Gen. Tumwine advises Museveni to step down

The newly appointed senior adviser on security matters to President Yoweri Museveni, Gen. Elly Tumwine, has come out boldly to challenge his colleagues, to advise his boss to prepare for a smooth transition.  Gen. Tumwine who served as commander of the National Resistance Army from 1984 to 1987, made the announcement soon after handing over the Security docket to Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi on Wednesday.

Tumwine was appointed senior presidential advisor when Museveni recently announced his new cabinet. “As I take on my new advisory role, I will advise @KagutaMuseveni to prepare for a smooth transition of power for a long-term stability of our country,” Gen Tumwine also tweeted.

In a six-minute video footage that went viral in Kampala, the former security minister who sounded and acted irritated, noted that “to me now I think the best advice we can give him (Museveni) is to prepare for a smooth transition so that we ensure stability and long term peace for the long future.” In doing so, Gen. Tumwine, an NRA historical and top general after Museveni and his brother Salim Saleh, appeared to take the bull by the horns.

Seemingly tired of Museveni’s working style - handling state matters  alone, sidelining bush war veterans like him, Tumwine told his colleagues that they should save their president from being “ngamba nyenka” (a Runyankole proverb referring to a person who does not take advice).  “Ngamba nyenka ni nka amarwa mabi ( a person who does not take advice is like stale beer)," Tumwine lamented.

Gen. Tumwine told his colleagues to save Museveni from the hubris syndrome, a disorder of the possession of power. It is associated with people who stay in power longer and it is also defined as excessive pride or an arrogant state of self-confidence. Observers say that Gen. Tumwine got the right definition of Museveni.  “When a president calls Ugandans pigs and tells others to touch the anus of a Leopard, then he is drunk with power”, said a political analyst who preferred anonymity.  

Those who know Museveni well say that he is a person who does not seek advice; he is the alpha and omega, the only one with a vision for Uganda.

Museveni recently bragged, publicly, that he is the only one who worked on the new cabinet, something that never happens in a transparent government system. Museveni appoints close family members like his wife and son, not mentioning many Bahima tribesmen and women connected to his family, in senior positions. Nepotism and corruption have been institutionalized.

Gen. Tumwine who fumbled with papers in his hands as a sign of anger, told his colleagues that many of them clamour for ministerial positions when for him he serves as a freedom fighter and gave them support. Speech and body language experts believe that Tumwine openly complained that although he is one of the historical members who fought to liberate Uganda, he has been kept in inferior positions although he deserved more recognition.  “Most of my senior colleagues in the struggle have been ministers. I have been a minister for less than five years. But I have helped and guided them.”

Such a statement indicates that although Gen. Tumwine claims it's okay to serve anywhere as a freedom fighter, he could harbor a lot of discontentment seeing junior colleagues being offered prestigious positions.

On being the longest serving Member of Parliament, Gen. Tumwine recalled that in the British system he would qualify for the title of “server of the house” but for unknown reasons, Tumwine also laments that he does not know why the Ugandan parliament refused to accept the title. Again, analysts believe that Tumwine disclosed his dissatisfaction with the appointments given to him, and he would rather have been more comfortable with the title of the “server of the house.” 

He repeatedly sung bush war morale songs, showing signs of a royal cadre still lost in the wilderness of the old patriotic spirit when the system he serves is rotten with nepotism and corruption from the top.

“Adui Akija sisi tuko tayari” (when the enemy comes, we are ready), Gen. Tumwine sang to colleagues like Jim Muhwezi who have amassed wealth, following in the footsteps of their boss, Museveni. The colleagues seemed uninterested in his songs.

Gen. Tumwine seems to be waking up from a deep slumber with the bold message to his colleagues. His seemingly bold message to his boss, however, was taken with a pinch of salt.  Some military strategists believe that the message is not Tumwine’s but from Museveni himself as the latter wants to hear the reaction of Ugandans on succession politics. Nonetheless, the big question remains: who will succeed Museveni?  Many Ugandans believe it is his son, Gen. Muhoozi Keinerugaba, who is now the commander of land forces.  

The rest, only time will tell.