Gen.tumukunde's Presidential Interest May Make Us Pick Interest In2021 Elections Again
If it’s true that Gen. Henry Tumukunde is standing for presidency next year, then we are in for some bit of excitement, after all. The preserve for a serious competition still remains between President Museveni and Dr.Kiiza Besigye, if the later stands for presidency again, though I highly doubt.
Old is always someone about ten years older than you are unless you are a kid then it can be one or two years. Born on February 28, 1959, in Rukungiri district, Tumukunde is younger than Museveni who was reportedly born on 15th September 1944. He falls in the same age bracket of the 60s old, with the likes of Mugisha Muntu(62), Besigye(64), Kale Kayihura(65), Paul Kagame(63),e.t.c—Basically, these are the young men that joined Museveni for a guerrilla war in 1980-81,and they had cojones compared to our generation. Most importantly, they are ready to keep their thing, and not let go, and that complicates things in the post-Museveni Uganda.
Retirement is not always a picnic! One might want to do things. But then when one retires there either isn't the money to do that or one just isn't in the shape to do them, or both. No matter how good we are, things still happen. So, basically, Tumukunde’s interest in the presidency is an indication that Museveni’s time is up. Obviously, Museveni will win next year’s elections, and I think, Tumukunde is looking beyond 2021—when other historicals may also keep pace and join in for a bite.
Logically speaking, you want people who will tell you not only what you don't want to hear but also need to hear to arrive at well-balanced, well-reasoned decisions that takes everything into account for the good of the whole nation, not just have those around you give nothing by sweet talk about you and grant you a license for you to freely think as idiotically as you want and get everything your way with impunity. Insiders say that Tumukunde was among those that always told Museveni what he didn’t want to hear and got away with it. For example, he was against the impending removal of term limits in 2003, and that’s because he also wanted to have a chance at the presidency.
I don’t think his interest is a decoy aka ‘kiwanyi’-- you know, there is a point at which a person realises that he must make an impact on his country in a certain way, especially if you are nearing, or over 60 years old. And I think this is what Tumukunde is thinking. And there is also a point at which a person loses credibility when they mindlessly or deliberately, or both, fail to see the crystal clear obvious about aging - and that person would be Museveni, if he doesn’t start making plans for his death. God has given a long gift of life!
Tumukunde, like Besigye, is a gifted speaker, and is well informed. That guy can condense more in a couple of sentences than Hon. Francis Zaake can express in a year of speechifying. There is a dynamic tension between the first family and the NRM historicals, that bubbles just below the calm surface. Tumukunde is a member of both clubs—so, go figure out.
Museveni has set up a system that can allow anybody from NRM to easily become president, or MP. To be honest, if Museveni today endorses anybody to be president, he will be president, because the system serves only him. Like it or not, Museveni's system, decisions, etc will probably shape Uganda’s electoral policy, especially concerning the president for the foreseeable future. And like it or not, Museveni’s ‘rigging’ policy counts.
In broad terms, the "status quo" is no longer acceptable, with Besigye’s candidatures as the catalyst to move to action, but we are still stuck with Museveni’s way of doing things, and Tumukunde wants to get into that long term. It takes a bit of digging, but that’s where we are heading. Amaama Mbabazi was born in 1949, and in the same age bracket as Museveni, and he may also have a say, a little bit, about things in future.
Of course, if Museveni's electoral policies fail and the power radically changes in Uganda, chances are it won't matter, one way or the other. We will be heading the Zimbabwe way, where a coup within will be inevitable.
As for Besigye, I shall always think of you as a prince among the NRM historicals , and you have a special place in Uganda history. After all these years, here we are still. Just like frogs on a log in a swamp. Haha. As long as the swamp does not dry up, I guess we'll all be ok. Just stay away from the sugary bugs.