Fellow Ugandans,
Yesterday the 12th day of September 2017 was a very sad day in the leadership of our country. Yet again, some of my colleague Members of Parliament who belong to the NRM Party did the most dishonorable and unpatriotic thing. They passed a resolution to remove the Presidential age-limits from the Constitution of Uganda so that President M7 can become life President.
They did this at a time when our nation has been bleeding for the past 31 years. Our country’s former glory is all gone. Corruption rates are alarming.
Service delivery is at the worst. Mothers die giving birth.Unexplained murders are everywhere and the judiciary is a mockery.
Our children face an uncertain future where unemployment is the order of the day. The national debt has turned us into slaves and the gun has become the master. The one time pearl of Africa is now a laughing stock among nations.
All public assets have been sold and as if that’s not enough to to satisfy their appetites, after selling almost all public properties,the government now wants to take people’s private land!
In response to all this, your elected members of parliament think that the best response to this crisis and national shame is to remove age limits and continue with the same nonsense. Other than think of rescuing Uganda from this mess, they are asking that Uganda sinks even deeper!
Well my message to them is this;
You are traitors. You have betrayed your country and you have sold your conscience for cheap.History will judge you very harshly. You should remember that it is your children and your children’s children who will have to inherit this mess that you are creating.
You should individually reflect on what you have just done. Remember that there will be a time when you must account for this nonsense. Yesterday those of you who put up hands to support that stupid resolution, you have put your names on the national wall of SHAME.
You should think about how you would love to be remembered- whether as men and women who loved and served their nation, or as people who thought about only themselves.
You should also remember that you swore an oath to bear true allegiance to the Republic of Uganda and uphold its Constitution. So by passing this resolution, you did exactmy the opposite of what you swore to do.
Well,the good news is that there is still time for you to withdraw your endorsements before it is too late!
And before I forget, I want to thank those few patriotic NRM Mps who rejected the madness of raping the constitution. You’re heroes and please maintain your stand. Do not bow down to pressure because your voters are watching you and they will be rewarding you.
AND TO YOU PRESIDENT MUSEVENI;
In 1986 you asked for four years to re-organize the country and hand over power to a civilian government,we agreed. You personally said that Africa’s problem was not the people but leaders who overstay in power.
In 1990, you asked for five more years to be able to enact a DURABLE CONSTITUTION for the nation and then you go,
We agreed.
In 1995, you asked for a new mandate under the Constitution, you asked for five more years,we agreed.
In 2001, you requested the nation to renew your mandate for your VERY LAST CONSTITUTIONAL TERM.
We agreed.
In 2005, you moved to remove presidential term limits. You told us that you wanted only five years to be able to consolidate your achievements.
We agreed.
In 2011, you came back.You campaigned under the prosperity for all slogan (BONA BAGAGGAWALE). You promised that poverty would be history in Uganda after that term and you would return to RWAKITURA to look after your cows….These were your words!
2016 came, and you once again asked for your very last term.
In a televised address to the Nation you swore that you would certainly NOT lead beyond 75 years of age.
You told us that after 75, a leader would no longer have the vigor required to run the country.
You promised that your last term would be a ‘hakuna mchezo’ one and pledged to end corruption.
Well Mr. President,
You have failed us on all these promises, and our hope was that you would end your rule in 2021 and give way for the nation to begin a new chapter. If you do that , the nation will be grateful for your contribution.
Bob Merely once said “YOU CAN FOOL SOME PEOPLE FOR SOME TIME, BUT YOU CAN’T FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME”.
You cannot lie to the whole nation and think that each time you will get away with it.
As a good reader of history, you should remember that history always repeats itself with leaders who thought they were wiser than their generations. Those who thought their populations were gullible and easily manipulated.
There comes a time when people are TIRED. UGANDANS ARE TIRED! They have been patient with you. They have been respectful and generous to you knowing that in 2021 a new dispensation will come.
PLEASE DO NOT ABUSE OUR TRUST AND PATIENCE.
Come out clearly and disassociate yourself from this madness. Our children want to emulate a leader who does not lie to the Country on national TV.
Come out now and repeat what you said to NTV’s Patrick Kamara program when he asked if you would go beyond 75- “Not at all, certainly not.” That’s what you said Mr. President.
As the first citizen of Uganda, you should come out and inspire the nation to always be truthful to their word because as they say, “A MAN IS ALWAYS AS GOOD AS HIS WORD”
We can not continue to have a President whose word we can no longer trust. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Now to you my fellow Ugandans especially the younger generation;
Here in Uganda we actually one time laughed at Zimbabwe. We laughed when Mugabe promised to rule until God calls him. We thought it was a joke, but now we share his falling and sleeping pictures on social media and he and his whole Country have become a laughing stock.
I know you know these things because most of the problems I have mentioned affect you every day. Poverty, unemployment, uncertainty, exclusion,violence at the hands of the state and many others.
We have ONLY this one chance. No matter your TRIBE, no matter your RELIGION, no matter your POLITICAL PARTY…Poverty and these terrible conditions in our country do not discriminate.
We must make the pledge that WE SHALL NOT ALLOW THIS AMENDMENT TO PASS.
Article 1 of that Constitution says that “ALL POWER BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE.” We are the people. If this Constitution is amended today, we shall have only ourselves to blame for eternity.
20 or even 30 years from now, President Museveni will be asking for more terms and you will perhaps be on your sickbed or dead! or still living in this suppressive and oppressive environment. At that time, you will look back and wish you did something today.
WE MUST DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION BEFORE IT IS TOO WEAK TO DEFEND US.
Article 3(4) of our constitution says ” All Citizens of Uganda shall have the RIGHT and DUTY at all times to defend the constitution…It also says that any person who resists the amendment of the constitution comits NO OFFENCE.
Am therefore calling upon all leaders from Religious leaders,Cultural leaders,leaders of the business community, members of Civil Society, leaders of educational institutions, journalists, bloggers, fellow artistes and all of you fellow Ugandans, Pleaaaase do not keep quiet on this very sensitive matter on the future of our Country Uganda.
As it has been said before and now seems real in our times, that “THE WORLD IS SUFFERING NOT BECAUSE OF THE WORDS OF THE EVIL PEOPLE, BUT BECAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF THE GOOD ONES.
Let’s speak up in one voice and prevent this rape of our Constitution or else your children in future will ask you what we did when the nation came to this point.
Begin today and exercise your God-given rights. Call your Member of Parliament or better still, pay them a visit and demand accountability. Stand up NOW Before it is too late.
And if you believe in this cause, please help translate this message into your own language and spread it far and wide. Let us make use of social media and this modern technology to emancipated ourselves because THE TIME IS NOW. Let’s make sure every Ugandan gets involved because we are the Country , we are the future and the future is TODAY.
I thank you
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY.
Hon. Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine
Kyadondo East MP
