By M. Suleman

28^th January 2013: Uganda is a country endowed with articulate, civilized and well educated people, yet it is also one of the most disappointing countries in the world – especially with regard to people’s attitude to politics and the welfare of the country.

After 27 years of indoctrination and a diet of lies, many Ugandans seem to have succumbed and now reason like idiots and fools.

In the past two weeks, the Ugandan political scene has been dominated by news and conspiracy theories about the death of Butaleja Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda, the attempt to recall Parliament, the conviction of Soroti Municipality MP Hon Mike Mukula, and the Court Martial case against Brig. Henry Tumukunde. These have been headline news and have remained the hottest topics in the country.

But upon a serious look at all the issues, one wonders whether these topics are really worth the discussions they have attracted.  As regards the death of Nebanda, this was a young lady, full of life, busy with Parliament and family, whose death was a shock.

Everyone expected that there would be a serious investigation into the MPs death.  But those dreams were dashed when Museveni nose-dived into the case and, as always, micro-managed the issue and eventually killed it off.

Then came the issue of the re-call of parliament!  The false impression created by this debate is that Uganda has a functioning parliament that is trying to assert itself. In reality, Uganda under Museveni has never had a functioning parliament.  Museveni and his “kitchen cabinet” are parliament, the judiciary and everything.

In 1996 when it became clear that a coalition led Paul Semwogerere was poised to defeat Museveni, the army issued statement after statement threatening not to recognize the new president, and never to salute him.  By so doing, they defiled the 1995 constitution.  From then on, our constitution has only existed on paper.

Parliament too exists on paper.  All the talk about Museveni undermining parliament, or staging a coup, is ‘hot air’. Parliament has never been independent.  It’s just a rubber stamp used by Museveni whenever he wants to hoodwink the dangerous and complicit western powers into believing that he has some democratic credentials.

For example, parliament has been bullied into passing despicable laws, bribed to dismantle the key tenets of the 1995 constitution, leaned upon implicitly (through fear) to confirm Museveni’s wife as a cabinet minister, leaned upon by the NRM caucus to absolve corrupt cabinet ministers, and periodically summoned to Rwakitura and Kyankwanzi to be belittled.

MPs have been arrested, locked up, and abused. There is nowhere in the world where Members of Parliament are treated with such contempt by the Head of State.  Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s attempt to defy Museveni was nothing more than juvenile pretence.

No Speaker in the world should hold his/her breath over a matter that concerns, abuse, intimidation, harassment, imprisonment, and suspicious death of an MP.  What does Kadaga do?  She deliberately delayed things to allow internal NRM politics to frustrate the whole project.

Finally, I am also convinced that the Court Martial trial of Brig Henry Tumukunde is another ‘hot air’ showcase event designed to hoodwink the gullible.  I believe Tumukunde will soon be set free.  First he is close to Janet Museveni, and the likelihood of being convicted on the evidence presented in court is very slim.

As for Hon Mike Mukula, he is part of the cabal – and his conviction is only meant to distract Ugandans.  END: Login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories mid-week for our updates

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