Thank God the madness surrounding the selection of nine Uganda representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has come to an end!

I penned this column as MPs assembled to listen to the 47 candidates before voting. You should, therefore, not ask me who lost or went through. Obviously, it is in Uganda where football or sports generally has remained the only area where merit is still glorified.

That is why the national football team – Uganda Cranes – is not comprised of players from one region or children and relatives of the leaders there. Maybe it is the reason there has been some progress.

In politics the narrative is different, made even worse by our political association. The pioneer Uganda Eala MPs will remain the best outfit ever and last assembled to mirror our country abroad.

That is why Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu, who matched Tanzanian foreign minister Jakaya Kikwete in profile then, was considered the possible successor to Mr Museveni. Both Muntu and Kikwete served at the Arusha-based East African parliament.

In FDC, a party I speak for, these elections have remained divisive. Nomination of FDC representatives to parliament for Eala consideration tends to reopen old fault lines left behind by various internal elections. Because Maj Gen Muntu has competed with Col Kizza Besigye three times, everything in FDC is interpreted as a Muntu versus Besigye contest.

In a future article, I will write about these two men that FDC in particular and Uganda in general should be happy to have. For me, the real test that the FDC has faced is not the attempt to withdraw Ingrid Turinawe from the Eala race, but the Nathan Nandala-Mafabi-Muntu contest and the recent The Democratic Alliance (TDA).

Not to have internal elections or a process of choosing a presidential candidate will be to attempt to be Museveni and his NRM group, which we are not. And for me, that is FDC’s biggest contribution to the polity of our nation. It remains the only party where everything is competed for.  It is slowly becoming a culture.

Forget about party structure talk, planting the culture of competition and elections remains Muntu’s biggest contribution to FDC. Few people understood him when he challenged Col Besigye for the FDC presidency the first time. I was still working with The Observer.

Muntu, I think, got just about 50 votes and Col Besigye polled over 500 votes. Muntu had earlier told me that the mistake they made in the Movement was not to subject Museveni to any competition. That is why the self-declared Sabalwanyi develops goose pimples each time he is dared.

So fearful is Museveni that he cannot even arrange a competitor of his choice, something many African dictators have done. I hope you all still remember that lady from Luweero who wanted to become NRM chairman.

Museveni immediately appointed her a presidential advisor and forced her to withdraw. Felix Okot Ogong was asked by Mike Mukula in a meeting to step down because his insistance on competing with Museveni looked like an insult.

Anyway, this article is supposed to be about the Park Yard market demolished this week on the orders of new Kampala minister Beti Kamya. This market occupies what looks like the parking space for Nakivubo stadium and St Balikuddembe/Owino market.

It developed slowly and when it was first burnt, Museveni was one of the many that participated in its restoration. His minister has ordered its demolition.

First, I have empathy for poor people because this is not a choice. Herding around human beings, for me, is the worst form of violation. Maybe I am like that because I come from a modest background, where every day at one time looked like a month.

Even if Park Yard market vendors were in the wrong, caning them wouldn’t cross my mind; they are human beings, period!

But let us address the big picture. Before she sought refuge under the Museveni family rule, Beti Kamya liked the word big picture. Let us start by going around Kampala and Wakiso and visit markets. Many are like kraals.

Unfortunately, this is where human beings trek every day to look for a livelihood and school fees for their children. Demolishing illegal markets cannot be a solution.

Let us first address the problem of people who are ‘illegally’ living. I say illegally living because if you don’t have what to eat or where to sleep and work, you are almost illegally on earth! Colonial and post-colonial governments attempted to deal with this.

Imagine Uganda had 6.6 million people as per the 1959 census. And for this population, the governments then constructed Owino, Nakasero, Wandegeya, Kibuye and other markets. Today, with 37 million people (projected), the only market constructed in Kampala is Usafi. Wandegeya was simply renovated and given out to rich people.

If you read the ministry of lands, housing and urban development policy statement, their achievement last financial year was to draft a National Urban Policy!

We paid nearly Shs 33 billion to develop a greater Kampala metropolitan physical plan with satellite cities at Ssisa (Wakiso) and Mpata (Mukono) but it was abandoned in the pigeon hole to collect dust.

I don’t know which plan Kamya has for Park Yard but I hear it has been given out to Hamis Kiggundu so he can turn it into a mall. Kamya’s actions are like smearing a dirty body with jelly.

Those displaced can easily get another location within Kampala or Wakiso and erect another illegal market. Recently, the president donated money to women selling onions in another illegal market on Entebbe highway. Unra’s Allen Kagina wants this particular market demolished!

Instead of concentrating on processing a physical plan for greater Kampala, Kamya has also picked a stick to herd people around! 
  
semugs@yahoo.com

The author is Kira Municipality MP.