The Project

To Northerners the sight of General Tinyefuza brings the heebie jeebies. Some touch their noses as if to ward off a foul bad breath or body odor. Some have attacks of cold sweats—a post-traumatic syndrome which recalls when the man locked the North into the dark ages and when perceived leaders were made to frog-walk, subjected to kangaroo court-whims and put in jail.

So now, when the general made another stir and the power-that-be has yet to make a public response other than harass letter-carriers, what are we to make of it?

Our experience is that to understand President Museveni, the main subject of the General’s allegation, you have to look at his actions, not his bombastic utterances.

In diagnosing political intentions, just as in diagnosing the weather, economic trends or even medical conditions, one has to consider the past and present leading indicators. The past trend with Museveni has been about amassing personal powers. When it suits him, he has no respect for the law. There is no difference between him and the man who once said: L'État, c'est moi! (The State is me).

With regard to his son, the boy has had the best military training our taxes could buy. He has been promoted rapidly and now controls an elite military unit which protects the father and oil fields.

So, some of us in the North, while fidgeting with our noses and/or shivering in cold sweats and swallowing hard, have a nagging feeling that the mustachioed general might have stumbled on some truth.

There are some questions: How will the hand-over from father to son going to be effected? Might all these talks not discourage the project, or will it make the man more determined? There are dark clouds in the horizon.