By Timothy Nsubuga

19^th March 2012:

President Museveni. FILE PHOTO

Uganda People’s Congress [UPC] has thrown its weight behind attempts by some opposition Members of Parliament led by Hon. John Ken Lukyamuzi [Lubaga South] and Hon. Odonga Otoo [Aruu County] to impeach President Yoweri Museveni over what they called “economic crimes”.

In a statement seen by Uganda Correspondent, UPC National Youth Leader Mr Aroma Patrick said, “I call upon the impeachment process being led by opposition…to go beyond Parliament.  Let the petitioners organize countrywide rallies, offensive and aggressive media campaigns plus public lectures to sensitize Ugandans” about Museveni’s crimes, crimes which he says, must see Museveni’s exit from the presidency.

Aroma then goes on to list Museveni’s alleged crimes as follows:

1.  General Yoweri Museveni’s actions and methods of work over the years since he shot his way to power in 1986 has set a very dangerous TRACK RECORD in terms of Constitutional Governance and Management of National Economy and honestly in the eyes and minds of the right thinking members of society, he can no longer be trusted to lead Uganda except to a catastrophic disintegration as the case of Somalia where ironically Uganda is actively participating to restore sanity. Time is now overdue for the people of Uganda to organize and mobilize through Parliament to invoke the provisions of article 107 of the Constitution to remove General Museveni from the high office of President on grounds of abuse of office, wilful violation of his oath of office, and above all the Constitution.

2.   General Yoweri Museveni’s abuse of the Constitution and his wanton disregard of Constitutional order is not surprising or a new phenomenon. It is the very embodiment of his political life. In 1980, Yoweri Museveni contested the multiparty general elections as the leader of the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM). He miserably lost the elections including in his own Nyabushozi Constituency (to Sam Kutesa, a member of the Democratic Party then). Instead of challenging the election results in the courts of law as provided for in the Constitution, Yoweri Museveni, just as he had planned since 1965, took up arms and today the Luwero triangle he created is still littered with skulls in testimony to his military but unconstitutional exploits. Northern and Eastern Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan all have tested the genesis of the General’s military misadventure and exploits.

3.   When General Yoweri Museveni through the barrel of the gun took over power on 25/1/1986, he suspended parts of the 1967 Constitution through the infamous Legal Notice No. 1 of 1986. Worse still, even the parts of the Constitution that he agreed to preserve, including the bill of rights that guaranteed the freedom of association, were routinely abused in the aftermath of capturing state power, the destruction of the economy of the people of northern Uganda, and the genocidal act of herding our people into concentration camps.

4.   To all right thinking members of our society, General Yoweri Museveni should have been the last person to violate the constitution – because the 1995 constitution is Museveni’s baby.  If these wanton constitutional abuses are compared to the defilement and rape of a baby, then we have a pathetic and desperate situation of defilement and rape committed not by a rabid stranger, but by the very father of the baby!

5.   If I flash back and try to list all the violations of constitutional order by General Museveni, I can easily write an entire series of books. The list would include following:

1.  The routine violation of people’s rights and freedoms including illegal detention in safe houses, torture and extra judicial killings.

2.  Genocide committed against the citizens of Uganda in Northern and Eastern Uganda.

3.  The deployment of the UPDF in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (twice), and Sudan without the authority of Parliament.

4.  The attacks on the Courts of law including the infamous Black Mamba rape of the High Court.

5.  The grant of loans, guarantees and outright bailouts to Basajjabalaba, Tristar and several others without the authority of Parliament.

6.  The directives to Uganda Land Commission to give away public land to investors – as was the case with the UBC land, Shimoni school land, Kitante School land, and the attempted Mabira forest give away.

7.  The routine and corrupt mismanagement of the economy and running down of public infrastructure and social services.

8.  The illegal expropriation of private property including ranches and the protection of trespassers on private land.

9.  The appointment of Major General J. J. Odongo a serving UPDF officer to cabinet.

10.  The illegal re-appointment of Justice Faith Mwonda as IGG.

11.  The usurpation of all the constitutional power of Bank of Uganda and other institutions within the country

12.  Purchase of Junk jets, helicopters, and other military hardware

It is worth pointing out that President Museveni has never been charged or convicted of the alleged crimes stated above.  The government has also dismissed the opposition MPs attempts to impeach the president from office as useless.

“Those MPs who want to impeach the President are jokers,” Information Minister Karooro Okurut said. “Impeaching the President would be taking an aimless walk in the political desert”.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.