Who is the best presidential candidate?
By M. Suleman
8th Nov 2010
Immediately after the presidential nominations, as expected, all the media houses and political analysts started scrutinizing the manifestos of the leading presidential candidates to have an insight into what they have to offer the country that desperately needs a change.
So far so good! All the candidates are bona fide Ugandans, each with his or her own CV which enabled them to become leaders of their political parties. While these are standard benchmarks in most countries involved in multi-party elections, I think in Uganda’s case, the 2011 elections are about more than manifestos.
Unfortunately many Ugandans, including some presidential candidates, consciously or unconsciously, have missed the point that in the current environment manifestos are a secondary factor.
First of all, Uganda is not a normal country where political power rests in the hands of the ordinary people who give politicians the mandate to govern. As evidenced in the 1996, 2001, & 2006 elections, power rests with one man; Museveni. People can vote whomever they want but the casting vote rests with Museveni.
If Uganda was a normal country where the will of the people is paramount, the government and President would have responded to the court’s proclamations about the flaws of past elections. But Uganda abnormal!
Since the NRM came to power, elections results have been pre-arranged and everything has been done according to Museveni’s plan. So given the fact that the same incompetent Electoral Commission was re-appointed, the plan remains the same. Manifestos or no manifestos, the results are pre-arranged.
Secondly, in a multi-party democracy where there is serious competition, presidential candidates are usually well prepared. They have a fully fledged political party with strong branches. Above all, such a party should be able to attract intellectuals, influential politicians, community leaders, and respected individuals.
The party should also have a reasonable pool of competent men and women from which it can pick prospective Members of parliament who could form a credible and competent cabinet. Without that level of organization, beautiful manifestos are of little importance.
Thirdly, in this 2011 election, just like in all past elections, opposition political parties do not have a level ground to operate from. Many opposition parties are still young and weak. Museveni came with an agenda of totally killing multi-party politics in Uganda and political parties have been under siege eversince.
He has done everything he can, both openly and covertly, to undermine political parties so that they die and Uganda remains NRM land. That’s why multi-party politics was never catered for in the 1995 Constitution. Today, many presidential candidates literally have no parties. In short, a good manifesto and good oratory skills will not win the election with only a handful of supporters!
Most importantly however is our hostile political climate. For that reason alone, I think most presidential candidates are either wasting their time or are deliberately fooling unsuspecting Ugandans. In a multi-party democracy, the country belongs to every citizen; not so in Museveni’s Uganda. Museveni’s pseudo-democracy is fatally defective.
At least the election campaigns of 1980 were genuine. Things only went wrong with the declaration of results. Some accepted the results, others rejected them. Those who rejected the results dashed to the bush, fought, and won.
From then on to date, Uganda belongs to them. In fact, Museveni recently said those who fought must be allowed to look after Uganda’s oil wealth. It simply can’t get any clearer than that. According to Museveni, Uganda is NRM country.
Therefore to have a change of regime, there has to be a fight. The fight can be with guns, [as others have done in the past] or, through a collective will of the people to overwhelm the regime in this 2011 election. Uganda needs to disentangle itself from the ruling NRM bush fighters first before sensible elections can be held.
As a man who previously worked with the NRM, and knows how it works, I think Dr. Kizza Besigye is best placed to lead the final political assault to defeat the same NRM. The fight must also be a united fight comprising of all patriotic Ugandans who believe in the need for change.
Besigye’s credentials as the best candidate to lead this fight was massively reinforced when he showed humility and accepted the reality that his FDC cannot do it alone. His push to work under the IPC is a sign of great leadership.
Above all, Besigye has competed against Museveni twice and in both cases Museveni only got back to power through massive rigging as the Supreme Court confirmed. So the truth is that Museveni has never defeated Besigye fairly and squarely.
That is precisely why clear headed Ugandans continue to support Besigye and I urge you all to join the fight to liberate our country from Museveni’s tyranny. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
