BY AHMED KATEREGGA MUSAAZI
One of the reasons why President Yoweri Museveni ruled out sharing power with Dr. Kizza Beasigye, is because NRM overwhelmingly wins presidency, parliament and local government councils.
Since 2011, Besigye sparked walk to work, as another version of Arab spring but it failed miserably. Initially he had called for a power sharing arrangement where he could become a prime Minister in a French style, that shares executive power with the President, like Raila Odinga was to Mwai Kibaki in Kenya.
L asked the President at Rwakitura which was live on radio and TV whether he could share power with the Opposition. The President rejected it saying that NRM overwhelmingly won presidential, parliamentary and local government council elections.
In 2015, after being helped by Gen. Kale Kayihura and Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde through Ambassador Winnie Byanyima, Edith Byanyima, Ambassador Waswa Biriggwa and Nandala Mafabi, partly as a way of neutralizing Amama Mbabazi, Kizza Besigye thought that the time for power sharing had come after 2016 elections. He was however condemned to house arrest even when he declared himself President and formed what he called a People’s Government. All that are dreams of power sharing.
However, while since we went multi-party in 2005, NRM has been winning overwhelmingly, there is a problem this time, that it may not field candidates in all elective positions. In the new Masaka City for example, there are many slots where NRM candidates have failed to contest because of lack of nomination fees. One of them is the NRA/UPDF veteran and mobilizer Surambaya, who wants to be a counselor. There are many others in Greater Masaka, and with that, some of the FDC candidates in Masaka City may be declared unopposed.
Surambaya is a Media Coordinator for Office of National Chairman and is very active as a whistle blower and a mass political and community mobilizer.
The NRM Secretariat should pay attention to this and its research department, if it is there at all, should be feeding or alerting it on such scenarios.
At least Regional, District, Gombolola and Parish Security Officers should be in position to alert the party in power on such. Yes, GISO and PISO may not be fully facilitated, but out of patriotism they should do that.
Hiking nomination fees especially parliamentary deny many a chance of standing especially those fresh graduates at university but the ruling party should not be seen as a Southern affair when it fails to fill all positions in the North or vice versa like DP and UPC are now or what FDC has been, ANT and NUP is likely to be.
NRM which usually starts with 30 leaders as voters in every village or zone, should not be seen and should never fail to field candidates anywhere in the country, Masaka City inclusive.
