Those who see things from their position of priviledge have got to accept that theirs are rose tinted glasses.
Museveni is a liability to the NRM's future and the sooner those in the NRM recognise that the better for them. If he could see beyond his need to stay in power and build himself a good old dynasty, Museveni would have realised that he had a very good chance of retiring to Rwakitura, coming out to cut the odd ribbon, maybe join Mbeki and become an elder statesman on the continent and find relevance in other areas.
Instead he has decided to emulate the Mobutu's, the Obote's, The Houphouet Boigny's.
An enlightened dictator is still a dictator. While Museveni may have once merited the appelation, I think the word enlightened can now confortably be dropped and just plain dictator will do. Museveni has shown a penchance for battle. He relishes a fight. He loves to kill. No speech of Museveni can end without him saying 'we kirred them ..." or "we sharr kirr them..." All of this without expressing any regret for those killed in his name!
It is true that in the early days, Museveni demonstrated a capacity to negotiate and incorporate many of his opponents except those who were really radically opposed to him. Quite frankly this phase ended in 1996. Since then, he and his family have gained more and more power to the point where it is starting to look like -actually looks like a Sicilian mafia family.
There is the Capo di tutti cappi (Yoweri Kaguta Museveni I), the fixer, Salim Saleh who has brokered numerous "deals" with really hard men and bought others, il madre -the mother who has grown from the meek wife and mother to a powerful matriarch willing to wield real world power to protect the "clan", the son who was sent off to uni overseas, came back and moonlighted in Uncle Salehs business empire before taking his side beside daddy. There is il Consigliore, the son in law with a law degree who has since joined the God fathers family and negotiates with the other families trying to move in on the oil in the lucrative new oil enclave of Buliisa and other places, and there is the other son in law, the smooth talker whose job is PR and marketing of the family! You see Buliisa is the new Las Vegas, and oil is the new casino and gambling racket! There are also the daughters, one of whom has taken over the running of Daddy's office while the other makes sure that God is on their side. She is the pastor!!!
There is even a mistress and a lieutinant who dared to challenge the capo in his bed and lived to tell the tale!!! Needless to say, his guts are hated by la famiglia!
Nina relates her feelings about her fathers title of "Super Minister" and the little game that the Il Capo enjoys playing of pitting his loyal lieutinants against each other jostling and vying for his love. You see daddy is one of the capi! while bukenya is one of the others. There are others like Muhwezi, Kategaya, Otafire etc. unfortunately for Bukenya, he is a late entrant without a background of fighting in the trenches so he lacks street credibility! He lacks cojonnes having never killed a man. At least daddy Mbabazi may not have killed a man on the street but he has assasinated many a man in the board room!
They fight and bicker, like little kids and posture and jostle for the stage while trying to impress him. All he does is give them a little amused smile while they lose face in front of their constituents. If she has read the Godfather she will know that Il Famiglia comes first, that blood is thicker than water and even the most loyal of lieutinants can and will be sacrificed for the family. She mentions 'who benefitted most" from the Nakku affair without actually coming out and saying the name -even in a whisper! they know that il capo despises them and thinks they are all morons but they really cannot help themselves! the capo put his son and brother in charge of the troops and they are willing to use force to enforce the will of the family! Even the matriarch now has her very own casino in the district of Karamoja to run!
Unfortunately, in the mafia, when the mafia don dies, the lieutinants and other crime families always have to go to the bunkers and fight it out. it gets bloody in the streets. Everyone has got to chose a side.
This has been so since time immemorial. This is a cult built around one man. A man who is weak, who has failings that have become more and more obvious with the passage of time. And with the passage of time, people start to wonder, and maybe even the lieutinants start to ask themselves why they should continue to follow a man they no longer respect and his priviledged scion! The children of the lieutinants too have to ask themselves whether they are really served well by joining la famiglia or making a deal with a rival family or going into business for themselves. thos who are clever want out!
increasingly you start to see more and more street hustlers like Mugerwa trying to sell the old man invisible cloths! The fact that the Capo is willing to walk around with his cojonnes exposed to little children does attest to the fact that il Capo is slipping and the humane thing to do maybe to put him in a nursing home or even better put him out of his misery!
Many are the men who have died for the family. And many are those who having served the old man loyally now wonder what happened to the old man. His cojonnes have become soft. He has become more and more greedy and surrounded himself with sycophants! the old man will bring all of them down with him! where they had managed to graduate to a level where they could use gentle persuasion to enforce their presence on the street, they are increasingly having to use brute force, something which is making other people restless!
The problem for everyone including the children of the lieutinants is that they all come from the same small village and island of Sicilia. Everyone thinks or believes they know that everyone from that village is il mafioso. Having sent their children to elite private schools and ivy league colleges, some of the children have tried to move away from the family but remain tainted. They cannot run away from the family legacy. Unfortunately the mafia in this country has got a reputation for visiting the sins of the fathers upon the sons and daughters.
See what happened to Capo Idi Amins sons and daughters as well as Capo Obote. These are the previous mafia families that the Godfather ruthlessly hounded from power!
They should know that the same fate will be meted out upon them if they do not find some way of avoiding it. So they really have got to seriously evaluate their positions and which side they want to be on when the guns come out!!"
DREW DEMBE
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