Buganda Post has reliably learnt from a source very close Dr. Gilbert Bukenya that the vice president in  Uganda’s oppressive NRM regime is fuming, after president Museveni ignored his (Bukenya’s) political enemies and counseled him to stop quarreling everyone. The Muganda source told Buganda Post: “Our man is extremely frustrated because Museveni refused to even listen to his complaints about Kahinda Otafiire, Mbabazi, state house mafia and even Tamale Mirundi. He was hoping that Mirundi would be fired but  Museveni pretended that he was not even fully aware of the feud between his VP and his press secretary, Mirundi.

“Instead, he counseled our man to stop quarrelling with every in the public when there are so many other correct forums.  He even went as far as telling Bukenya to reconcile with Mbabazi  and take photos together publically,  to show a good image.  Our man did not like that but he obliged as good team player.  What really annoyed Bukenya, though, is that after the Mbabazi thing, Museveni then told Bukenya to also reconcile with Tamale, a junior officer, whom our man was demanding to get fired. Not only was Tamale not fired, but Museveni ordered the two of them to stop attacking each other in the public.”

Our source says that, for now, Bukenya has to behave like everything is under control but, under the surface, he is fuming at Museveni, Kuteesa, Amelia Kyambadde, Mirundi, Otafiire, Saleh, Kainerugaba and several others who we know are conspiring to destroy him. The source also reveals that, after the apparent murder of his Sandhurst bound son by some of these people, Bukenya’s friends are very concerned about his  own life. The source elaborated: “These people are ruthless and they know all Bukenya’s weaknesses.  And Museveni has set  Bukenya up as an enemy of Buganda, by encouraging him to abuse Kabaka and Baganda. Our fear is that, these mafias can do something to the man and claim that it the angry Baganda nationalists who did it.”

On December 26, 2009, vice president Bukenya told the NRM mouthpiece, the New Vision, that the Museveni authorized the corrupt transaction that involved the irregular acquisition of vehicles for CHOGOM.  In the same interview Bukenya made anti-Buganda and anti-Kabaka statement, which was prepared for him by Museveni’s state house: “If Buganda wants to advance in a democratic era, it is not a matter of Mengo accepting or not accepting. It is a matter of understanding the future of Uganda. And the future of Uganda lies in consolidation of a democratic process. There is no more time for undemocratic systems of government in Uganda. Choosing a person without going into one-person one-vote is no longer acceptable. Therefore, Buganda and its cultural leadership must now begin to recognize legitimately elected members of their society like the President, MPs, district chairpersons, councilors, and other local government leaders.”

On December 30, 2009, Museveni’s press secretary, Tamale Mirundi hit back at Bukenya when he told the local press that the vice president should “stop hiding behind the President’s name” on CHOGOM because Museveni twice wrote opposing the breach of procurement rules before the tender of the supply of the 204 cars was awarded. Tamale continued: “If you are a Vice President and then you start hiding behind the President, then you cannot succeed… Was Prof. Bukenya a running boy of the President? He had the opportunity to meet and advise the President in all the meetings, what stopped him from doing so?”.

Then in an interview published on December 31, 2009 in the The Monitor newspaper, Bukenya reacted to Tamale Mirundi’s attack with full force, calling Mirundi a “small boy” who should be ignored. Bukenya reportedly went on say: “It is very interesting that a junior staff can make such comments on the second highest office in this country. I would be very interested if that person puts his comments in writing… Is it true that the President has disowned me like Tamale wants the public to believe? I am not aware, and if it is true, I wish to know it… I talk with the President every day. How comes he has never said such? Sometimes those small boys can want to make you go astray but that will not be the case.”

For days afterwards,  Bukenya tried to talk to Museveni without success, thanks to Amelia Kyambadde. It is now a public secret that Bukenya then went rouge. He started and fanned a rumor that he was ready to retire, to confuse his enemies and get Museveni’s attention. He also secretly solicited the help of other disgruntled NRMs like Mike Mukula to stage a “don’t resign” rally for him in Kakiri. According to the NRM’s New Vision newspaper,  Bukenya told the rally on January 9, 2010, that he was like Kilimanjaro and Tamale could not climb him. He added: “I am closely following Tamale Mirundi step by step. I want to know who is putting fire in him. When I get to know, I will call you here and name them.” Bukenya finally got Museveni’s attention, which eraned him the lecture to stop quarreling with everyone and the order to reconcile with Mbabazi, Otafiire and Tamale Mirundi.

As president Museveni’s press secretary, Tamale Mirundi is answerable to the Ugandan life president and his principle private secretary, Amelia Kyambadde. Historically, Tamale Mirundi never makes any statement without getting clearance from Museveni or Amelia. It therefore seems that Bukenya’s threats to name who is putting fire in Tamale Mirundi could have brought him to is current situation.

President Museveni’s propaganda team were wise to bar all Uganda TV stations from broadcasting the proceedings at the NRM’s independence day celebrations on October 9, 2009 at Kololo Airstrip.  That is because, this year’s ceremony saw the smallest crowd of ordinary Ugandans in the 47 years since the British granted independence to Uganda on October 9, 2009. Leaving out the many security or government officials and about 60 boda boda’s, approximately 900 ordinary people attended. Notably, even with this small crowd, the majority wore yellow NRM party tee shirts which were given out free in poor areas to entice people to come to the event.

Conspicuously absent were foreign dignitaries from Libya and neighboring countries. Even the so called cultural leaders, who Museveni supports financially, stayed home – Omukama of Toro, Omukama of Bunyoro, Kyabazinga of Busoga, Omorimor of Teso and Rwot of Acholi. The only non-government VIPs present were a few diplomats accredited to Uganda, junior officials from Kenya, Tanzania and Southern Sudan plus Mr. Museveni’s own Ssabaluri Mwogeza Butamanya (coincidentally, it literally translates to  ”the one who speaks with ignorance”) and Sabanyala Kimeze.

State House Panic and Propaganda Plan

On October 7, 2009, Mr. Museveni’s statehouse received reliable information that over 10,000 people had greeted Kabaka Mutebi in Mityana (Ssingo county), on his way to the Buganda independence event in Mubende, Buwekula county. They knew right away that Kabaka’s crowds could embarrass Museveni at the Uganda independence celebrations on the 9th. So, they turned their attention to controlling the news about Kabaka Mutebi’s activities.

According to our sources in Mr. Meseveni’s ISO, the plan which was hatched by Tamale Mirundi, Robert Kobushenga, Kabakumba Matsiko and a certain Mafabi included 5 main elements: (a) Minimize the crowd in any pictures of Kabaka Mutebi’s crowds if shown in government newspapers. (b) Use physical barriers to force the crowd at Kololo into a relatively small but longish area just below Upper Kololo Terrace road so that the numbers can look big in photos taken from a low angle; (c) Have Mr. Museveni enter the ceremonies through the crowd area, so that we can take photos showing many people around the president, (d) force all major media outlets to broadcast the events at Kololo, using a single audio/video feed from the government’s Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), and (e) strengthen enforcement of the rules which Godfrey Mutabazi had placed on radio stations, barring any praise of Kabaka or Buganda.

The Monitor Does Not Cooperate

On October 8 and 9, New Vision and Bukedde reported on Kabaka’s tour of Buwekula but omitted any mention of Buganda Independence celebrations, only referring to bulungi bwa nsi (national service) but without translating it to English. Also, they have avoided any picture which show the huge crowds that the Kabaka attracted in Mubende or Mityana. The crowd at the main Mubende celebrations was approximately 25,000 people.

In a sign that the Aga Khan’s The Monitor newspaper editors may be starting to rethink their anti-Buganda sentiments, they defied Museveni and published a photo showing Kabaka Mutebi with thousands of his subjects jubilating around him. Furthermore, they published parts of the Kabaka’s tough “47 Years Wasted” speech, although with incorrect translation in some parts (see “Kabaka Mutebi Disowns Katikkiro’s Apologetic Tone“).

Ghost NRM Independence Day Celebrations

On October 9, Mr. Museveni’s worst fears came to pass. Despite the efforts of his propaganda people, the 900 or so crowd was to small for anyone to ignore. However, state house forced WBS TV, NTV, and NBS to suspend regularly scheduled programming and transmit the UBC TV feed from Kololo live for over 5 hours. And the UBC camera were continuously glued on the marching troops and the VIPs, skipping the miserable crowd. And in a sign that Museveni is losing confidence, he gave his shortest independence day speech ever even though the event lasted from 10:00AM to 3:30 AM.

Uncharacteristically, Museveni read his independence day speech strictly from the script, without any of his trademark long strays to abuse or threaten Baganda, aid donors and others. Also, although he had been fully briefed about Kabaka Mutebi’s statement that Buganda has gained nothing out of 47 years of independence, the Uganda warlord did not mention the subject at all (see “Kabaka Mutebi Disowns Katikkiro’s Apologetic Tone“).

Museveni’s speech included nothing he has not said over the last few years.

• He boasted of his record on education and raised eyebrows when he interpreted the rampant unemployment in Uganda as a sign of his successes, saying: “We no longer have to be frustrated by these people who don’t want to work. You find a problem person somewhere, you act, get rid of that person and get another one because they are many here now.”
• He pledged, as he has done numerous since 1986, that he will fight corruption. But immediately warned that the war on corruption, which is now much worse now than in 1986, will not be won overnight but through a protracted struggle. This time, he spared judges and the police and blamed accountants, auditors and accounting officers for the persistent corruption. However, he promised his outwardly bored audience that he has new army of young “clean” accountants and auditor to lead the war on graft. He did not mention where the got their education or earned their professional experience.
• He made the “obvious” observation that recent oil discoveries would increase self-reliance and make Uganda less dependent on foreign aid.
• Mr. Museveni (once again) revealed that problem of theft of drugs is a serious problem in the health sector. He did not mention the status of the corruption charges against his ministers and NRM stalwarts Michael Mukula and Jim Muwhezi.

Museveni’s Colonel’s on Empty Stomachs

The otherwise dull event could not end without typical Ugandan breakdown. The man in charge of the parade at the very long ceremonies, UPDF’s Col. Peter Ekweru, fainted and fell on his face due to hunger and exhaustion. Sources could not confirm how a whole colonel could command an important national parade on a empty stomach.