By Mulengera Reporters
Counsel Gawaya Tegule, the controversial Daily Monitor newspaper columnist who Gen Museveni vigorously complained against recently as he delivered his state of the nation address claiming he had told many demonizing lies against the Movement, now says time has come for the people of Uganda to unanimously stand up to their rulers and bring the Movement governance to an end.
Speaking from the comfort of the US City of Washington, where he is currently based, Gawaya Tegule contributed to a Civic Space podcast which, over the weekend, was moderated by Dr. Sarah Bireete.
Commenting on the cheerfulness with which the CDF Gen MK bragged about the tortuous ordeal lawyer Erias Lukwago endured at his basement, Tegule asserted that where things have reached, Ugandans are clearly on their own and each one of them must vigorously push back in their own way.
He said it’s no longer prudent for Ugandans to look at Uganda Law Society and count on human rights lawyers because there is no longer a functioning judicial system to which lawyers can appeal to. That, with his close friend and fellow lawyer Oboth-Oboth cheerfully accepting to serve on the PLU top executive, there is equally nothing good that can ever come out of Parliament anymore.
Tegule said he was very much disappointed in Oboth-Oboth because there is no way any decent senior lawyer of his pedigree can be excited and call it a privilege to be appointed to any organ of PLU, which is ‘an unlawful society.’ He asserted that PLU ‘is an unlawful society’ whose leaders ought to be locked up and charged for unlawful activities contrary to clear provisions of the Penal Code Act.
“It’s an unlawful society because their well stated objectives are unlawful and its clear the organization was formed to engage in acts which are illegal under the Constitution,” a fire-spitting Tegule, who originally was a Museveni supporter working at New Vision, stated.
He castigated Gen Museveni (who took oath to protect the constitution) for merely looking on and remaining silent as his son disparages what remains of the 1995 constitution. He accused Gen Museveni of ‘neglecting his parental responsibility,’ while at the same time describing Gen MK as “a young man who badly needs parenting.”
Apparently, it was a difficult subject which is why Sarah Bireete had to rely only on panelists not based in Uganda but outside the country. Besides the Washington-based Tegule, the other one was UPC’s Joseph Ochieno who spoke from London and an ANT party representative from the diaspora.
A fearless Tegule, who made it clear that he no longer had anything left to lose, also castigated MK for demystifying the title or rank of General. He said Generals ought to be well credentialed individuals who have achieved big things on the battle field and have a CV or resume of not less than 20 pages.
He demanded to know the extent of Gen MK’s battle field experience. Saying he wouldn’t be a General if he wasn’t his father’s son, Tegule demanded to know the wars in which MK has ever participated.
He also criticised Generals Museveni and MK for making Amin seem an amateur when it comes to being insensitive and violating human rights. He said that Amin committed many torture acts but always denied it all, unlike MK who uses X to publicize evidence of himself doing the same. Tegule also observed there is something negative about the fate of Uganda as a country and the date of 25th January.
To him, that is when Gen Museveni captured power in the year 1986 except that he declared victory the following day, 26th January 1986, simply because he wanted to avoid similarity with Idi Amin whose human rights record is something everyone in NRA as of that time was very much ashamed of.
The fearless Tegule, who back then as a young journalist was fired from his job at UBC TV simply because he hosted Dr. Kizza Besigye, said that what happened to Erias Lukwago removed all the pretenses about what the regime in Kampala exactly is.
Repeatedly referring to the Museveni government as the Junta, Tegule made it clear that whereas it’s time for every Ugandan to stand up and say enough is enough under Article 3 of the constitution, overcoming the regime isn’t going to be easy because (unlike Amin and Obote who ruled for only less than 9 years), the Movement has been here consolidating its power for 40 years uninterrupted.
However, the good news, the former investigative journalist claimed, is that there are lots of good people both in government and security who are resentful and privately despise Gen MK and at the right time, such powerful officials will do what their conscience tells them by pivoting to join the side of the people.
On her part, Dr. Sarah Bireete put the blame on President Museveni saying that what Gen MK is doing is consistent with what his CiC desires to see. She asserted that Gen Museveni clearly signaled all recently in his address at Kololo when he declared this was going to be ‘term no sleep.’
To Bireete, this was Gen Museveni’s way of signaling that, in the next five years of NRM, there is going to be too much torture and state violence against citizens to the extent that Ugandans won’t be able to sleep anymore.
PREDICTION ON BUGANDA
Gawaya Tegule predicted that a lot more is going to be escalated and done to demystify especially leaders from Buganda whose King and Katikkiro, he predicted, could end up being arrested and humiliated worse than Erias Lukwago in order to demonstrate that the NRM revolution is above every other leader of significance in Uganda.
He predicted that the 24th May 1966 situation could end up being re-enacted including the ransacking of the Kabaka’s Palace and Bulange for the regime to demonstrate the extent to which the Kabaka and his Buganda Kingdom are nothing.
He reiterated that things are going to get worse first before the situation gets better-and that averting such escalation will take the collective efforts of all Ugandans regardless of class, tribe and political affiliation. He registered his fear that a Lukwago-like assault on the Kabaka or any of his other officials will spark Buganda-wide resistance and bloodshed.
He also predicted abrogation of what remains of the 1995 constitution, which could be replaced with a Pigeon Hall one under which the army commander will have the power to choose the leader of opposition in Parliament. Tegule, who said nothing about when he intends to be back in Uganda, prayed that somehow sanity prevails and things don’t escalate to that level.
On a rather light note, Tegule observed a sliver lining on the MK tweets and acts, which he said had unmasked the fact that the NRM revolution of 1986 was actually ekiwani, and not the fundamental change it was always said to be, because as of today, whoever opposes Gen Museveni’s way of governing is declared to be a counter revolutionary.
As a way forward, Tegule said Ugandans must come together and speak with one voice while avoiding selfish opposition politicians who don’t want a serious struggle against Museveni because they are fearful they are going to be overshadowed and have their publicity and relevancy diminished. He called on such selfish opposition leaders to learn from and emulate George Washington who, because of so much humility, never wanted to even become President of the US after successfully leading the American war of independence.
In his case, the London-based UPC’s Joseph Ochieno (who used to be a personal assistant to Milton Obote) said there are many things Ugandans can do to humiliate and bring down Museveni’s government without going to the bush like he did. He proposed that the ordinary Ugandans, powerless as the NRM government takes them to be, begin engaging in demonstrating ‘power of the powerless’ by staying away and boycotting all public functions Gen Museveni graces.
Besides castigating lawyer Edgar Tabaro whose refusal to criticize Gen MK during the Saturday Capital Gang infuriated him a lot, Ochieno also called on the clerics to stop being fence sitters and become more outspoken because where things had reached, neutrality was no longer a sustainable option.
He also called on Ugandans and Uganda’s partners in the region to pressurize President Kagame of Rwanda to sit down Gen MK and speak to him to de-escalate since he is one of the few people the CDF says he respects apart from his dad and uncle Gen Salim Saleh. The panelists castigated Gen Museveni; asserting that he can’t continue calling himself President of a country where citizens go missing and the state can’t account for them. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
