Bunyole West MP James Waluswaka illustrated the strength of a blossoming solidarity between the ruling NRM and Uganda’s oldest political parties, UPC and DP.

I have used the word solidarity in order not to annoy especially the leadership of the Democratic Party who are allergic to the word alliance.
In truth, a relationship between Gen Museveni and the Norbert Mao-led DP obviously exists, it is the degree that we can now discuss.

Some percentages of this solidarity were at display during the just-concluded election of Uganda’s nine representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala). The representatives to Eala are elected by MPs and elections took place at parliament on February 28.

Waluswaka held a long stick on which the flags of NRM, DP and UPC had been stitched. This was during celebrations after results were confirmed. Six NRM candidates had gone through while DP and UPC each had one successful candidate. The ninth slot went to Suzan Nakawuki, the wife to former Information and Communications Technology junior minister Alintuma Nsambu.

And it is not only flags and hearts of NRM, DP and UPC that had been enjoined. Some NRM MPs appear to have been instructed to wear green attires in solidarity with DP. The brute Waluswaka donned a green tie on a yellow shirt!

Sincerely, yellow and green do not match and a combination of the two is not pleasant to the eye. That is how it made my good friend Ephraim Kamuntu look like a clown. Even Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, who is very receptive to these kinds of experiments, didn’t put on yellow and green.

Raila Odinga and his opposition colleagues have formed a ‘super alliance’ in Kenya for purposes of the August 2017 elections. I think the NRM, DP, UPC solidarity is a super one as well.

That is how FDC was locked out. There was a little rebellion in the NRM where some members gave FDC’s Florence Ibi some votes, but it was too little too late.

What pains me is not only FDC’s loss but the trafficking of falsehoods by some leaders, especially DP’s Mao. A qualified lawyer, Mao is now telling the world that FDC connived with NRM to deny them representation at the Pan-African Parliament, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

He also alleges that FDC has an alliance with NRM which is the reason they, DP, were not given opportunity to chair accountability committees. I can only ask Mao to revise the Administration of Parliament Act, the Constitution and parliament’s Rules of Procedure. That is what gives FDC this representation as the party in opposition, and not Museveni.

It is the reason I am the chief opposition whip and I didn’t have to plead or connive with anyone. Anyway, I have heard Mao say that if he is handled properly, he will help NRM uproot FDC, especially in the north. I have written about this before and this is where I will leave it for now.

For me, the mutilation of public property under this regime is more important. Nakivubo War Memorial stadium, donated to Uganda by the colonial administration in 1953, is the latest victim.

I guess you have all followed this story. First, they evicted about 5,000 vendors from Nakivubo Park Yard market. Kampala minister Beti Kamya is the face of this entire development.

The reason vendors were evicted shortly after midnight was to allow Ham Kiggundu develop this area. The following day, the same investor raided Nakivubo stadium and demolished its 1953 structures. We are told he will turn it into a modern stadium. Several lockups which will now make its perimeter wall is what will make Nakivubo a modern stadium!

There are two points to note here. First, the historical importance of this stadium. It was built in memory of Ugandans who died in the Second World War, fighting alongside the British. Facilities like these have a huge tourism potential once preserved and marketed. Urban tourism is mainly about history.

When I visited Norway a couple of years ago, most of their tourism was about the oldest church, where they sat to write their first Constitution, the wooden benches their first lawmakers sat on, a church destroyed during Napoleonic wars, etc. Isn’t it the reason Kasubi tombs is such a treasure to Buganda and Uganda? No amount of money can buy this history.

By the way, Nakivubo was making money only that it was being misappropriated. To use that stadium, you had to pay over Shs 10 million per match. That stadium can even be used as an assembly point in case of a major fire outbreak in Owino and the whole downtown area littered with arcades.

These fellows think tourism is all about chimpanzees and elephants which can be found elsewhere. Our culture and history are our exclusive tourism sites.

The second point is the regime’s appetite for sports facilities. The Kololo SS playground given to Sudhir Ruparelia is in the news again. Our schools have been stripped of all playing spaces. I think, just like myself, having been born and raised in a village, Gen Museveni views skyscrapers as the only indicators of development. Each time he sees an open space, he thinks it is backwardness.

But most significantly, how do you develop sports when you don’t invest in its infrastructure? And the big man summed the story up recently. He told the visiting Fifa president that his government is busy with major infrastructure and will deal with “playing” later.

Mr Museveni doesn’t know that there is a high return on investment in sports. Anyway, that is how he views his world. The solution is not in showing him the other world, but in retiring him with his world!

semugs@yahoo.com

The author is Kira Municipality MP.