BY FORTUNATE AHIMBISIBWE
Bobi Wine did not need to have aspired to be President in order for him to lead a peaceful revolution against President Museveni. But even if he was to be President, he would make a good one.
Andrew Mwenda, as usual, gets it wrong trying to dismiss him and undermine him yet the man is giving them sleepless nights.
This kind of Bobi Wine sensation has happened in Burkina Faso where music legend Karin Sarma mobilised people to end dictator Blaise Campore’s rule when he attempted to change the Constitution.
The talk of Bobi Wine having no ideological grounding is diversionary. Bobi Wine like any other person will evolve and get support from those who have the knowledge and skills.
Bobi Wine understands life from personal experience and from a lay man’s perspective. That’s Why alliances are there. You notice he is close to Gen. Mugisha Muntu.
For Museveni, when you have been in power for 33 years, you stop being human, you become superhuman and forget people’s struggles.
Does Museveni, for example, after 33 years know what it means to buy fuel, pay bills, buy food for the family, pay medical bills, fees etc?
Bobi Wine understands life from his personal struggle and he would aspire to address the challenges that an ordinary Ugandan faces. The job of running the economy is for technocrats at BoU and Ministry of Finance.
Ideology
At the moment, it’s very difficult to define the ideology of NRM and its leaders. The biggest ideology at the moment is to retain political power under any circumstances even it means being brutal.
The reason Bobi Wine gets support is because there is an ideological vacuum. NRM is selling ‘wolokoso ideology’ that the young generation cannot identify with. They preach one thing and do another.
The historical ideological position of NRM has long been abandoned. Kiiza Besigye adequately explains this in his paper which has since caused him all these problems including a threat of Court Martial.
You can call Bobi Wine whatever you like but he is clearly pulling the rug under Museveni’s feet.
If you noticed, Museveni in his recent social media activity has written the name Bobi Wine more than 100 times.
Bobi Wine is giving Museveni sleepless nights. That’s Why you Mwenda, a super intellectual has now diverted from your sweet melody Anti-Besigye campaign to Bobi Winebecausee thats where the prize is at the moment.
The NRM propaganda team is in full drive with all sorts of ridiculous allegations; “Bobi Wine is supported by LGBT…he is an agent of Western powers.” If he is, that means they have assessed and see him fit for the job.
To suggest that Bobi Wine supporters are “riff raff” is wrong. Time will prove you wrong. I know many of my friends, well educated and polished people who may not necessarily support Bobi Wine for the Presidency but they see in him a messenger and a force that will either push Museveni to the tipping point or force him open up the debate on succession.
Right now, Museveni and NRM after amending the Constitution, after torturing people in Arua, they do not have a moral ground to claim a more superior ideology than Bobi Wine.
Bobi Wine does not need to be like Museveni because anyone who will try being like Museveni is rejected by a section of Ugandans. If he is nothing as you claim, ignore him, don’t write about him, don’t try to kill him, don’t suppress his “riff raff” supporters and see what will happen.
Finally, the country does not operate on the single hand of the President, until Museveni suffocated all the institutions that should run a country, things were going okay.
When you wrote about Museveni personalizing the country and turning it into the monarchy, that’s exactly what you have forgotten.
In a situation where there is separation of powers, where institutions have their autonomy, where there is no state sponsored corruption, the President is largely ceremonial, that is why the Constitution does not require someone with a PhD to be President or someone with past experience as a President.
Intellectuals
In Uganda now, it’s very difficult to tell a difference between an intellectual and a fool. The so called intellectuals are the ones supporting everything that goes against standard practices of an ideal society where knowledge and freedoms are fundamental to the operations of a country.
I have seen intellectuals supporting the torture of civilians. What kind of intellectuals are these or what is the difference between these intellectuals and riff-raff? The country is divided between non-voting intellectuals and voting riff-raff. So the one with riff-raff will easily take the day.
When Museveni went to the bush and even when he came out, the majority of the fighters were worse than riff-raff, just a bunch of armed young people with no experience in governing a country, perhaps that’s why we have made all these mistakes.
Our country’s problem is not ideological, our problems are unemployment, misuse of public resources, impunity, and then leaders who overstay in power, those who get a running stomach when the issue of succession is brought up for discussion.
The Writer is a Communications Guru formerly with The World Bank