The problem is not M7 failing to deliver, but dying in office

Oftentimes, Museveni’s surrogates love to humour the country with one-minute clips of their old man pacing briskly ahead of everybody else.

His bodyguards and flabby NRM supporters would be seen running as they try to catch up with him. They will then boisterously caption that one-minute clip – it is never 10 minutes, and will never be – that their octogenarian is still physically fit to lead.

That they make his physical fitness as one of the points with which they sell their candidate is a telling sign that the old man is past his sale-by date. The younger members of his security detail jogging to catch up with him are simply being polite. If they chose to outpace him, he cannot surely compete – and might have him embarrassed.

But even if we took the contention that Museveni is still physically fit and can brisk-walk well, our cryptocurrency, TikTok and AI-powered world is pacing a thousand times faster. It is only in herding animals in pastoral societies that practices never change, but the modern world is something else.

Iran just out-bombed Israel without putting a single soldier inside enemy territory. And Uganda is selling “a walking champion” for president! Dear reader, if this man failed to transform Uganda into Kenya, Ethiopia or Zambia (don’t look too far) when he was 40, 50, 60 and 70 years of age, he cannot transform this country at 80.

They say age comes with wisdom, but old age is illness. It is not only a terminal illness that one starts staring at death in the face, but also that the world leaves grannies behind. They cannot catch up. If we may ask now: What REALLY does Museveni wish he can achieve at an advanced age of 82?

What is without question is that bwana Yoweri Museveni is not holding onto power so as to deliver anything to country. But, rather, holding onto the highest office in the land as guarantee against possible embarrassment. Because if he fully understands that Uganda will not fold after he has passed on, Museveni’s decision to stand again is a statement of both his fears and selfishness: “They’ll deal with anything arising after I’m gone.”

KAINERUGABA’S LONG WAIT 

If deciding to wheel himself on to power was a heartbreaking to anyone, there is none more broken than his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Now at 52, he will be 57 when the next election comes around. His father will be officially 87 – and if he still has breath in his body, he will choose to stand again.

That will force Muhoozi’s waiting to another five years. He will be 63 then. Not that he will be too old to compete for president, but there is nothing more painful than this type of waiting where you know you are too close, but too far – and have to ingratiate oneself to your old man, when you too have an immense amount of power in your hands. It is painful.

In fact, what has happened in return is that Muhoozi has decided to unleash his frustration with father on small chaps in the opposition.

I’m not sure at what point Muhoozi will understand that the stumbling block to his ascent to power – if these ambitions aren’t simply forced on him – is not Eddie Mutwe or Bobi Wine, but the man who actually seems to have empowered him in the first places: his father.

Because the old man excited his son in the last five years with supersonic promotions and privileges. He allowed him to go around country on politically tours dubbed birthday parties. He even formed a political mobilising unit, called PLU, with regional heads and handlers.

But that is all the furthest they could go. Indeed, to save himself from further embarrassment, he has had to painfully integrate some of his mid-range team members into his father’s cabinet. There was a time I used to encourage Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to overthrow his father.

He seems to have ignored me, subjecting himself to a painful wait. He still has the chance to do it and will catapult himself into stardom. Although it looks like this tough-talking military officer is not tough at all.

His toughness is limited to smaller folks in the opposition. He seems to want power but only if given to him on a silver platter from a man who seems not to trust him enough.

A NERVOUS STATE 

In deciding to stand again for the presidency, Museveni plunged the country deeper into a nervous condition. We have been living on the edge already, but the man has now signed us for another gruelling five years of absolute uncertainty and nervousness.

Of course, he will be declared winner of this election and will have the majority in parliament. The problem now is not that he cannot deliver on anything, but that he has decided to die in office.

And our future is now tied around his life – and all units of governments have to fight to protect the man’s life. Indeed, this election cycle – which is purely a circus – will bring even more violence and brutality than we witnessed in 2021.

Many young people will be picked and jailed for simply supporting opposition folks, and many others will lose their lives as happened in 2021. Interestingly, even Museveni does not trust elections for the uncertainty that comes with them – because they challenge him and surrogates to be more brutal and ruthless.

While only Museveni can dislodge himself, this costly and deadly circus called elections has to happen since we signed up to a neoliberal modernity. Kitalo nnyo.

yusufkajura@gmail.com

The author is a political theorist