Banning political parties in Uganda was necessary in 1986

Dear friends,

As we keep debating on how FDC's Besigye will be remembered when he leaves the post of party presidency, some UPC supporters have pointed out that he's responsible for article 269 that kept all political parties in Uganda at their headquarters when he was National Political Comissor(NPC) for the NRM. Political parties were not allowed to recruit any new members or fund any party activities at the time. However,I would like to say that Article 269 was necessary at the time and If I were president, I would have probably done the same.

The reason why I think that ''banning'' political parties, particularly UPC, was justified at the time could be found in the reasons why Godfrey Binaisa lost his presidency after the fall of Yusuf Lule. If Binaisa had started by banning political parties, mainly UPC, he would have lasted in that presidency as long as probably Museveni has done so. One cannot organise elections in an environment that was as volatile as Binaisa and Lule’s Uganda yet they both never had armies of their own.

During Binaisa's reign,several groups or parties cropped up and this made him not to concentrate on stabilising the country first before thinking of his leadership. His leadership was threatened from the beginning due to these unbanned political groups, among which included the following:

1. Uganda National Union (UNU): This was headed by Lameck Ntambi(RIP) who called on Binaisa to resign or risk being denied aid by ‘friendly countries’.
2. Obote in TZ: this guy was in TZ and he kept reminding Binaisa he was coming home to stand for presidential elections as if there were no other UPC candidates in Uganda. If he had banned UPC for some time, Obote would have become weaker and probably UPC would have considered him a liability to their resources in the process of reorganising their party
3. DP: This also created a problem for Binaisa as they kept fighting for multipartism instead of the so called UNLF umbrella.
4. The UPC ‘gang of four’: this included Paulo Muwanga, Professor Dan Nabudere, Professor Yash Tandon, Omwony Ajwok and Edward Rugumayo. These guys used the NCC to mobilise against Binaisa and Lule big time because they wanted to prepare for Obote’s return.
5. Museveni and his FRONASA: these were also ready to strike him any time they sensed any weakness or loophole anywhere.

Binaisa later realised that he should have put a stop to this political party nonsense in the first place but it was rather too late. In April 1980, Binaisa addressed a meeting of UNLF district chairmen and activists at Makerere University and said that all elections would be held under the UNLF umbrella.

On hearing this, DP was the first to send a delegation led by Semogerere Paulo, and included guys like professor Kyalwazi, Evaristo Nyanzi( probably not the one who knelt for Museveni b’se of ministerial appointment), Henry Semukutu and others , to have a 1:1 with Binaisa about Multipartism. Now you see how the man was not concentrating on other issues apart from ‘BIBINA’(multiparties), instead of consolidating his leadership and politics.

The UPC group under Luwuriza-Kirunda and notorious Rwakasisi also addressed a press conference some time later opposing Binaisa on this because they knew that it was their ticket to bring Obote back and possibly lead Uganda again. When UPC realised that Binaisa was very serious with retaining the presidency, they organised a coup since it was already their trade mark in the politics of Uganda. The Military Commision headed by Muwanga came to power through a coup: they ordered the soldiers to surround Radio Uganda, the post office and state house and putting the then president under detention.

The Musevenis were also cheering ‘AMUKUBYE’ since they were less influential at the time and just waiting for the big boys to finish their fights before they start theirs.

 Anyway, what happened during the ‘movement ‘period is not different from Obote’s ban on other political parties in 1968. UPC was the first party to ban political parties in Uganda under Obote 1 in 1968 under the famous Lugogo ceremony. Similarly when YKM,not besigye,  came to power in 1986, he did the same thing as a way of weakening the notorious UPC.

So in terms of political strategy, Museveni and his ‘friends’ were right to ban political parties when they had just come to power in 1986. Museveni knew that at some point obviously political space or multi partism would have to be opened up and that’s what exactly happened in 2004. Museveni unfortunately tends to change with rthe times and some bit of international pressure.

I'm not a Museveni fan but i believe tactically he is the best politician Uganda has ever had.  He peacefully muzzled out his Vice president, Dr.Gilbert Bukenya, out of front line politics during the NRM delegates Conference a couple of years ago. He is tactically but sadly weakening all kingdoms in the country without necessarily banning them like Obote did in 1966. He has tactically appointed Amama Mbabazi the PM very well knowing that this will burry him in the future. He has efficiently rendered UPC one of the weakest political parties in the country, and i think banning political parties in 1986 was mainly aimed at UPC than any other party.

The only person who has given him a hard time tactically for the last 10 years has been his former physician, Dr. Besigye, and i believe he(President Museveni) sometimes gets nightmares about him. Besigye's annoucement that he is quitting the FDC presidency soon may prove to be the biggest relief Museveni has ever had in years. I can see him looking a bit younger prior to 2016 elections, a factor that may propel him to stand again for presidency at the expense of other 'dreaming' leaders in his party. Because FDC are not in power yet, they are expected to go through a period of transition after Besigye that may either burry them or help them to rise again as the strongest opposition in the country.

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Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom

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