By Our Reporters
Thursday yesterday, Arua Municipality Independent candidate Kassiano Wadri held a rally at NIVA grounds in Arua Hill Division. In attendance was a mammoth crowd, a significant part of which had come because Bobi Wine was expected to speak there. Wadri, who has become popular because of his humor-filled speeches, had promised the singing Kyadondo East MP would join him. He didn’t, leaving the thick crowd very disappointed in candidate Kassiano Wadri. He is not the only one claiming to be backed by Bobi Wine. Robert Ejiku, an independent backed by the likes of Caleb Alaka too claims to be Bobi’s man just like FDC’s Bruce Musema. Indeed the two met and Musema got the impression the Kyadondo big man would back him largely because of the generational proximity between them. DP’s Kennedy Madira too counted on Bobi Wine being a fellow entertainer. In the end, sources close to Bobi tell Mulengera news website that a painful decision has had to be taken Uganda’s new political kingmaker won’t be backing anyone in Arua. Neither will he be going there to attend anyone’s rally. And here is why. Bobi Wine is politically very sophisticated, something that has clearly put him way above his peers who tend to be victims of mediocrity and obscurantism. He looks far and calculates his moves. He is only prepared for wars that he indeed must fight. He has incognito been in Arua and his assistants say he has realized the situation is too polarized yet, as a rising national leader, he rightly realizes there many contending interests he must balance lest he loses the political capital he has accumulated resulting from his productive participation in many areas elections. He wants to have as many allies but is also careful not to be used to fight anybody’s proxy wars.
The dilemma is there is no way he can back Wadri without being perceived as contradicting his earlier message of this being time for the young people (he rightly keeps saying twebereremu/we have to do it ourselves). “Wadri might be okay in broad opposition scheme of things but he is almost 70 and there is no way he can back him at the expense of the young people in the race and doesn’t contradict his own message of being the generational leader for the change-yawning youths,” says an assistant close to Bobi Wine. “Yet he has to be careful because rushing to endorse FDC’s Musema who is the strongest of the young people in the race will antagonize him with new allies he built in Bugiri amongst JEEMA & DP-leaning politicians. These guys may not have a lot of political clout beyond the DP reunion activities but Bobi wouldn’t want anything that can complicate his political relationship with them.” But also the fear to associate with a losing candidate (Arua remains too close to call) is something Bobi is being too careful to avoid. It would erode the image of invincibility we have seen him marshal around himself right from his own Kyadondo win, Mwiru’s Jinja, Bugiri and even Rukungiri. “He is too careful being demystified in the service of the reunion who are just out to ride on his popularity to become councilors, MPs & Municipal Mayors,” the assistant said. The proceedings at the last Friday meeting at Mao’s residence at Pece Aywee village in Gulu too have caused Bobi to tread even more carefully. DP leaders were joined by Dr. Abed Bwanika, Asuman Basalirwa & Kibirige Mayanja as they prepared for the reunion in Gulu. Kassiano Wadri was called to the discussion and Micheal Mabikke was the architect of all this. However, DP leaders became uneasy with the ad hoc manner in which Mabikke acted. They weren’t given adequate notice prior to the meeting and many were uncomfortable seeing only Wadri in attendance without DP & JEEMA being given the opportunity to invite their respective flag bearers. By the time the meeting ended, cracks had emerged in the reunion camp. Some like DP youth leader Christopher Okidi have since put their concerns in writing accusing the SDP faction of deal-making & not acting transparently. In his missive that went viral this Friday morning, Okidi argues that the younger people aren’t going to accept being stampeded in things they don’t understand simply because they want the reunion to succeed. The young man from Agago maintains there must be honesty for the reunion to achieve the intended objectives. Okidi also says the belligerent and arrogant attitude with which Wadri spoke at the Pece meeting made him and many DP leaders uncomfortable.
Okidi says as somebody who doesn’t hold any position in DP, Mabikke ought to have adequately consulted other party leaders before stampeding them into unclear negotiations with Wadri. He concludes by insisting that Kennedy Madira must remain in the race, regardless of whether he wins or not, to carry the flag of the young people in DP. He says the young people worked a lot and fought many wars in TDA but in the end they weren’t adequately catered for by the Alliance’s top echelons. Emerging information shows that these Wadri-related cracks in the reunion camp is another reason why Bobi has preferred to tread carefully in the Arua by election. Walter Lubega Mukaku has been a pillar in the reunion camp but his decision to back Wadri ahead of the DP official candidate has already created bad blood and Bobi rightly realizes chaos is imminent in the DP reunion squad and, as one with a bigger ambition, he wouldn’t want to get himself entangled in those old DP wrangles.
