By C.D Rauxen Zedriga

20^th Dec 2010

I would like to tell my good friend Ofwono Opondo that he cannot re-write history by simply denying the suffering that Museveni put the people of northern, eastern, and north eastern Uganda through.

It is only by the grace of God that these people managed to live on mangoes and in fact survived the ill intentions and whims of those who wanted to wipe them out from the so-called “cattle corridor”.  I can take my friend Ofwono Opondo in a serious debate about this if he so wishes.

The NRM’s chief proponents wanted the war in the north to continue so that they continue to dipping their hands into the national resource coffers.  Perhaps Ofwono Opondo would like to tell me and Ugandans how much his NRM has gained monetarily [from the Western donors] from sending and keeping UPDF troops in the DRC, Sudan, Central African Republic, and Somalia.

Ofwono Opondo may not want to publicly admit this, but he knows deep down that war and foreign military misadventures have been the single biggest source of wealth for his political masters; and perhaps, the so-called “First Family” in particular.

In 1980, Ofwono Opondo’s new found friends in today’s NRM [UPM at the time] campaigned vigorously against UPC’s commitment to the Structural Adjustment Programme.  They advocated a socialist economic model that showed up as “Barter Trade” in NRM’s 10-point Programme.

And yet soon after it took power, the NRM became the best proponent of Structural Adjustment.  So what – in your mind as Opondo – makes you think that any national programme like NUSAF and PRDP belongs to the NRM?  Secondly, the Uganda National Programme of Immunization (UNEPI) was never an NRM initiative but being the opportunists that they are, they claimed full credit for it.

Mr. Ofwono Opondo, I am surprised that you in your “honourable” capacity as Spokesperson for Museveni’s campaign task force do not even have concrete figures to back up the claims you make.  All we hear from you is that “…thousands of classrooms, teachers’ houses, science laboratories, nursery schools, boreholes, health units, roads, bridges” etc have been constructed by your government.

Is it feasible, or indeed possible, that your NRM would resist the temptation to showcase such rosy figures authoritatively during these elections if it had them?  The naked truth is that the figures simply don’t exist; they are “ghost” achievements.

How about your open admission that stopping corruption is and will continue to be an issue for your beloved but corrupt NRM?  If you have failed to fight corruption, then how will you stop your people from the stealing the money that Western countries have poured into the reconstruction of the north?  The truth is that people in the north have never, and will never get development under Museveni’s regime.

Your NRM is not, and will never be a party of quality.  It’s simply, as one of your own Ministers said, a “Kayoola” party of thieves and dishonest people. People like you shamelessly talk about “quality delivery of service”, about your fight against corruption, and yet you know deep down that there is no quality delivery of services and corruption is fully entrenched in your party’s DNA.

Remember it was the same Ofwono Opondo, yes, you Sir, who only a few days back, acknowledged the rot of your party when you held your shambolic primaries for party flag bearers.  Not only was the process utterly corrupt, it also threatened many live in places like Bukedea and Sembabule where gunshots filled the air as you fought each other.

So where exactly do you get the moral authority to talk about quality service delivery, corruption, and NRM democracy?  I hope you have answers for me as well as for the family of Ugandans who have been innocently killed by your government in northern, eastern, and north eastern Uganda through.

Your dream of an NRM landslide in these regions is therefore nothing more than that; just the dream of a man looking at reality from the confines of a floating air bubble.

Mr. Ofwono Opondo, I also challenge you to honestly tell Ugandans why your “popular President” still finds it necessary to personally carry and distribute brown [or should I say yellow] envelopes of money to people in public without disclosing the source of the money.  Every Ugandan remembers Norbert Mao saying that “a fish starts to rot from the head”; this is it!  Is that behavior of a genuine philanthropist?

No, that is taxpayer’s money and your boss is corruptly using it to buy peasant support to further his personal political ambitions.  Incidentally, would I be wrong to suggest that it may be the same brown envelopes that make you say things that you know are totally wrong?

I think the time has finally come for all Ugandans to realize that no serious development can ever take place under a corrupt NRM government.  If it could, then a whole 25yrs of uninterrupted NRM rule would have pulled them out of poverty by now; surely!

With my hand on my heart, I appeal to Ugandans to wake up, go out in millions and millions and vote out Museveni’s corrupt and bankrupt regime.  Museveni has absolutely nothing new to offer Ugandans.

We can already see that he is shamelessly copying nearly every pledge that Dr. Besigye is making; from school meals for primary school children to tuition fees loans for University students.  END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.