His wife Janet knows it; that’s why she assured us he is some kind of Messiah sent by God to lead us to the Promised Land.  Investment state minister Evelyn Anite knows it; that’s why she is heavily invested in his life presidency project.

Erstwhile opposition politician and Kampala minister Beti Kamya knows it; that’s why she proclaims “President Museveni is an exceptional 70-year-old whom one cannot and, indeed, must not put on the scale of ordinary 70-year-olds…”

If he came to Uganda, former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal might wonder whether Museveni is a genius, or everyone around him is an imbecile, to which the answer must surely be “both”.

We are convinced that the principled liberator he is, Gen Museveni has no interest whatsoever in ‘over-staying’ in power, like those other African leaders he talked about in 1986. No, no, no, don’t count him in that group. His only interest is in sacrificing for you.

We agree that whether at 76, 86, or 96 years of age, Gen Museveni is as ideologically virile as he has ever been. This concept, of being biologically a mzee but ideologically youthful, is one of his more inspired inventions.

If you think you have seen him dozing at meetings, it’s not Museveni’s but your head that needs to be examined, hopefully by a good doctor such as Ruhakana Rugunda, who has informed us that “I see nothing that provides a scientific or rational reason that somebody who is above 75 years cannot be president”.  

If you have ever imagined Gen Museveni getting sick, like the “ordinary” mortals Hon Kamya talks about, it’s your mind that is sick. Have you ever heard him as much as sneeze?

So, when the man says let the medical doctors speak on whether a person, at the age of 75, is still fit enough to lead a nation, and that he will not interfere in their work, we know he is only being incredibly humble.

He knows, like we all do, that he is as fit – and fresh – as a whip (akyali mbooko). Never mind that he has previously stated that “…if you want very active leaders, it is good to have ones below the age of 75.”  

Whether one is fit to lead a country at the age of 75 is not the point; we know (for argument’s sake) that Museveni will make a great leader even at 200 years of age. Whether one is special, superhuman, immortal or whatever is irrelevant to the debate on removal of the constitutional age limit for the presidency.

At the basic level, all human beings are the same. They want food; they want sex; they want survival, all of which translates into greed for power and wealth.

In this regard, Museveni is not any different from Idi Amin, Milton Obote, Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump, you or me. No one can ascend to power without those primitive instincts.

The idea of a Constitution is not to identify – and stick – with the most brilliant leader in a country. It is to tame these basic instincts. Constitutions are designed to limit a leader’s powers.

Based on our history, Ugandans knew that one of our greatest problems were, in Museveni’s words, “leaders who want to overstay in power”. They, therefore, built into the Constitution at least three mechanisms to protect us from such power-hungry leaders: elections, term limit and age limits.

Two of those mechanisms have since been rendered impotent under the said Museveni. Courts have authoritatively shown that elections are rigged; the term limit was ditched; the only remaining bulwark against power maniacs is the protection of last resort, the age limit.  

The Constitution was not wrong about elections, term limit and age limits. It was attempting to pre-empt precisely the kind of behavour Gen Museveni has exhibited.

What’s next? When it looks like Museveni could lose an election, the Anites of this world will push for the scrapping of elections from our political system, because we can’t afford to lose the anointed one.

A Constitution is like an electrical system, which has multiple protections against a power surge. If you decide to remove all the fuses from your electrical equipment and all the circuit breakers from the electrical wiring in your house, good luck to you when there is a power surge, as there inevitably will be at some point.

@fideri

The author is a former journalist.