By Mulengera Reporters
It was made very clear from his very first speech after returning from jail, which had kept him away for seven months, that the former Butambala County MP Muwanga Kivumbi, who is also the NUP Deputy President, has opted ‘to live for one day on his feet standing rather than for 100 years on his knees begging’ for his liberty.
For a man who has been through so much (a deprived election victory, witnessing the gunning down of seven members of his core team & being locked up for seven months, the longest ever in his life), Muwanga Kivumbi didn’t seem cowed. As thousands thronged the major roads escorting him to his Butambala residence upon being granted bail, Muwanga Kivumbi seemed defiant, unrepentant, unbowed and ready for what he called the fight ahead.
It was a triumphant entry back to his Butambala home, as LoP Joel Ssenyonyi and NUP Deputy Secretary General Aisha Kabanda flanked him, amidst trumpeting crowds. People of all ages braved the darkness and lined up the dusty roads to be part of history as the man who was their MP for 15 years returned home. They brought for him all manner of gifts-chicken, eggs, goats name it. Many ululating young men and women gave him money.
On 15 January, the Electoral Commission controversially declared NRM-leaning independent Erias Mukiibi Sserunjogi the new Butambala County MP having been allocated 18,102 against Muwanga’s 16,795 votes. Four other peripheral candidates, including the NRM flag bearer Godfrey Bavekuno Mafumu, shared the remaining less than 3000 votes.
The large crowds that came out to enthusiastically receive and greet Muwanga Kivumbi created an impression that the Butambala political question remains unresolved. Simply put, the jury is still out there on the circumstances under which Eriasa became the new area MP. It was also evident that support for Bobi Wine and his NUP party remains profound as always in this rural central Uganda district, if not more.
It had been expected that having helped Gen Museveni uproot two NUP diehards (Muwanga and Aisha Kabanda), either Eriasa or Woman MP Lydia Mirembe was headed for Cabinet inclusion. [Museveni personally hates Muwanga Kivumbi, and passionately so. His writings about him have been very instructive of the extent to which he hates him. Muwanga’s hate for Museveni started at Makerere University in the early 1990s when he ganged up with others to found UYD].
The much-anticipated Cabinet inclusion never happened and the alienation of Mirembe and Eriasa understandably demoralized some of the area residents who had expected reciprocation of some sort from Gen YK Museveni who is renowned for rewarding voting areas which disregard his opponents and vote for his cadres. It was also clear from what the large crowds kept chanting during the Thursday Muwanga Kivumbi processions that the recently escalated acts of human rights violations targeting eminent citizens in the country had amplified anti-regime sentiments among the young people and elderly women who see the same as reminiscent of the Obote/Amin days of the Bizeemu fame.
FIERY SPEECH:
In his speech, Muwanga Kivumbi who appeared re-energized at a time his own people expected him to look crashed and exhausted, directly attacked Gen YK Museveni and his family. Many expected him to be remorseful, complementary and conciliatory. He wasn’t.
Instead, he chose confrontation as he stood at a podium organizers had deliberately erected at the very point where five of his diehard supporters were gunned down and made to die in cold blood on the night of 15th January as the final election tally was being undertaken.
Describing how he personally saw his supporters, one by one, being shot dead as he hid somewhere inside his house, a nearly tearful Muwanga Kivumbi (choking on anger) said that relenting and keeping quiet by him will mean that those people (the crowd called them heroes) had died in vain. Vowing never to surrender nor accept capture by the regime, Muwanga Kivumbi promised to go down fighting in defense of a better-governing Uganda for which those seven heroes laid down their lives.
The wordsmith from Butambala made it clear that he would have betrayed those fallen heroes if he surrendered and accepted being taken to Museveni to apologize and make some treacherous deal. It was clear the seven months of jail had made Muwanga more eloquent, more fearless and more eager to fight on and bring Gen Museveni’s rule to an end. He also mocked Eriasa for being proud of a political win that came at the expense of innocent people’s blood.
He wished him luck and also said he had forgiven the Sheikhs and other area Muslim clerics who turned against him simply because his opponent bought for them air tickets to fly in a plane. Muwanga also described himself as a political colossus of world recognition and scorned Eriasa for being satisfied with merely being MP Butambala County.
He told the cheering crowd that filled his compound, the gardens and roads leading to his residence that he was convinced the remaining job is simpler compared to what the change-seeking forces have overcome so far. He described the political demise of former Speaker Anita Among as very good for the Ugandan struggle. He said she was part of the problem because, in his view, contemporary Uganda faces four problems personified by four individual actors including Anita Among.
He enumerated the first lady Janet Museveni, who lately has been unwell, as the other. He named the other two to include the CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba against whom he made many personal attacks. He called him all sorts of names, as the crowd added on innuendos aimed at ridiculing the first son’s personal lifestyle. Joel Ssenyonyi, who is being targeted for destruction by not less than 320 PLU-affiliated MPs under the Denis Namara Bill, uneasily turned in his seat as Muwanga Kivumbi went after Gen Museveni’s son. The fourth problem Muwanga Kivumbi named was President YK Museveni himself from whom he said the other three derive their political clout and influence.
Muwanga, who seemed to have been keenly following events in the country while in prison, said that he was motivated to have established recently that Janet Museveni had been indisposed, which he suspected is part of the reason why Museveni is also becoming diminished. That he recently heard and saw him on TV struggling to address the nation with a ‘struggling voice.’ He said with the Musevenis diminishing and Anita Among out of the way, Gen MK was now Uganda’s most potent problem remaining. He vowed to lead the rest of Ugandans to overcome the MK problem, as he repeatedly called it.
Muwanga Kivumbi said he had used his time in prison to engage in difficult thought processes and that he had innovated the “10 of 10% formula,” which he promised to elaborate and explain at length on Monday when he will be making a triumphant entry into NUP headquarters at Kavule. He said he was prepared to make the anti-Museveni struggle breath again and that the details will be explained at the Monday media event at Kavule.
Saying he had overcome all personal fears he had ever had, Muwanga Kivumbi said he will be explaining how the NUP can leverage the power of the powerless and of the large numbers of supporters they have to overwhelm Generals Museveni and MK and get back their country. He said he won’t be resting at all. He asked to only be permitted the two days of the weekend to replenish a bit with his family before returning to the political frontlines with fully recharged zeal. He told Butambala people not to worry or quit because the struggle will soon end in victory for the NUP party.
He also rejected PLU’s claim to be the one with the legitimacy to lead the war against corruption by going after people like Anita Among. Muwanga Kivumbi asserted that people in the PLU inverse have no moral authority to lead the war against corruption because the League is full of corrupt and morally unfit people. “Let them tell us where their boss Muhoozi keeps getting the money to run PLU if they are genuine about ending corruption?” Muwanga queried as the crowd wildly cheered him on. “Ono baba ajja kubasobola Museveni ne mutabani we kubanga akomyewo nga mukambwe ekimala,” an old woman burst out during Muwanga’s address. It loosely translates as: this man will manage Museveni and his son because he has returned with enough determination.
Muwanga Kivumbi, who seemed not bothered or worried about being taken to the basement, also demanded to be told about Gen MK’s military credentials including the frontline battles he has ever commanded or participated in in order to earn his reputation as a feared and respected general. He also said that Gen MK wouldn’t be breaching Uganda’s legal codes by talking partisan politics the way he has been doing if his PLU members and followers were indeed serious about turning Uganda into a better-governed country.
Muwanga Kivumbi, in the same speech, also accepted demands by the large crowd that he interrupts his well-deserved rest and joins them for the Friday Juma prayers at the Kibibi Mosque where he promised to explain more about the struggle commanding role he intends to play going forward in the coming days, months and years. The Buganda-wide momentum his release has created might make Bobi Wine, renowned for always wanting to be the best and most loved, to become uneasy and uncomfortable towards Muwanga.
Muwanga Kivumbi vowed to demonstrate that it’s possible to amplify the anti-Museveni struggle without having the MP position. In this statement, he seemed to agree with many who despise those who resent committed fighters becoming MPs because of the complacency that comes with beginning to earn Gen Museveni’s monthly salary. Muwanga said he was ready to die fighting for his and children’s right to live in dignity than surrender to opportunistic deal-making with the regime.
Former Mawokota North MP Hilderman Kiyaga, a close Muwanga ally, was also present and did several songs to re-energize the ordinary NUP supporters not to relent and give up. Muwanga Kivumbi also promised to use the Monday media event at Kavule to demonstrate how Bobi Wine and NUP can remain viable in the struggle and have the required finances without having to bow down to Museveni simply because they are desperate for the IPOD billions. He thanked his people for the love and solidarity and promised never to betray them. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
