sure many are still wondering who bewitched them to disintegrate as if they don’t believe in the same God. The Kibuli faction has consistently blamed their colleagues at old Kampala for the wanton sale of Muslim properties with impunity. This is what is termed as divide, manipulate, weaken and rule and it these combined breed hatred and mistrust.
In politics, divide and rule began with the Uganda People’s Congress which crumbled under its own weight and collapsed. Its problems began with leadership wrangles with one faction led by Olara Otunu and another Jimmy Akena. The Democratic Party followed with a good DP and the bad DP to the extent that other small parties were created from within. Aggrieved by the endless wrangles, other groups broke away and joined FDC, other joined NRM, others remained independent while others joined Kyagulanyi’s led National Unity Platform. Museveni had made it practically impossible for any political parties to unite and front a single candidate.
Almost within the same period of time, the Forum for Democratic change was undergoing metamorphosis; there was a lot of magma boiling from within. The issues that had initially seemed internal eventually erupted with one group flowing to the direction of Amuriat and another group moving with Mugisha Muntu to form the Alliance for National Transformation. Like the DP and the UPC, the internal misunderstanding from within FDC led to a mass exodus of members with some joining NRM while others went mute. That marked the end of the vibrant political parties and in their place the National Unity Platform was born.
While Kawanga Semwogerere, Aggrey Awori, Kiiza Besigye, Norbert Mao and others were giving Museveni sleepless nights, The President had hatched a plan to destroy the opposition by the year 2021. The President was so confident because he was secretly working with some of these opposition figures. The likes of Betty Anywar, Betty Kamya, Nabosa Sebugwawo, Anita Among were inside the opposition yet working for Museveni. In his mind, having subdued UPC, DP and some elements within the FDC coupled with divisions within, Museveni thought 2021 was the final nail on the survival of the opposition but the plan failed.
Somehow the former electoral Commission officials let him down by accepting to change the NURP political Party to NUP under Kyagulanyi. This new found party joined hands with the people power movement and harvested disgruntled members especially from within Buganda, the rest is history. The results of the 2021 elections revealed that this NUP party less than a year old had overtaken FDC with the second largest following in Parliament. It is this shock that required the blue eyed boys to get back to the drawing board with the hope of causing a disintegration of the members.
It is a pity that other developing democracies are working so hard to have an oversight opposition to check them but Uganda is looking for ways of dismantling all surviving opposition groups in order to create a single party state. Of course the target is NUP since the other political parties have since died or been killed. The plan initially began with the funding of Moses Kibalama to lay claim over NUP which plan failed flat. The Kibalama group was given a bloody nose when the Electoral Commission affirmed they only recognized NUP under the Presidency of Robert Kyagulanyi and had not received any proof of change of leadership.
Readers ought to be reminded that in the year In 2019, Kyagulanyi and Kibalama’s National Unity and Reconciliation Development-NURP party agreed with People Power under Robert Kyagulanyi to rebrand and changed the party name to the National Unity Platform under a different set of leaders hence rendering Kibalama’s NURP a none existent entity. Haters began by pushing Kibalama to go legal, indeed he petitioned the high court in Kampala seeking to de-register the party but lost the application for obvious reasons, he did not have a good case.
While in court, Kibalama is on record for having admitted that the state had coached him to tell lies against the legitimate leadership of NUP. It is clear that the state continues to use them to throw the party into chaos but I personally don’t think they have given up. Having failed in this attempt, a one Gideon Tugume claiming to be a secretary for information told the press they had held a delegates conference in May 2022 and resolved to end the relationship between the People Power Movement and the NUP leadership.
It appears Kibalama and his group had forgotten that there was no relationship between the two that needed severance. Now that Kibalama has no basis of claim, the only option available to haters is to destroy NUP from within and I believe that opportunity will come on the day Kyagulanyi will take a decision for a change of guards in Parliament. Some of these guys will start making defamatory statements intended to discredit Kyagulanyi as a person who does not appreciate and as a person bent on promoting tribalism.
Before long, the NUP members of Parliament will no longer speak the same language, his orders, guidance and directives will be ignored. Before long, many will start looking at NUP as a reincarnation of Kabaka Yeeka and will be reduced to Buganda. For those who have been monitoring some NUP Mps you will realize some have become mute, some have even disobeyed the leadership by picking the 40Milion bribe that was given to Members of Parliament. In retaliation, the party has gone after some of its errant members like Kazibwe Bashir.
I have said it before and I will say it again that Museveni has never been tolerant of the Opposition but only allowed multiparty dispensation to boost his democratic credentials mainly to appease the donors who often condition aid on democracy and rule of law. In his acceptance speech after being declared winner of the disputed 2016 elections, Museveni reechoed his 2015 promise to wipe out opposition by 2021. No one seems to know why Museveni hates the opposition so much forgetting that by going to the bush, he was also opposing. But why continue fighting the opposition yet Museveni can simply come up with a law forbidding political parties.
I know for a fact that no one wants to live with opposing forces in the same house. That is why God decided to divide up those who were building the Tower of Babel. We are told God confused the people who were building the tower so that they could not communicate effectively with each other. According to the bible, a breakdown in communication resulted into confusion and the plan to build the Tower of Babel towards heaven collapsed. Hate me or love me, that is Museveni’s plan and given the kind of money at his disposal as well as the greedy nature of our people, he will succeed and before long, we shall have massive divisions and another mass exodus of causalities affiliated to the National Unity Platform.
Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues. Wadroger @yahoo.ca
