Letter to Museveni about Age Limit, your calling age limit advocates idle reminds me when Obote called you a criminal gang

Letter to Museveni about Age Limit, your calling age limit advocates idle reminds me when Obote called you a criminal gang

By Deus Kamunyu Muhwezi

To my President, HE Y.K. Museveni

Firstly your Excellency, I hurt a lot as your childhood love of a leader when you refer to Ugandans discussing the affairs of their country as ‘IDLE’. It reminds me of a time when DR Obote used to refer to you and your comrades in the struggle as ‘BANDITS’ and ‘GANGS’ in many of his desperate speeches I listened too as a child. I was a child indeed who was preoccupied by the anguish of his father whose conscious was constantly abused in silence.

At that time, I believe that Dr. Obote didn’t know that the people he was referring to with cynicism including my President today represented my aspirations and those of the many like minded whose hope in their nation’s ‘CONSTITUTION’ and rights in a God given and equally shared territory of Uganda were under attack by arrogant politicians of the time. You should always remind yourself that they were many then who braved the humiliation of his regime and who felt they were excluded from real political and economic participation as citizens. I think he arrogantly chose to lambast you and your comrades. To do so he used all cynicism against your ideas on self determination as a people. Today we all know that such cynicism was wrong and short-lived. Ugandans again demonstrated that their silence did not mean they had consented and that they were a resilient people.

Your Excellency, the issue being discussed now is what seems to be a silent scheme to change our nation’s ‘CREED’ the Constitution of Uganda to remove age limits. I always say that this is a constitution that was written with a ‘BLOODY PEN’ and it embeds the ideals of many fallen well intention-ed spirits. I’m therefore convinced that any good, peace loving and non self centered Ugandan must get concerned about any suspected or looming attack on this CREED and he/she must begin to discuss it in a non reactionary manner. It’s therefore not idle your Excellency to discuss issues that may affect us again and dump our country into unnecessary anxiety and turmoil. We do so in the restored feeling of self determination as a people and I don’t think anyone views this as a privilege of one person or a group of persons. Such a discussion should instead make you and your living comrades proud and happy in your retirement. This is simply because I want to believe that such is what you struggled for in your youth to restore for all Ugandans and to ensure that such is protected for generations.

Secondly, I sincerely believe you when you discuss issues of ideological disorientation and indeed this has been the problem of Uganda’s political environment since independence. As my Mwarimu/Teacher, I truly understand you. However, believe me your Excellency, you are supposed to be the nation’s greatest example as an ideology teacher, Chief Politician and a great guide to the nation’s political future. Teachers have a noble duty always and to many of their learners they don’t lie. Good Teachers are ever happy to see and witness the independence and success of their learners. Good Teachers are not self centered but are instead selfless. They only see the survival of their teachings in their well prepared learners. A good teacher mentors many of his/her learners to replace them in their retirement which they know well is inevitable. Great teachers struggle to live by example and are always internally happy to do so. Great teachers don’t undermine the potentials of their learners but they instead work hard to stimulate them.

It’s therefore on the basis of your ideological teachings and my understanding of the noble role of a great teacher that I begin to think that your pan African and revolutionary stories may be misleading and not eternal for the sake our shared destiny as a country and a people. This is because of my belief that 31 years today, you should be proud of having taught and mentored Ugandans that you believe in and trust and not idlers. Ugandans that can ably discuss their own affairs to say the least and not idlers. Ugandans that call you our Mwarimu/Teacher. I personally and many Ugandans believe you are indeed their Mwarimu and we are still willing to call you so.

However, basing myself on the tenets of a good teacher and a true revolutionary leader in this case, you should instead tell those self centered Ugandans around you your Excellency to stop promoting falsehood that you can be our only active good teacher forever. Such a belief is indeed a falsehood that undoes your revolutionary stories and devastates the living and all the dead believers NRA revolution. Such would also be destructive to your pan African agenda and would position you as an old man held at ransom by his unfulfilled revolutionary dreams and hence struggling to survive only to protect those who for long diverted from the original script of the NRA revolution in favour of their self aggrandizement at the expense of the living and dead believers of the NRA struggle.

Warm greetings your Excellency.