The electoral victory was secured. And one would expect the winner to be glowing and basking in the triumphalism that comes with a hard won fight. We are still wondering how and why the victor is now involved in a secondary fight: defending his victory.
Otherwise continued presence of the military on the streets for whatever reasons betrays a sense that the electoral victory was earned, secured (and is now being sustained) by the military.
Truthfully, one would not have a problem with armed forces in a civil space. The problem is the way the military conduct themselves when they are in civil space. Unnecessary brutal arrests of civilians like journalists and irrational justification for clear criminal acts, etc.
We in the NRM call Kizza Besigye’s supporters hooligans, lumpens, etc whose political expression lack sophistication. But the way the police is arresting journalists, I am afraid we are now caught between a lumpen proletariat led by Besigye and a lumpen militant masquerading as the state.
The Besigye menace
Ms Justine Kasule Lumumba, the NRM Secretary General, is quoted as saying that Museveni is open to discussions with the Opposition.
But the contrast between Lumumba’s conciliatory statement and the actions of the men of metal who have placed Dr Besigye under a cordon sanitaire is very telling. We are even tempted to ask: who is in charge here? Is it the ‘men of metal’ or the politicians?
The new realisation is that beating Besigye at the polls is not enough to cure the country (or Mr Museveni?) of the Besigye menace.
And come to think of it, even Kale Kayihura’s idea of arresting Besigye for walking today and arresting him for driving the next day is not sustainable. That’s why Gen Kayihura has devised another trick: holding Besigye under house arrest; which, for the gods, is also not sustainable.
The Besigye menace is now, and is likely to remain, an intractable problem for a long time; which is why there is a need to sort it once and for all. If not sorted now, it may crop up as a factor in Mr Museveni’s succession plans.
The fear is that the Besigye menace could be more complicated after 2021 notwithstanding whoever will be president: Mr Museveni or whoever else.
And that’s where I come in with a hot idea that has the final solution to the Besigye menace. My idea is that Mr Museveni should declare a state of emergency in Kampala City and Wakiso District (particularly in Kasangati). We after all have precedents in the 1960s.
This state of emergency can of course be procured through legislation. And we still have a precedents by President Obote. When things went gaga on him, Obote reduced popular democracy to what could be described as majoritarian stampede. He procured ‘legislation by fiat’ that gave birth to the detention without trial legislation and The Busoga Validation Act.
Scholars may interest themselves in the Besigye menace as a case study in contemporary African politics. The hypothetical question would be: To what extent can a recalcitrant opposition leader force the hand of the government to act insanely?
Lenten Homily
A few shall die or suffer for the many to live. I come not to condemn Kayihura. Neither do I bring God’s mercies to Dr Besigye; for story of Calvary should be left to run its course.
Socrates declined an offer of a plea bargain that came with a non-death sentence. And Jesus Christ, so contemptuous of the trial, didn’t even enter any plea.
Both Besigye and the ‘state of the hurt’ play witness to the old truth. The story of Abraham’s sacrificial son was continued (and finished) by Jesus with the bloody business at Mount Calvary
Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of East Africa Flagpost.
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