A peek into the maneuvers to change Uganda’s constitution

It caused a buzz in different Ugandan and regional news outlets but the recent proposal to change the Ugandan constitution so as to elect the president through a parliamentary vote did not come as a surprise to many.

Political watchers see this as a manipulation by President Yoweri Museveni and his NRM stooges to help him cling to power despite his dwindling popularity and growing senility.

In last year’s general elections, Uganda’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) got its toughest experience of all times. It lost its populous central Uganda base to youthful musician-cum-politician Robert Kyagulanyi and his National Unity Platform.

For Museveni, the experience from last year’s election is that even with his machinations – including intimidating, killing, jailing or bribing opposition politicians – as he tries to impose himself on Ugandans, are no longer tenable.

Add the fact that during the next general elections, in 2026, he will be 81 and this explains why Museveni is in overdrive, trying to manipulate the system to ensure he does not have to face the people during the campaigns.

No wonder, for the President, the only plausible option is to impose a parliamentary vote for the presidency, rather than through universal adult suffrage such that he is voted by acclamation.

Other analysts see this as another way for Museveni to secure a back-door entry for his son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to succeed him, a fact that he has not made any effort to hide.

So what does the new political and constitutional manoeuver reveal?  Firstly, like mentioned above, there is no chance that Museveni would win an election through adult suffrage, even with his known machinations. The same applies for his son, whose wanting intellectual capacity has been on full display through his incoherent tweets.

The opinion of Ugandans on the future of their nation occupies the backseat in the political equation and all other considerations of Museveni and his inner circle. His only obsession is to rule Uganda until his death.

Secondly, the proposal that the next president of Uganda should be elected by the country’s parliament, suggests that for Museveni and his advisory council – largely composed of his family members – the easiest challenge of it all would be to focus all the efforts on instigating a short cut to his big political ambitions, where he knows the NRM commands majority in parliament hence making it easier for him to bribe some opposition lawmakers to vote for him, or for his son, than bringing the whole country. 

He draws such a choice from the constitutional amendment on age limit where he bribed MPs and all went through swiftly. Before then, he had used the taxpayers’ money to bribe the legislators to remove the term limits that had earlier been capped to two five-year terms.

However, the question that Museveni and the NRM are failing and have always failed to ask themselves is what the Ugandan people think of their undertakings.

Even with these machinations, Museveni ought to know that he cannot impose himself on a population that he has brutalized for more than 40 years. Eventually, people will use all means available to do away with him. 

The NRM, in trying to sell a man who has outlived his sale-by date, has been left a shell. In the place of men who were full of ideals and love for their country, it is now a home for sycophantic opportunists who will cheer on the king, even when dancing naked.

As we await to see new developments in this regard, one thing is key to note; the people, whether underestimated or not, are the most important factor of all changes and political maneuvers. 

Museveni has forgotten the power of the people in any revolution, and he needs to be reminded about it, by the Ugandan people.