03/08/2025
A DEMOCRATIC MIRAGE OR POLITICAL CIRCUS?
By Cadre Mugaaju Yosia, aka, Mr Resistor Of Uganda.
The dust is yet to settle from the recently concluded NRM party primaries held across Uganda. What was meant to be a democratic exercise of identifying party flag bearers turned into a battlefield of emotions, ambitions and unfiltered political drama. The heat was unbearable, the stakes were high, and the players were armed not with policies, but with bags of cash and invisible influence!
Let’s speak the truth, however uncomfortable. Many aspirants went in like it was a 100-meter sprint fast, loud, and full of adrenaline. Hope intoxicated them, expectations overwhelmed their judgment and few took the time to truly feel the political pulse of their communities or weigh the strength of their opponents. Instead, many thought that money, slogans, and a rented crowd would be enough to bring victory!
But elections, especially in Uganda are not like a boxing match where a clear knockout leaves no doubt. They’re not car races where you can slow the footage and see the exact moment of triumph. No! Ugandan politics is a game behind curtains, it’s a chessboard played in dimly lit rooms, where the real power rarely campaigns and the true decisions are made far from polling stations. "It's quite absurd and lamentable!"
Let’s not pretend, many of the electoral registrars overseeing these primaries are underpaid, over-pressured, and living in economic desperation. And money? "Money knows no tribe, no religion, and certainly no loyalty, it flows like water to the lowest point of integrity." It doesn't matter who you are, if someone flashes cash, your principles better be strong or you will be swept away!
And the youth, especially those between 18 and 45 years of age, "MUST" take note. What’s happening inside the NRM Party is not an accident. It is a strategy, it is architecture, it is the grand design of the party’s founder, our beloved leader. His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. For many elites, the unspoken truth is this; when President Museveni exits the stage, the curtain will fall on the NRM as we know it. Like; many liberation parties in Africa, NRM is tied umbilically to its founding father!
So now, the old ghosts of Ugandan politics are back; guns behind campaign posters, coded slogans like;. “Gamba Noggu” literally meaning that, talk to this one on my phone and “Akapande ka’soma majje” The military has spoken through this posters! What more evidence do we need that political power is once again being peddled like sugar in a village market?
And what of the so-called NRM Electoral Tribunal? With all due respect, it is highly doubtful that it will clean this mess. In fact, prepare for the flood, we shall see droves of “NRM independents” flooding the general elections, splitting votes, bruising flag bearers, and ironically paving the way for the opposition to sneak in and seize victory!
What will be the result? A fractured parliament, an unpredictable, volatile legislative house!
Too many voices, too few principles, too many egos, too little patriotism. It will be a political jungle, and controlling it-either by the Speaker or the President will be like herding wild animals in the dark..😜🤣
So where are we headed as a nation?
We are building a house of cards on quicksand. And if we don’t pause, reflect and return to the true spirit of SERVANT LEADERSHIP, the future will not just be uncertain, it will be dangerous for all of us!
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY🇺🇬🇺🇬
