If Museveni opted to stand down

If there are any lessons to learn from former minister Sam Kuteesa’s recently inaugurated church project, it is that the man is preparing to return to his creator. It is a sign.

He is readying himself for departure by being godly in his final days. I am no carrier of bad news, but the man himself told us enough. While inaugurating the project – where he symbolically invited another octogenarian, his comrade-in-arms, Yoweri Museveni as chief guest – Sam Kuteesa told the country that the project was meant to thank the Almighty for having cured him – through the hands of German doctors – from a renowned killer disease: cancer.

The mood must have been sombre during that inauguration ceremony. His family surely understands this more than anyone else. When your paterfamilias becomes increasingly godly (having not been as much before), it is a sign of bad things to come.

Exactly, this is the first and perhaps only church Kutesa is building, yet he has been wealthy for most of his adult life. Flip this thing on its head: if Sam Kutesa saw his recovery as renewed energy to carry on as a politician, he would be building a hospital to benefit the electorate – and the entire NRM base.

But presently, the Sembabule voters – or Ugandans more generally – are background noise. There is only one Being he prefers to please: God. The whole church affair ought to be seen as a sign.

Kutesa and his chief guest must be saying to each other: “leaving all other factors constant, our time to return to the creator is near.” Museveni has voiced the same thing before. Indeed, it is against these signs and voices that, one more time, I am asking grandpa (he cherishes this moniker) to give Uganda a chance when he still can.

It is extremely selfish – not to just Uganda, but more to his family and close friends – for Museveni to decide to carry on until he dies while still in office.

Standing down as a gesture

If you have governed like Yoweri Museveni (no need for elaboration), you would certainly be paranoid about your safety after stepping aside. You would be sceptical about the deep-seated, unvoiced grievances of those taking power after you.

Or just their competences to manage competing interests. Especially where you have obliterated the legal system, and emasculated all serious persons, you worry about any security, legal or moral guarantees.

It is my sobering position that it is the depth of these worries that has forced Museveni and co- conspirators to simply carry on. Let me die in office but not stand by and be humiliated in old age. But I have good news for Mr Museveni: the decision to stand down would be met with immense gratitude.

Of course, there would be folks on the extreme end of the spectrum baying for Museveni’s blood. (All crimes that have been committed in his name are his crimes). But there would be many in the middle, old friends and those recently won over by the gesture of standing down.

These would be guiding the country to a path of restraint. The negotiations in this period would be messy but have potential to save the country from the hovering apocalypse. Museveni has a wonderful opportunity in the forthcoming January 2026 elections: He could announce to the world that he is standing down.

Of course, there will be absolute pandemonium in his State House camp, and less in the NRM. But he has to arrange to manage this transition very carefully. There are hundreds of thousands of persons whose only qualifications for the positions they occupy is being personally known to Museveni – either as near or distant connections.

These will definitely lose their heads once he decides not to come back. I have some suggestions on how to move forward:

(a) He has to engage his co- president brother, Gen. Salim Saleh, and they both have to prepare for an exit strategy.

(b) Dismantle NRM, and (c) prepare for a broad transitional government, which is like a return to the Movement system, (d) and instead of parliamentary elections (dissolve parliament as well), we return to CA with delegates coming from regions based on population densities.

Gen Munt as transitional leader

Undoubtedly, this is going to be a period of radical action. It is the only way you save this Uganda. I cannot imagine how Museveni would deal with his kindred in serious positions/ministries and parastatals.

Neither do I know how he would deal with the dealers in the Nyekundire Group. Where do these ones go? How about the international thieves everywhere? Goodness. De-registering and dismantling the NRM would give Museveni the language to return to a broad-base transitional government.

This could be extended to the next three years – hoping the Americans don’t come marauding – to enable new folks establish authority. Parliament would be replaced with a CA arrangement and revising the constitution removing all corrupted amendments.

Immediately, we would need a new chief justice, and new ministers – serious individuals. Makerere University could be currently a damaged place but still has some really wonderful and serious folks.

These would be our transitional leaders working with an entirely new ethic. If Museveni and Gen Saleh have any heart left for Uganda, they ought to release Dr Kizza Besigye. Call on Gen Mugisha Muntu to lead the transitional phase. I am not campaigning for this man, but surely this man is like no other in Uganda.

Not only does he have military background but has exhibited immense incorruptibility and sobriety. He has potential for a unifying figure. These propositions of mine are in no way exhaustive.

But perhaps what I am trying to do here is invite the country to this urgent conversation. Surely, there isn’t much time left as our current strong men are showing all signs of departure