Dear Ndugu Amama,
Greetings! I had hoped to speak with you in Kampala just before Christmas day, but the vicissitudes of life and the messiness of our city made it a little difficult. Before long, I was back to base in Chicago.
One of your aides intimated that you had recently asked about me. And coincidentally, one of the ardent readers of this column, Samuel, not too long ago wanted to know if I knew what you are up to lately. I promised him I would put the question to you directly. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to.
Meanwhile, I was meaning to write you a line on the email when news broke through with a bang: you are in talks with Uganda’s chief fighter, Ssabalwanyi General Museveni, through your daughter Rachel.
Rachel came very close to fully confirming this development, telling the Daily Monitor newspaper: “Yes, I have met the president on several occasions. However, it is bad manners to disclose what one discusses with one’s elders.”
This news has attracted indignation, at least on social media. Ugandans who are sick and tired of Museveni’s decadent rule are resolutely hostile to any rationale for meeting with and talking to a man you so diligently served.
I have a different view, though. The issue shouldn’t be about meeting or not meeting, it’s about why you have to meet and talk. You sure should meet Mr Museveni and speak to him candidly.
I don’t wish to sound presumptuous, but if you may permit me, I should like to remind you something you know all too well. Museveni has a knack for humiliating those who oppose him, chiding anyone who disagrees with him, discrediting and assaulting whoever threatens his grip on power.
I suspect that you are a man who prides in his honour and integrity. The last thing you want to do is crawl back to the Ssabalwanyi begging for favours and access to state largesse. The late Eriya Kategaya went through that ignominy and must have died a depressed man.
At any rate, you should savour a meeting with Museveni and tell him more forcefully what you have told him in the past: that his time is up. Tell him it is in his best interest to work out an exit plan before it becomes inevitable to depart disgracefully. Impress upon him not to wait for 2021 because he should have already left, anyway.
Tell him that harkening back to the Constitution is hollow. The Constitution was long abrogated, otherwise, we wouldn’t have flagrant disregard of court decisions, abuse of court processes, and illegal use of force especially at the behest of a partisan head of the Uganda Police Force. So, there is no constitutional order to talk about.
As you know, with your explicit involvement and enthusiastic participation, the infant 1995 Constitution received a severe knockdown in 2005. It was damned beyond redemption. The country will need a new Constitution once the current system is set aside, one way or the other, in the near future.
That said, Ndugu, I should like to propose that you use the opportunity of meeting your old comrade to persuade him that he is out of touch with the real problems of Uganda. He needs to clear the way and create the space for a new leadership that can reimagine a new Uganda and forge a better future.
The illusion that it is him to save our country and the mass of our compatriots from intractable socioeconomic and political problems has driven the country to a cliffhanger. The insecurity borne of a dubious long stay in power has bred blatant nepotism and a bloated personal security apparatus, weighing heavily on the national budget.
Remind General Museveni that the longer he has clung on, the more he has set up the country for a dangerous end to his rule, something that seems to have attracted disquiet from right inside his family environs, if the ramblings of one of his sons-in-law is to be taken at face value.
The writing is right on the wall. Remind him that there are many historical lessons to look to if at all he is in doubt as to how the course of history can sometimes unfold following its own laws and in total disregard of human ingenuity and logic.
Uganda is not at all inoculated against the kinds of tragic events we have seen in other countries where rulers cling onto power, effectively undermining and undoing whatever progress in place and leaving behind ruins when finally forced out.
I understand that General Museveni is not particularly keen on taking advice, never mind the over 100 advisors. But if you can impress upon him the urgency of his exit from power, you will have done a great service to the nation, arguably more important than what you did as a government official for three decades.
The next time I am in town, I will be sure to seek you out about receipt of, and reaction to, this letter. I hope you will still be holding your own in opposing life presidency and family rule in Uganda.
I thank you!
moses.khisa@gmail.com
The author teaches political science at Northwestern University/Evanston, Chicago-USA.