Inside Museveni’s life presidency project

Apparently, the group agreed that they should disperse across the country and organise at the grassroots to build the UPM into a mass movement to fight future political battles.

But as the group moved out of Musoke’s house, apparently, Museveni stopped at the stairs turned to speak to his colleagues for the first time in many hours.

“Me, I will not just sit around and wait for Obote and his people to arrest me. I will fight them,” Museveni said and then drove off.

At the time, Musoke apparently said, they didn’t know what to make of Museveni’s remarks until a few days later when they heard in the news that he and a band of about 30 other militants, had staged an audacious raid on a major military barracks in the southwest, overrun it, and made off with weapons. Museveni had launched his fight against Obote.

“He didn’t ask our permission,” Kintu noted, “but in the end, he was the man with the plan that worked. And now all of us have had to come and work with him in the NRM, because he delivered what we could only talk about.”

The life presidency project

Obbo writes that Museveni thinks he is the best thing that ever happened to Uganda and Africa.

“His book Sowing the Mustard Seed is a major rewrite of the country’s history that also casts his ascent to power as a culmination of great political genius,” Obbo writes, “He paints even some obscure youthful political activism in his high school days as having far-reaching national consequences. Museveni has thus already constructed the glorious first chapters for his political story. It only stands to reason that he is now crafting its glorious climax.”  Could a life presidency be that glorious climax?

Knowing that is Museveni’s mission, his loyal staffers, with his tacit approval and resources are looking to have expunged that provision and extend his reign from the current three decades, to, possibly, life presidency.

“The campaign has been in motion,” a source knowledgeable about the details of the meetings intimated to The Independent, “some of the meetings have been happening at the chairman’s office.”

Indeed, Katungi’s July 24 meeting appeared to be a follow up to a July 18 conference of sorts held at Kati Kati Restaurant in Lugogo, a Kampala suburb, where a core team of Museveni staffers, legislators, and an army of NRM youths inducted through ruling party ideology at the Kyankwanzi-based National Leadership Institute (NALI), officially launched the campaign to eliminate the age limit.

Nyombi Thembo, Simeo Nsubuga and Col. Fred Mwesigye, were among the legislators that joined Katungi, Mafabi, Othieno and a host of NRM youths at the event. Other notables behind the campaign include; MPs Juliet Kinyamatama (Rakai), Micheal Tusiime (Mbarara Municipality), Peter Ogwang (Eastern Youth MP), Kenneth Omona  (Keberamaido), James Kakooza (Kabula) and Ibrahim Abiriga (Arua).

At the Kati Kati meeting, Muhoozi’s PA, Simon Othieno hardly spoke to the press although he chaired the meeting. Instead, it is Museveni’s assistant, David Mafabi, who spoke. The meeting passed several resolutions, top of which was about the issue of age limits. This was read by Phoebe Namulindwa, an NRM youth. The implicit stamp of approval was all over the meeting; including on the lunch coupons, which bore a State House stamp.

The event was marketed as counter mobilisation against those opposing the campaign. It came hardly a week after July 12 when police arrested NRM youth leader, Robert Rutaro and others under their group UB40 (Ugandans Under40) for organizing a press conference at Makerere University where they lambasted the move to lift the age limit.

Most of the youths at Kati Kati have gone through inductions in Kyankwanzi. Sources say while at the institute, these youths were promised jobs, which have never come. The age limit campaign, appeared a perfect opportunity for them to remind the authorities about their plight. Indeed, at the Kati Kati conference, over 60 percent of those in attendance were these Kyankwanzi recruits.

In a sign of increasing public displays, about 20 proponents of lifting the debate, mostly women, recently marched across Lira town in northern Uganda carrying placards reading “General YK Museveni Paka last, We support the removal of term limit”. These were not molested.

But when some youths in Mbarara attempted to march through town carrying a casket with a portrait of the president with an inscription reading; “Rest in peace Museveni,” they were arrested and jailed for it. The message was clear going forward.

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