The church is planned to accommodate 975 adult worshippers and 235 children. The attentive church audience included; government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa, NRM treasurer Rose Namayanja and Mawokota South MP John Bosco Lubyaayi.

While other politicians carefully steered clear of politics, Oulanyah used much of his nearly 15-minute speech to preach politics at the pulpit and heap praise on Museveni and the ruling NRM since the church expansion launch happened on the same day NRM was celebrating its 33rd anniversary.

“The symbolic significance of today is important if we have to understand what we should do to make this country better,” Oulanyah said.

Save for an infant who was running about as the Omoro MP spoke, the fully packed church remained silent as the deputy speaker recounted his own political journey. He said he started out as an unfaltering Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) stalwart who later became a proud NRM supporter.

Oulanyah abandoned UPC in 2006 after he lost the Omoro county seat to FDC’s Simon Toolit Akecha. He announced his defection to NRM in time for that year’s elections for the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) but NRM MPs rejected him. They viewed him as an opportunistic politician.

He bounced back to Parliament in 2011 as a loyal NRM cadre who went on to become the deputy speaker of parliament.

MAGICAL MUSEVENI

“Between 1962 [and] 1986, Uganda had nine presidents and about four or five military coups and a countless number of people went into exile…so many people disappeared,” Oulanyah said.

Without mentioning Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) whose political pressure group, People power is enjoying wide youths support, Oulanyah said his remarks were intended to point young people to Uganda’s political history that was characterised by a lot of suffering.

“For 24 good years, this country suffered,” Oulanyah said.

“You can talk about the rule of law, yes, but where was the rule of law when [former president] Idi Amin was killing a chief justice? We can talk about freedom of worship but where was freedom of worship when President Amin was killing an archbishop?” Oulanyah asked, making reference to the 1972 disappearance of former chief justice Benedict Kiwanuka and the 1977 killing of Archbishop Janan Luwum.

“Where were all these things that we now speak about so eloquently and believe in deeply that we now want to start abusing them?” Oulanyah wondered.

Speaking about how Museveni has been able to keep power for 33 years, Oulanyah wondered whether Museveni is a magician.

“From that time [1986] to today, we have had one president; we haven’t had any military coup. Is this man a magician? How has he been able to pull it together? All this confusion, and restructuring of our country called Uganda, make it peaceful… How was he able to do all these things?” Oulanyah wondered.

“Strange things happened when Museveni became president… strange things are happening in this country, which is why we have had peace for all these years,” Oulanyah said.

Oulanyah said Museveni’s decision to embrace the families of former presidents Apollo Milton Obote and Idi Amin, his arch enemies for years –and also sanction the return of Obote’s body speaks to the president’s magical nature.

Besides going to pay his last respects to Obote as his body lay in state at parliament, Oulanyah said, Museveni also campaigned for Amin’s grandson, Kibanda North MP, Taban Idi Amin.

sadabkk@observer.ug