Maj Edward Rurangaranga, a former minister of Local Government in the Obote II regime. PHOTO BY ZADOCK AMANYISA
Mzee Rurangaranga as many address you, you are one of the surviving founder members of UPC. Can you take me through its ups and downs since the party’s inception?
First of all, UPC was formed in 1960 between two parties; that is the Uganda Peoples Union, which had members in the LEGCO (Legislative Council) and another party called Uganda National Congress which also had members in Parliament but outside the LEGCO. It was made by the late Ignatius Kangave Musaazi.
The union that started in 1959 came to a conclusion and the two united to form Uganda Peoples Congress, whose aim was to unite the people of Uganda regardless of their religion, colour, tribe and any other consideration. It also aimed at getting independence.
I was among the founding members and we agreed to choose Obote as the leader of the party. We all purposed to mobilise the masses, fight and struggle together to get independence. We got independence in 1962 without shedding blood whereby the masses responded positively and the British and other agencies responded positively.
This ran up to 1971 when we were overthrown by Idi Amin who pushed us into exile. When we came back from exile in 1980, Obote’s party, UPC was elected to form a government in December.
From there, the party has been hitting the objective of uniting the masses and working relentlessly to ensure independence and social economic progress.
Would you please throw some light on what has tried to disintegrate the party since 2010?
In 2010, there was a rumour that Akena who had registered to aspire for presidency, among others, was being sponsored by the NRM government. He said if that was true, he would be a great man because he would be able to raise money. But as we know, a man from another party sponsoring your party means he wants to destroy it.
The intention of Museveni from NRM to discuss with Akena is a clear indication that he doesn’t want UPC to survive any longer.
What caused the split between Jimmy Akena and Olara Otunnu?
We thought that Otunnu having served at the United Nations, he had friends abroad to help the party survive. Akena wants to be a leader, not of the whole party but because he is targeting Uganda House which he thought and still thinks is his father’s property yet it belongs to the UPC. We contributed money towards its construction.
Akena’s interests are not national but personal and family. We believe Akena’s sponsor is behind all this because it was rumoured in the last election that he received about Shs2.5 billion to mobilise himself and get members allying with him.
For the case of Otunnu, he was accusing a few of us of disorganising the party and whatever has gone wrong and he chased us. The whole mess has a source, who is none other than Otunnu.
Have you heard about Akena-Museveni discussions of recent?
Yes, I have seen it in the news. Now it is shocking everybody. Whatever Akena and Museveni are discussing, they are for Akena as a person, not UPC. All the statements they are making are not made in sincerity. There are hidden motives.
What comes to my mind is that Akena is Museveni’s puppet now and wherever Museveni is addressing any gathering. He talks ill about UPC. Museveni is not interested in seeing UPC come up because he has been an arch enemy of UPC.
Museveni was once a staunch member of UPC. According to you, why did he fall out with UPC?
Museveni has not been serious. One time he said he would relinquish the office of the presidency at the age of 57. Up to now he has not thought of leaving office and he is not interested in seeing any other person take the office.
The way he fell out with UPC is the similar way he has fallen out with his own NRM and other political leaders. I would want to tell Uganda that Museveni has already fallen out with NRM.
He has been in many parties. He says he was in DP, Fronasa, UPM and UPC. What is he now and what shape can you make out of Museveni? He is a man of all seasons doing everything he thinks can benefit him at the end.
Can Akena facilitate any peaceful transition of power from Museveni?
What kind of ability does he have? Because he is a son of Obote? Being a son of Obote who was a president doesn’t make him fit to lead Uganda. He cannot know that this is not Museveni’s last term in office because every term has been his last and we can say his reign is endless.
What do you make of Museveni’s need for discussions at such a time?
I would say Museveni is interested in himself alone. Take an example, we were together in the same battalion in the army but he has never at any time mentioned me in good faith. He thinks about himself or those he thinks can be used to hit his national targets.
The discussions have already started and of course we expect an outcome. Do you think they will yield or pay off for the betterment of UPC and Uganda in general?
What we should expect of out of these discussions is only divide and rule. The party and nation will be divided. First of all no one in UPC has mandated Akena to go and hold negotiations with President Museveni.
0 comments:
Post a Comment