The NRM party, under President Yoweri Museveni, has once again dominated the political electoral space; it held its primary elections dubbed “kamyufu” for MPs last week albeit minimal rancorous scenes that were seized on by sections of subverted social and mainstream media.
That not-withstanding, the exercise was a step in the right direction in a majority of areas as compared to the option opposition parties have always taken to appoint it’s flag bearers; a measure that has severally ripped them apart leading to an exodus of their rank and file to either form their own entities or join the NRM.
The party has fielded (or will field) candidates on virtually the entire electoral map of Uganda for all positions thus painting the country yellow; none of the opposition parties, with of course the intrusive backing from sections of the west, has had or will have that capacity.
This column can confidently say that the NRM is arguably in a comfortable lead ahead of the recessing opposition groups in terms of sponsoring candidates making it the most popular and electable party in the country.
That has far reaching imputations to the obstructive opposition regarding the impending February 2020 contestation; matching the political prowess of the NRM or better still, the possibility of tilting the balance of power in favor of Yoweri Museveni’s opponents is not only preposterous but also an impracticability.
That sounds rude and an awakening shock to the opposition whose confusion runs so deep into its visceral organs and the sensibilities of their western backers, isn’t it! Those backers, it should be recalled, forced Kiiza Besigye out of the 2021 contest on account of creating space for social-climber and wannabe Bobi Wine, a man who has no grasp of or clue about basic economic concepts.
Their erroneous view that the fellow would appeal to the youth backfired so badly that the initial beehive activities in Magere and Kamwokya ghetto slackened and recovery has not been that easy; that misconception was dashed after the Yoweri Museveni administration/NRM resoundingly won the youth council elections that were recently conducted and with that triumph, the PWDs and elderly councils were simultaneously dominated by the party putting it in a comfortable and commanding lead before the February 2021 general elections. If that doesn’t speak volumes about the strength of NRM, then what will?
Generally speaking, those primary elections have gripped the entire country; it was a replica of real national elections; yes that vote has had some veering off from normalcy (and that is being remedied by the president) but by and large it represented the will of the people in deciding who should be their leaders beyond February 2021.
For a moment even the recessing opposition paused from their own internal attrition and attenuation; they joined in the chorus of debating the NRM primaries and not their lack in their own parties in both whispering and shrieking tones. NRM is still by far Uganda’s most popular and preferred party; it attracted 2051 contestants who picked nomination forms for various positions out of which 584 want to stand for woman MP in the 140 districts; the MP aspirants alone were 1,112 in total.
Relatedly, the much billed musician, Bobi Wine, was both humbled and stunned by NRM’s excellent performance; he realized that music is different from political games and gymnastics; information coming from his fledgling and paper tigress, the NUP party, point to massive political heartache where their flag bearers are merely vetted and not subjected to democratic primaries and they haven’t recovered from that hemorrhage of eight or so DP legislators who recently defected!
Kiiza Besigye rantingly exploded in the media recently that the explanation for losing the primaries by some ministers was because they were so close to President Museveni, a statement that can only be made by someone from fools’ paradise. The reason why he himself has always lost in a string of presidential elections is because he lost his proximity to those safe pairs of hands of Uganda’s best president, Yoweri Museveni.
Amb. Henry Mayega
Deputy Head of Mission
Uganda Embassy
Beijing, China
