Mbabazi is all of a sudden in the wind!

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in the wind: to disappear, unable to be found” (Urban Dictionary)

He has been the shadow and the loyal subject under the National Resistance Movement and as one of the men has followed President Museveni for decades, until his demise and his lost position of both Secretary General of the NRM-O and the Prime Minister post. Before that he had been a minister and also a long-serving member of the Movement.

Amama Mbabazi went from being the next in line to being an outcast. He tried to become the flag-bearer and presidential candidate in the Movement, but they wouldn’t relieve or give way for anyone else then three decades running president. So he was left out of the party, even as his membership still was there. Still, with that the The Democratic Alliance (TDA) allowed him and Gilbert Bukenya to stand as Presidential Candidates. Mbabazi achieved it with fielding the opposition parties and get Besigye to abandon the Opposition alliance. Therefore there was to major opposition candidates against Museveni. Both of them former allies and close knit in the Movement.

Besigye was the offensive and strong candidate, the man who gained the people and got the crowds that showed his popularity. Mbabazi started strong, but didn’t have the same amounts, but Besigye had been running many times before against Museveni, Mbabazi was a first time against his former boss. Mbabazi got to taste tear-gas, lose his allies, get supporters detained and even getting harassed by the police force for holding preliminary rallies. The reality of the code of conduct that the Movement has had for decades was something now the Mbabazi – Go Forward got to taste.

The sour and bitter taste of getting on the side-line of the Movement, getting their treatment and their recognition, the only attempt of some peaceful transition and smear of democratic behaviour was letting the Election Petition from the Amama Mbabazi legal team getting accepted even as it entered the Constitutional Court close to 30 minutes over the deadline. The rest was well rigged and malnourished to fix Museveni another term. Keep up, business as usual.

Mbabazi has after the election had meetings with the President, with many suggestions and wondering how come. I don’t really pound on that, as he was even pragmatic at the Presidential Debates of still being member of the Movement, while still running as an own flag-bearer in the TDA/Go-Forward outfit. Therefore I had giant issues that he run as an opposition, but still was a member of the ruling party. That doesn’t make sense and doesn’t seem reasonable.

So the NRM member was running on Opposition ticket. Seems foolish right that Norbert Mao and others accepted that request and dignified his approach? But, when darkness has been running for so long, a leaf of hope can resurrect a forest? Well, Amama Mbabazi didn’t run circles around Museveni. He just tangoed and made sure to make a good public figure.

His approach was more use cool designs, try to be a populist politician and hope he took some of the crowds of long-serving opposition. He really didn’t reinvent much or even sell his story strong, because who remember what sort of campaign the Go Gorward Group and allies did run on? I do not remember a single thing of what he did really stand for or what was his grand mission?

 

Mbabazi went underground or silent, nearly a visible character or public figure, as he wants a relief of public dedication behind him. Still, the rumoured visit or meetings with Museveni, proves that Mbabazi really never left, but was more of staged paradigm. You can wonder if he will have the same fate as Bukenya, suddenly be offered a senior position inside the NRM-O?

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So that he can be compensated and silenced, not telling stories of old or even scorns the world with the realities of the inner-workings of the Movement. Since he is still paid by the Movement, he will not talk or disobey the President. Even if Museveni did scalp his ambition, and his dream of achieving, the executive position of Uganda. Certainly, the TDA was not built or had the machinery to conquer the movement-based Electoral Commission, neither was the quickly built organization around the Go Forward. Mbabazi wasn’t prepared with party apparatus to counter the Movement. The FDC had 10 years of building a party, Go Forward was months old and not allowed to hold preliminary meetings.

Mbabazi’s attempt was flawed, but dire as the proof of the invalid execution of NRM-O and Museveni who doesn’t care, because he is the only man with a vision. Mbabazi didn’t have his vision, since Mbabazi is Mbabazi and not Museveni. That is simplistic, but still a fact.

Mbabazi as long as he is a NRM-O member, an insider who is partly outcast, because of his wish of higher public office and that he wanted to take his masters place. President Museveni would not accept to lose his place and be succeeded. Succession has never been in the works of the NRM-O or the ruling regime, so that Amama Mbabazi thought he would exchange the current leader was failing from the beginning. The reason behind why Besigye had to start on his own on the outside of the Movement; the same Mbabazi was doing.

So what is up next is in the vision of Mbabazi and if he want to risk his lavish house, as he lost one of his cars as his place in parliament went away after the election. What else of Parliamentary perks he has lost is certainly a few. Other investments or ownership is only known by him and the movement, as Mbabazi wasn’t the most frugal MP. Mbabazi was known for his corrupt and grafting ability while being in power. So his wealth is built on agreements and his close-knitted community while being inside the Movement. Therefore he must know a lot that Museveni doesn’t want out. Therefore as long he is silent, he doesn’t have to fear, but if he would talk or release the intelligence, even if he would drop knowledge on certain older scandals, he could damage the Movement more.

Still, with his membership and dialogue with Museveni. Show’s that Mbabazi even though not official part of the leadership anymore in the ruling regime. Isn’t totally out of the picture or out of the elite, he is just silent relief.

So what do you think Mbabazi is up to and scheming? Is he done as political figure or will he brought into the NRM-O again? Peace.

Kenya: ODM statement on the disruption of the Turkana Rally (17.02.2017)

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ODM party condemns in the strongest terms the actions of the hired youth who disrupted an ODM peaceful rally in Turkana this afternoon. Kenya is a democracy and all Kenyans have the right to assemble and rally.

Kenyans are struggling with an ever rising national debt, unprecedented levels of corruption, a broken national security system and an electoral infrastructure that exposes us to divisions, hence the actions of the hired youth shows that the Jubilee government is not interested in the welfare of Kenyans.

ODM will and shall continue advocating for the rights of Kenyans in the different platforms and continue to address issues of Kenyans.

Sen (Dr) Agnes Zani
SG, ODM

Video of Prequel to the Turkana Rally:

South Africa National Treasury statement on Competition Commission finding on the Banks (16.02.2017)

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South Sudan: SPLM statement on the Lt. Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam’s resignation (17.02.2017)

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South Sudan: Lt. Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam resigns as Minister of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development in TGoNU (17.02.2017)

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Super-President Mugabe will reign in the votes even after his death!

Robert Mugabe

“Even when Mugabe dies, we will vote for his corpse and it will win an election”Grace Mugabe, 17.02.17, 2:06pm” (Patson Dzmara, 17.02.2017).

Well, for me this isn’t surprising, as the Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko and others has claimed that President Robert Mugabe is biblical and has to rule for eternity. That eternity is damn long, its decades upon decade, which makes the Lancaster House agreement of 1980s seems like small fry and the Ian Smith regime like a token of misjudgement. Since President Mugabe will now extend his rule beyond the grave.

The citizens of Zimbabwe will pay their respects with giving him the votes when he has even caught his last breath and eaten his last meal. When his body is so deep into dirt and vanishing inch by inch six feet under, the public will still drop ballots in his honour. The power of Mugabe is so strong that his earthly remains will not stop the Zimbabweans from showing their political will and to stand behind his Zanu-PF banner.

President Mugabe, the former freedom fighter will control his people beyond his grave and with the codes of elections through the same electorate. This is wishes of his beloved wife Grace Mugabe, which the power beholden to Mugabe is now so strong and powerful that it will sway people to vote for him even when the heartbeat of the brother has stopped.

So even if the President Mugabe pump isn’t working, he has no pulse, no breath or even walking; he will still have the ability to get the Zimbabweans to show loyalty and his party. The Zanu-PF must be rudderless and be without a proper head if the man they have as leader will be dead and gone. Mugabe should be a memory and legacy of the Zimbabwean nation. Not a figure, not a man who would extend his reign beyond his life.

Zimbabwe must have one brother or sister who is able to sway voters after the demise and last breath of President Mugabe. There are certainly somebody else who has the ability to gain the popularity and the righteous reign after the Zanu-PF head-honcho of decades upon decades should leave a new leader behind. That is certainly something the First Lady of Zimbabwe doesn’t believe in.

That Zanu-PF leadership, the Zanu-PF Youth League and all the other political leaders must feel left behind, when the corpse and the legacy of the long-serving president Mugabe can win and run elections from his place in graveyard. So politically Grace Mugabe must see the Zanu-PF as a total dead party. With that meaning that nobody else should run than a dead man. That means the internal or primary elections are pointless, as no matter who would run for being flag-bearer is not necessary since the man is already handpicked.

So who need democracy and elections when the dead is still ruling, Grace must fear for herself and her riches, when she depends on the Presidents executive position; that must be most important reason for her will to belief that the citizens still will elect her husband after his demise. Certainly, there should be others who could pick his mantle and continue where he left off?

I feel sorry for the other who are in the party of President Mugabe; they can’t even compete with the biblical and have the ability to roam the nation. The future leaders and the ones coming after must feel passed over. The youth and the ones in Zanu-PF must feel like they are walked over. Certainly, it must hurt that they are double-crossed by a deceased, not a loyalist to Mugabe even. They will not match up to the dead man. Mugabe, even in death surpasses the living in skill, expertise and the vision to give anyone else the possibility to run. So with this in mind, the President and Mugabe will by all means not rest in peace. He will reign in turbulence and let his soul roam the nation, even after his passing. Peace.

Government of Uganda Position on Burundian Refugees (17.02.2017)

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Uganda: Statement by Mr. Patrick Bitature on the malicious stories circulating on Social and on-line media channels (15.02.2017)

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Senior United Nations Human Rights Official Condemns Deplorable Rights Situation in South Sudan, Calls for Perpetrators to be Held to Account (17.02.2017)

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During his visit, Gilmour also travelled to Malakal, where he received further information concerning the suffering of the civilian population in the area.

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 17, 2017 – At the end of a four-day visit to South Sudan, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for human rights, Andrew Gilmour, called for those committing  atrocity crimes in the country to be held accountable.

“This is a war that has been waged against the men, women and children of South Sudan,” he said. “And the only way of ending this onslaught will be when the perpetrators face consequences for what they are doing.”

Gilmour held meetings in Juba with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Minister of Information, the Chief of General Staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the Director General of the National Security Service, representatives of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, local authorities, religious leaders, United Nations and humanitarian partners, as well as non-governmental organizations, victims and civil society actors.

During his visit, Gilmour also travelled to Malakal, where he received further information concerning the suffering of the civilian population in the area.

“Although this is the fourth time I’ve been in South Sudan since 2011, I wasn’t prepared for the shocking devastation I witnessed in Malakal and even more by the clear pattern of systematic human rights violations and abuses suffered by the population,” Gilmour said.

He was informed of the appalling risks that women, now living under UN protection, are forced to take in order to be able to earn even the most meagre livelihood. When leaving the United Nations Mission in South Sudan protection of civilians site, they have been frequently subjected to rape by militias and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army on their route to the market in Malakal town. Rape and gang rape is present in the testimonies of numerous women in the area, though this was categorically denied by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army  Division Commander with whom Gilmour spoke.

“It is utterly abhorrent that women in this area have to choose between getting raped or getting a livelihood,” Gilmour said, “But this seems the brutal reality of what South Sudan has become.”
In March 2016, the United Nations human rights office issued a detailed report which documents the horrendous patterns of sexual violence in the country.  The report can be read here.
In his meetings with the authorities in Juba, Gilmour raised concerns about the unspeakable human rights situation throughout the territory. He urged the authorities to combat the worrying rise of hate speech and to do more to protect human rights defenders.

In his meeting with the Chief of General Staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, General Paul Malong, Gilmour emphasized the severe restrictions on access that the United Nations Mission in South Sudan faces when trying to protect civilians, provide humanitarian assistance and monitor the human rights situation in the country.

He stressed his concern that elements of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army had engaged in what could well amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. On the other hand he welcomed the recent start of United Nations human rights training for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and the appointment of its focal points on conflict related sexual violence.

“Of course we know that until there’s peace in South Sudan, human rights will continue to be trampled,” the Assistant Secretary-General said. “But even during war, one can fight without routinely committing such needless acts of cruelty. And this is what we are calling on all parties – government and opposition – to do.”

Gilmour urged the Director General of the National Security Service to put an end to the practice of arbitrary and prolonged detention without charge, bring detainee before the courts, and allow them access to their lawyers and family.

He underlined to the Government authorities the absolute need to avoid reprisals and threats against human rights defenders who have cooperated with the United Nations. In this connection, he drew attention to a specific incident last September in which human rights defenders were threatened following the visit of the United Nations Security Council.

Bank of Uganda: Change in Signature on Uganda Shilling Banknotes (17.02.2017)

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