Bobi Wine Is Indirectly Promoting Gen Muhoozi Presidential Bid

In politics, its possible to work for your enemy, especially if you make uncalculated political blunders. Sometimes people win not because of their individual strengths but because of their opponent’s weaknesses. This is how Bobi Wine has ended up working for Gen MK without knowing!

When Bobi Wine went to Luwero during his recent rally, he made remarks threatening non-Baganda who are staying in Buganda.

In his remarks, Bobi Wine said that Baganda had been taken for granted for their hospitality, claiming that the people whom they hosted had turned against them. He even said that most of those people (non-Baganda) who settled in Buganda came without underwear but had become filthy rich and even started chasing Baganda from their land.

Whereas Bobi Wine’s attack was focused on “Banyankole” or people from Western Uganda, he forgot that the Buganda region hosts people from all shades of life and any sectarian attack against non Baganda in Buganda would affect all tribes.

In the entire Buganda, you will find all manner of tribes. This is because of the strategic location of Buganda as a centre of business and civilisation in the country. It is not true for example that it’s “Banyankole or westerners” only that are settling in Buganda.

In Nakasongola, you will find the Langi, Acholi, and Iteso who crossed through Lake Kyoga. In greater Mukono (Kayunga, Mukono, Buikwe) you will find Bagisu, Basoga, Banyole, banyala etc. who crossed the River Nile. Actually, Kayunga is referred to as the United States, because it has all kinds of tribes, in Buvuma & Kalangala islands there are all tribes because of the nature of fishing areas, in Kyankwanzi District for example there are parishes with more Basoga than Baganda, while in Kampala Metropolitan area there is virtually every tribe.

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba

So when Bobi Wine makes a statement that incites violence against non Baganda staying or working in Buganda, he threatens the whole country. The Acholi, Bagisu, Arul, Lugbar, Karamojong, Langi, and Iteso who have relatives in Buganda feel uncomfortable because these relatives are breadwinners in their respective families. So why should an Acholi vote for Bobi Wine when he knows that the Acholi in Buganda are threatened? Why should a motor in Fortportal vote for Bobi Wine when the Batooro in Kampala are threatened? Does Bobi Wine know that what sparked the Kabaka crisis in 1966 was a statement by Kabaka Edward Muteesa asking Obote to shift his government from Buganda to Lango? Is Bobi Wine aware that it’s such statements that made people hate the federal system of governance as demanded mainly by Buganda?

The other mistake that Bobi Wine makes is to think that all people who have land in Buganda grabbed it by force! Aren’t there people who have bought pieces of land in Buganda genuinely? So when he starts threatening them that they came without underwear and have become rich does he want them to remain poor? Don’t they have a right to property as enshrined in the Ugandan Constitution?

Bobi Wine should know that people come to Buganda because of economic activities not because of anybody’s favour. If you went to Mbarara, Isingiro or Bushenyi you would find Baganda, If you went to Hoima City you would find Alur, and Lugbar etc, if you went to Mbale you would find Baganda as well. If you go to Boston, London, Dubai etc. you will find people from all over the world because people move in search of opportunities!

So if Ugandans were to vote between Gen Muhoozi and Bobi Wine, they would find Gen MK a better option. This is because Gen MK can guarantee national security for each and everybody regardless of his tribe. This explains why Gen Muhoozi has been welcomed in Acholi, West Nile, Teso, Bukedi, Buganda, Kigezi etc.

In this era where the world is a global village, it is old-fashioned and stupid for a leader to think through tribal lenses. Ugandans are thriving in the United States, the Middle East, England, Turkey, Canada, South Africa, South Sudan, here in Uganda etc. It is impossible to separate each person back to his ancestry.

Whereas Gen MK presents himself as a nationalist, Pan African and patriot, Bobi Wine presents himself as a tribal character who looks at Uganda in terms of Buganda, a leader who wants to incite Baganda against other tribes in turn causing those other tribes to hate Baganda. In other words, Bobi Wine’s politics of sectarianism is a danger and a threat to Baganda and Buganda itself!

This is a letter from Namatumba, Mubende District!

George is a retired civil servant based in Namutamba, Mubende District georges2010ug@gmail.com