Anyone who has been observing Yoweri Museveni over the period of his rule can clearly see that his energies are gradually declining.
It is no surprise though for a man born during the Second World War. Unlike many of us who try but soon give up, Museveni has benefitted from his eating and exercise discipline. His conspicuous fear of disease has rewarded him with a relatively less beaten body for his age.
Yet still, even for any careful human with the benefit of presidential privileges, the body still follows a one-way rule. While he has been quite careful with his life in other ways, his health gains are compromised by his work ethic by which he centered the running of the country on himself in ways that even a superhuman on steroids cannot sustain.
A human who has to be consulted on all sorts of affairs, from the macro to the micro, travelling and chairing one meeting after the other into the next day, cannot hold without killing something else of himself.
That is part of the current spectacle. But why should this bother us anyway? I have already given the first reason. It is very unfortunate that Museveni has built the country around himself, to the extent that he has become the primary determinant of the functionality or dysfunctionality of any national institution.
Apparently, many of his ministers, Chief Justice, Speaker of Parliament, and heads of other national bodies may not make any critical decision without his nod. We are somewhere past the fears around the fusion of powers to the fear of what happens when the center that has constructed itself can no longer hold.
The circumstances around Museveni’s advancing age in a presidentialist state are characteristic of what happens in a household of an ageing father that had organised the running of the home around himself.
If he is not willing to relinquish some of his powers to members of his family, either much of the work goes undone or the family members start to position themselves to exploit his vulnerability to take whatever they can.
Work may go undone (and the estate deteriorates) if everyone remains with the fear of tampering with the old man’s things, not to be misunderstood. In any case though, even when they manoeuvre around him, it may not be for the interest of the family, but for individuals.
If the wife is of advanced age too, it will be the children, each taking advantage of the increasing vacuum. The elderly father starts hearing of things happening in his estate without his permission, but he can’t do much anymore.
Over time, he will even start fearing to annoy his own children. Now much of his fate lies in their hands. They can even kill him if he becomes a huge stumbling block. They could refuse to take him to hospital.
They could as well make him do things he wouldn’t otherwise do, either by blackmailing him, manipulating him, or directly telling him lies and preventing him from accessing possibilities of verification.
To a considerable extent, he is trapped now. His own security lies in their hands. In the power struggle that might ensue, the old man starts hearing competing narratives (call it ‘intelligence’) from different members of the family that position themselves to ‘eat’ from him.
The spirit of the home becomes that of ‘okubaza mzee’ (duping the old man). That is how he starts contradicting himself. Today he acts according to word from one member of the family, tomorrow he realises that he was lied to.
Yet still, he doesn’t want ‘outsiders’ to know that he is losing grip of his family. He still has to put up a public façade of being in charge, even when the body obviously shows otherwise.
That is how the stealing members of the family get away with it, on top of the fact that he doesn’t want to alienate them at this point of vulnerability. Impunity is thus irrigated, to become an insurmountable element of the family.
He hears that one son has sold off some of his land five miles away, but he can no longer go there, nor sanction the errant son that protects him. He is no longer the backboned man that would bark and jump onto his motorbike to go verify, issuing threats if it turned out to be true.
Isn’t this where Uganda is now with President Museveni? We may wonder why more and more thieves are getting emboldened and closer to him. But, it appears, for a number of political reasons and for being more prone to manipulation now, elderly Museveni needs these thieves more than before – especially if they can prove some abilities at fixing what he can no longer handle.
He is mobbed by all sorts of opportunists with lie-filled proposals on: how to sort the Gen Zs that have become a menace; how to compromise opposition; how to manage ghettos that are Bobi Wine’s stronghold; starting SACCOs to win over this or that group; teaching Ugandans how to take coffee; etc.
He is fed on a constant flow of fear-mongering and fake intelligence that is meant to facilitate the passing of bloated budgets to ‘avert security threats’. Where there is a lizard, they present a picture of a crocodile to him.
Family members and other shrewd politicians have cunningly positioned themselves to consolidate each power or resource that Mzee can no longer hold, building sub power centers within – sometimes competing, but all aware of the need to appease or not annoy those who command more proximity or biological trust from the old man.
They might all have their desires, but none is aware of how things could turn out after the old man’s candle burns out. What, therefore, makes more sense now is to accumulate as much as they can, by whatever means. Of course they may worry if they will keep the things, but that is for tomorrow.
The writer is a teacher of philosophy
He desired to be president of Uganda, and when he became president, the desire to remain president grew stronger every passing year.
Everything possible was done to ensure that he remains president until death takes him out of the presidential seat. What should worry every Ugandan is whether his successor(s) will desire anything less.
Death will come in and settle the scores. There is scene playing in Uganda that no one is paying attention; The men who decided to own Uganda through evil dealings claiming that they are close to God or know God better. This is total lie. They are using African gods whose origin they have no ideas and consequences about…If we remember the story of King Saul, Jonathan his son and David
1Samuel 10-31. This how things are unfolding in Uganda. Once in vision overheard Sevos telling his son, you will never be a president of Uganda, because you touched that boy…me! Of recent after Bobi escaped in a vision/dream, there was confusion and Museveni unhappy on the path they have taken him and other leaders. Muhoozi and I were in a room, I offered him breakfast. Cup of tea! He was confused! Then he said, “I want your head not your tea, thou I was told not to touch you….me!”. This concluded that they are using African gods…The Leopard with its origins from DRC. My ancestors originated from Congo, landed on one of the Island on Lake Victoria, and moved to Jinja, landing at Rippon garden before the Indians ever settled there! They practiced their African beliefs on a special rock in Boma ground, lived on current Jinja Main street. When Indian settlers came in under the British colonization, they were forced to move further to Kamuli, Mbulamuti and settled in present day Buyende district with their herds and became part of the kingdom of Busoga and practiced African traditional settings on hills, forest, water etc. The Indians embraced the African gods, and belief systems. Sudhir is one of them, he even introduce many Indian businessmen to Uganda through Parliament dealings. He even moved to study in Jinja because it had become the headquarter of Indian rituals practices. Jinja became a spiritual center that supplied the gods of the Nile, and India with spiritual power…If you ever heard about the mummies, they derives their spiritual powers from the spirits of Nalubale(Collections of rocks spirits) which connects at the source of Nile. There locations in Jinja that carries hidden spiritual towers/shrines that can’t be seen with naked eyes.
About the Leopard, I had a relative who was a custodian of my ancestors gods and lived in Mbulamuti in Kamuli where Hon. Kadaga comes from. He would come to my ancestors home where I lived with my 2 aunts(RIP) to seek spiritual powers in Budiope – Buyende district. My aunt would make sure I was kept away from him as it turned out he was a “witch” who would transform into a leopard at night. He would even listened to any conversation without being physically present, and knew who was talking about him. He passed away thou he had already given the “gods” of our ancestors to some politician, businessmen and clergymen(I believe Bamwoze(RIP) too visited him) to use for power, fame, wisdom, favor, etc. People like Magogo FUFA president, area MP of Budiope, and Hon. Anita Among, I challenge them to say that they don’t use our ancestral gods. They try to make sure we stay poor and unware of it. Thou some of us turned to God, and we see the unfolding events. There’s a prominent business man who lost his innocent son because he kept holding unto my ancestral gods. They don’t like to be used. They are tired. Don’t be surprised that Muhoozi is next in the line…The gods of African will sacrifices your son. Keep away from those Idols, Repent ..God offered us a perfect gift- Christ as a living sacrifice. Muhoozi says that we connected to Israel. Read about King Ahab, Jezebel and Prophet Elijah. Or perhaps ask President Kagame about the gods from Budiope/Nile garden-Jinja…as a young boy I grazed with some the herdsmen on ancestral land. Through revelation I trace every connection.
Finally but not least, Jesus is standing right at Lake Victoria where River Nile starts barring the spirits that feeds into the Nile gods. I started praying 30 yrs ago when I encountered an angel in Jinja who led me to most of the areas to pray. With God’s grace I have reactivated the prayers in those locations. Now as Prophet Elijah said, How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him: but if Baal is God, follow him. 1Kings 18:21. Elijah was on Mount Carmel, Moses was on the Red Sea, Joshua was on River Jordan, Us- Ugandans it’s on Nile. You can do your rituals in Botanical Beach Entebbe, We will stop everything right at the source of the Nile. Christ is right there standing on the water…Our priest and rock of our salvation.
The regime’s agents always come out with useless article to dupe the gullible citizen.
Some of us who are in the Healthcare profession already know about Museveni’s health issue. Ugandans should be more concerned of one Kmuoozi who has already taken over power.
But Lysol also! Where is your useful article to enlighten the gullible citizens?
Doc, your analysis suffers from a dangerous dualism. On one hand, you correctly identify M7’s autocratic grip; on the other, you offer him a ‘get out of jail free’ card by suggesting he is a victim of his own circle’s deceit. Let’s be clear: a man who has treated an entire nation as a personal estate for 40 years is not being ‘misled’ in his old age. Every instance of tribalism, nepotism, and systemic corruption is not a failure of oversight—it is a feature of his design. He isn’t being lied to; he is the architect. He is ensuring that when he finally departs, the ‘estate’ remains firmly in the hands of his kin and militants. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the cold reality of the January 2026 ‘election’—it was never about a vote; it was a transfer of ownership.
In other words, you are creating a false narrative of a ‘confused elder’ being taken advantage of by his family and others. This isn’t a case of a leader losing his way; it is a calculated endgame. By claiming M7 is being lied to, you absolve a power-maniac of his core governing system: corruption, nepotism and tribalism. He owns Uganda outright, and he knows exactly where every shilling goes. He isn’t ‘next to God’—he is a man obsessed with a dynasty. The current rot isn’t a mistake of his ‘old age’; it is the foundation he is laying to ensure his family, relatives and tribesmen inherit the country as a private heirloom. Stop treating his tyranny like a series of administrative errors.
Doc, stop trying to have it both ways. You can’t call him a brilliant strategist who owns Uganda and then claim he’s being ‘misled’ by his circle. M7 isn’t a victim of his family’s greed; he is the source of it. The nepotism and tribalism we see today are his chosen tools for succession. He isn’t being lied to—he’s the one telling the lies to ensure his militants and kin hold the keys to the estate long after he’s gone. The 2026 ‘business as usual’ cycle proves this is all by design, not by accident.