Lessons for Uganda from Angola

FILE PHOTO: The son of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, Major General Muhoozi Kainerugaba (L) and his wife Charlotte Kutesa Kainerugaba (R) attend a ceremony in which Kainerugaba is promoted from Brigadier to Major General at the country’s military headquarters . AFP PHOTOAlthough, Museveni will be 75 years old and over the age of eligibility to stand for another term in 2021 under the current constitution, there is already a campaign to amend the constitution and ensure that he stays on.

There have also been murmurs that the President could be working quietly to have his son, Brig. Muhoozi Kainerugaba takeover from him. Brig. Kainerugaba has risen rapidly within the military, fuelling speculation that he is preparing to become the next president.

He was appointed head of the Special Forces Command in 2008 and was given control of the elite presidential guard in 2010. Kainerugaba himself has denied that such a scheme exists. In May, 2013, Gen. David Sejusa alleged that Museveni had well-laid out plans to hand power to Brig. Kainerugaba but he had to flee to London to escape arrest over the allegation.

A month later, Sejusa told the BBC’s `Focus on Africa’ programme that Uganda was slowly being turned into a political monarchy—a charge Kainerugaba denied.

“Uganda is not a monarchy where leadership is passed on from father to son,” he said, “The power to choose how Uganda is governed lies with Ugandans and not a single individual.”

In the last couple of years, debate on Uganda’s political transition and succession has only increased. Recently, the debate gathered ballast when Museveni’s son-in-law, Odrek Rwabogo, joined it. He asked the NRM top leadership to start thinking and discussing the successor of Museveni. But Museveni has said although talk on his succession is important, its time has not yet come. Rwabwogo was silenced but the debate rages on.

But unlike dos Santos who relinquished power over ill health, Museveni has made a point of displaying his robust health at every opportunity. He likes to take long inspection treks. He made headlines when he rode a bicycle to fetch water to irrigate his demonstration farm and ferried grass to mulch it. He has also done press ups in public and even taken an HIV test.

At a recent event he challenged any member of the public to name just one day when he has heard that Museveni has fallen ill in all the 31 years he has been president.

“Have you ever heard that Museveni has fallen sick and my legs hanged in hospital for the last 31 years?” he said.

Shaban Bantariza, the deputy executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, the government’s information bureau told The Independent that “political transitions are built purposefully and definitively”.

“Ugandans should be interested in finding out what President Museveni is doing right now that will make us an Angola when he steps down,” he said.

“If for instance, in the past 31 years you (Museveni) have not worked for that day, you can be sure that on that day, you will step down and we shall have trouble.

“A transition is a process built over a long time. The stepping down is not the transition; it is many years of preparing for that day,” Bantariza told The Independent. Many hope he is right.