A source close to president Museveni’s state house has confirmed to us that local news reports that the NRM may soon open CBS Radio are well founded. The source, who requested that their identity be kept secret, for fear of being physically endangered, explained that the Ugandan dictator is afraid that the anger Baganda are showing about CBS Radio could become dangerous to his regime.
Our source told us by email: “President Museveni does not like it when people ignore him. You saw what happened when Kabaka Mutebi refused to pick up or return his calls. It is funny but, like Idi Amin, the only people Mr. Museveni respects or fears are those who ignore him. They make him extremely uncomfortable because they make him feel not in full control. That is why he will even go as far as abusing ambassadors of the same European countries where he sends ministers to beg for aid, just to show he is in control.
With CBS, the problem is that the president was taken unawares when Kabaka Mutebi ignored the whole thing and left Mmengo to deal with the problem. Mr. Museveni had sincerely taken it for granted that the Kabaka would be eager to ‘negotiate’ once Buganda started to feel the financial pain of CBS closure. But the Kabaka ignored the whole thing. To complicate matters, once Baganda peasants saw that their Kabaka was quiet, they decided to do their duty and fight on his behalf. Everywhere Museveni went, on his ill-conceived Buganda tour, Baganda peasants would ignore everything he said and only ask why he does not open Kabaka’s radio.”
The source goes on to confirm that, as reported by Buganda Post on November 9, 2009, the Ugandan warlord president abandoned his tour of Buganda because he was disturbed by questions from Baganda peasants about the CBS radio closure (see “Frustrated Museveni Might Abandon Buganda Tour“). Apparently, it was frustration with Kabaka Mutebi and Baganda peasants that forced Museveni to call for the negotiations with Buganda government officials.
Our source concludes: “Do not let anyone fool you that the NRM is in real serious negotiations with Kaaya Kavuma and his team over CBS. In the end, Museveni has no choice but to reopen CBS. The pretend negotiations are only a cover for Museveni to avoid looking weak. He wants to open CBS and still look like he is in control but he is really afraid of getting Baganda peasants more angry. And to some extent, he is also concerned that if he does not get a deal with the Mmengo ‘softies’, the hardliners will have a cause to push harder with the court case and other ‘tricks’.”
