By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Is it true that those who are proposing that Members of Parliament are the ones who should choose a President for us are those who failed to be elected by universal suffrage? Why do they want to destroy President Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s legacy of being the first ruler of Uganda to be elected by universal suffrage in the history of the country?.
Has the President become so unpopular that he should be protected from rejection by the people of Uganda by making a few Ugandans have the power to put him in power just like was the case when he captured the instruments of power through the barrel of the gun in 1986?
My view is that our failed politicians should not make President Tibuhaburwa Museveni lose the only unchallenged aspect of his legacy: allowing himself to be elected or not elected using the ballot paper, although he is known to have said publicly that a piece of paper cannot remove him from power.
By the way if President Museveni allows the plot to have a President elected by Members of Parliament, it will erode one of the reasons why he went to the bush to remove President Apollo Milton Obote from power: that the leaders of Uganda were never elected by the people of Uganda. He was right.
When Benedicto Kiwanuka became the Chief Minister of Uganda in 1961, it was on account of the Party of which he was the President -the Democratic Party -winning the Parliamentary elections. He was an unelected leader.
When Apollo Milton Obote became the first independence Prime Minister of Uganda in 1962, it was on account of his party – Uganda Peoples Congress – defeating the Democratic Party in the 1962 Parliamentary elections, but only when he was able to convince the Kabaka of Buganda, Sir Edward Mutesa II, to cause the Buganda only Party -Kabaka Yekka – to ally with his Party. He automatically formed Government without subjecting himself to elections. He was not an elected leader.
When Sir Edward Mutesa II became the first President of Uganda on the first anniversary of independence of Uganda in 1963, he was elected by Members of Parliament who belonged to Uganda Peoples Congress and Kabaka Yekka. The Democratic Party Members of Parliament did not elect him because they were angered by the fact that he had allied with Obote to push Benedicto Kiwanuka out of office. If he had not, Benedicto Kiwanuka would have become the first independence Prime Minister of Uganda.
it goes without saying that when Apollo Milton Obote removed Sir Edward Mutesa from the Presidency, he did not involve the people of Uganda who had not put him in office by election. He used the Attorney General, Godfrey Binaisa, to make a new Republican Uganda Constitution 1966 after he abolished the independence Uganda Constitution 1962.
He soon replaced the Uganda Constitution with the Uganda Constituiton 1967, again drafted by Godfrey Binaisa, and became the first Executive President of Uganda. The UPC Members of Parliament did not elect him but approved the Constitution by which he became Executive President of Uganda. Of course Democratic Party Members of Parliament did not approve the constitutionalised coup against the President they never elected: SIr Edward Mutesa II.
The man who became President of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada Oumee, in 1971, replacing Apollo Milton Obote, did so through a military coup. He was proclaimed President by the Military High Command. He was not elected by the people of Uganda. He abolished Parliament.
When Idi Amin Dada Oumee was overthrown in 1979 by the combined forces of Obote’s Kikosi Maalum, Museveni’s Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) and Tanzania Peoples Defense Forces (TPDF), a government was formed under the auspices of the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) formed in Moshi, Tanzània, by Ugandan Exiles.
The first Post-Amin President, Prof. Yusuf Lule, was elected by the legislative body of the UNLF called National Consultative Council (NCC) and approved by the UNLA’s Military Commission chaired by Paulo Muwanga, who was deputized by Yoweri Museveni, now Tibuhaburwa Museveni.
So Yusufu Lule was not elected by all Ugandans, although when he was deposed after 62 days in office by both the NCC and UNLA Military Commission, people demonstrated in Kampala. The demonstration was ruthlessly suppressed by Yoweri Museveni who was Minister of Defense, apart from being Vice-Chairman of the Notary Commission.
After deposing Yusuf Lule from office of President, Godfrey Binaisa was elected as President by the NCC and approved by the UNLA Military Commission. it is recorded in some historical accounts that it was Yoweri Museveni who drove Godfrey Binaisa to Entebbe State House after he was elected. He ruled for 11 Months and was deposed by the NCC and the Military Commission in November 1980.
Parliamentary elections were held in December that year and the Electoral Commission approved by the Military Commission of UNLA declared Obote’s UPC winner of the elections, in which Yoweri Museveni was defeated by DP’s Sam Kuteesa
By virtue of being President of UPC, Obote became President of Uganda without subjecting himself to a vote. He ruled Uganda from 1981 to 1985. He was preparing the country for Parliamentary elections, when the commanders of UNLA overthrew his government.
The new rulers -often called the Okello Junta – were in office for 6 months without the approval of Ugandans when they were overthrown on 25th January 1986 by the National Resistance Movement /Army commanded by Yoweri Museveni. From 1986 to 1996, President Museveni ruled Uganda, drawing his legitimacy directly from his army.
You may refuse to credit Museveni for anything that refused to stand the test of time, such as the Uganda Constitution 1995, whose making and promulgation he presided over. But credit him for making himself the first President to subject himself to elections by universal suffrage.
He broke the monotony of a chain of unelected leaders/President’s of Uganda. Six times he has allowed Ugandans to choose between himself and others, although many believe he steals the elections. it will be sad if he agrees to remove what remains of the only civility of his regime: election of the President. It will mean removing Ugandans from the only thing he gave them: electing their President.
But why are people plotting this as if they know that President Tibuhaburwa Museveni is indispensable? Is it greed and selfishness? Are they completely unable to think and see beyond President Tibuhaburwa Museveni? What will happen to them if President Tibuhaburwa Museveni says, “Enough is Enough” and he steps down (an unlikely proposition), or if God tells President Museveni, “My son, I have achieved what I wanted through your reign. I put you there for a purpose and I have achieved the purpose. Like I always do, I am giving your power to another person. Even if you ask me for more time, I will not give it to you. Prepare for the end”?
Those people should be thinking about this possibility and preparing themselves accordingly. Later will be too late. otherwise future generations will only remember them as “The Useful Idiots” of the Musevenite Era. They will be a shame of their genealogies.
For God and My Country
The Writer Is a Ugandan Scientist and Scientist.
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