We can longer shy away from the truth, a certain region in Uganda is deeply emersed into the politics of identity.
What had started as a mere joke, has now been proved in the recently concluded parliamentary election. Experienced, educated and knowledgeable leaders were replaced by people who have no knowledge about administration or anything to do with leadership – people who were in music, and those who were freelancing in politics simply because they had no other option.
It won’t even take a month or less than that for that same region to regret their decision. There will be enough comedy than seriousness and service delivery to the people.
There will be enough music concerts than meetings of brainstorming and finding solutions to the issues affecting the people.
There will be enough showbiz than seriousness and doing what a member of parliament is supposed to do for his constituency. There will be less appearance on the floor of parliament but rather enough appearance on NTV’s Akawungeezi and in the Zungululu segment.
The NRM leaders who were voted out are accused of identifying themselves with a certain tribe which the rest of the people in their region don’t like or support. They’re not accused of lacking wisdom, experience or not being able to perform their duties.
In any case, they’re more competent than those who were elected. I’m told most of the NRM leaders who were voted out had actually performed exceedingly well in their constituencies given the fact that the NRM party they belong to, is the party in power and therefore lobbying for the people wasn’t very difficult.
For now, those leaders will sit back and watch as the drama unfolds. Unfortunately and most regrettably it will be the people to lose and not the masterminds of the politics of identity.
We must all agree that, that even if we accuse President Museveni of overstaying in power but in the last general election he was the right choice for leading this country. There was no other option. However much Bobi Wine is popular, young and good at singing, he isn’t competent for the position of head of state.
Ugandans must understand that being head of state isn’t that easy or something they should play around with, you cannot pick someone from anywhere to take up the responsibility of leading the country and making sensitive decisions on behalf of forty-eight million Ugandans.
Also, Ugandans should remember that when a president speaks, his words are attached to his country that’s why we say; Ugandan president or American president. Therefore, when a country goes to the polls and chooses a bad a leader, it’s their nation which will always be embarrassed in the eyes of the world.
In the USA in the last 2017 election chose Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Since then a lot of things have happened in a once-famous country. What we used to see in the third world countries have happened in the superpower. I’m sure some Americans regretted their decision.
I’m sure most of them cursed the day they held a ballot in their hands and chose Trump. For the first time in history, America has had its president impeached two times. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook couldn’t accommodate him any more, and I’m told even YouTube blocked him. Those same platforms are owned by Americans themselves, that tells the magnitude of embarrassment they have been going through.
The part of Uganda which decided to immerse itself in the tribal politics are not asking themselves where the supporters of the people they voted for will go. They are not minding about people who believed in those leaders they fought and people who were getting assistance from them.
Those people are quiet but nursing wounds on their hearts, they’re sick and disappointed. Those people will not follow the wind and excitement of voting according to where they belong, they will instead be against it and at the end of the day the kind of politics that a certain group has started will backfire, it will instead deeply divide the people and as you’re aware where there’s lack of unity development can’t take place.
It’s should also be known to everyone that while dividing people is easy but uniting them again takes ages. While addressing the nation shortly after being re-elected, President Museveni said that the people who were promising “a new Uganda” are instead taking us to the old days.
They’re taking us back to the history of telling lies about a new Uganda. In the past years, Ugandans in the then government were voting according to their sects. The Anglican Baganda belonged to Kabaka Yekka, Anglicans from other parts of the country belonged to UPC and the Catholics belonged DP.
This divided Ugandans and hatched hatred which resulted in conflicts and some people lost their lives. As President Museveni has been guiding, there’s no tribe or religion in Uganda that covers fifty per cent of the population therefore unity should be the only option for any politician seeking support to lead Uganda.
The writer is the deputy RDC designate for Kitagwenda