Sympathisers carry a lady, who fainted after inhaling tear gas, as police tried to block opposition leader Kizza Besigye from having lunch at Kalerwe Market in Kampala yesterday. Reports indicate that security chiefs are divided on how to deal with such situations.
Senior officials in the security and political arms of government are divided over how to deal with opposition-led agitation for political reforms in the country, highly placed government sources have said.
However, a moderate faction is urging the government to speed up reforms to address the grievances of the public. Our sources said this faction has urged President Museveni to deal with corrupt officials in his government and has pledged to support him against any fallout with corrupt allies.This newspaper has learnt that one extremist faction in the government prefers a strong-arm approach to deal with the pro-reform activists. It is this group that successfully lobbied for the banning of the Activists for Change (A4C) pressure group and its successor outfit, For God and My Country (4GC).
Another source in the intelligence community told this newspaper that President Museveni was recently advised that failure to resolve the growing political standoff could lead to general unrest in the country as well as “a shift in balance of power”.
This newspaper understands that of the two groups, the moderates comprising mostly ‘old guards’ are pitching for dialogue to address snowballing discontent while the Young Turks particularly in security circles, want harsher measures to contain government opponents.
The extremist faction, sources say, believes that protestors have been handled “with kids’ gloves” by top police officials “looking for cheap popularity from opposition politicians”.
Officials with moderate views, including senior military officials, however, oppose the militarisation of police activities against the demonstrators and are pushing for a political solution to the protests, sources who spoke to this newspaper, said.
Although A4C officials claim they are protesting over rising cost of living and impunity over mismanagement of public resources, the government insists that they have been trying to incite the public to overthrow the ruling regime.
President Museveni has previously rejected calls for dialogue with the activists, who include his main political challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye, the Forum for Democratic Change president, and officials from his party, as well as smaller opposition parties.
Religious leaders factor
Religious leaders have lately joined the crusade for political reforms such as the restoration of presidential term limits, and national dialogue over issues of governance, economic inequalities and social injustices.
President Museveni has previously argued that there is no crisis in the country to warrant such a national dialogue, describing the protests, which have mainly featured attempts by activists to walk to work, as political indiscipline and economic sabotage.
He accused the activists of attempting an ‘Arab Spring’ in Uganda similar to the uprisings in North Africa that felled long-serving regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
However, in what appears to be a slight shift in position, Mr Museveni said during his Labour Day speech in Kaunda Grounds, Gulu, last week, that he was willing to convene a dialogue with religious and cultural leaders during which the question of unemployment – one of the biggest challenges facing the government – would be discussed.
A spate of strikes by city traders, lawyers, taxi conductors and teachers is said to have also implanted fresh thinking in government that the country’s problems were wider than what had previously been narrowly interpreted as grievances and jostling by handful disgruntled politicians.
Although the moderates and the extremists disagree on how to deal with the protestors, both camps agree on the need to clamp down on corruption in government, which has become endemic due to impunity and failure to punish perpetrators.
Many of the officials in both camps that this newspaper spoke to declined to speak on the record, for fear of retribution. However, Brig. Kasirye Ggwanga, the President’s adviser on security matters in Buganda region, in response to a question from this newspaper, yesterday said millions of villagers mired in humiliating poverty – without hope that things will improve for their lot – pose a big risk to Uganda’s safety.
The ‘daddy’
“The problem is the President himself,” Brig. Ggwanga said. “Museveni is a cunning man; he is not a politician. If you appoint someone and they do something wrong, why keep them?”
He said Mr Museveni was acting like a “daddy” to thieving bureaucrats and his preference to pamper the corrupt was infuriating desperate villagers who hear of billions of shillings meant for services spirited away by a few individuals.
