CAN EVERY UGANDAN BE PRESIDENT?

A few years ago a long term leader of an organization stepped down from his perch. At the time of his departure he had been at the organization for coming to two decades, to the point that in the eyes of the public the organization was him and he was the organization.

There was an initial panic about the company’s prospects. The competitors even threw parties thinking they would now overhaul the market leader, seeing as the head of the snake had been loped off.

They say if you want God to laugh tell him your plans. As fate would have it his replacement was a total disaster, lacking in strategic thinking, operational competence and an atrocious judge of talent. That the competition failed to win any market share,  was an indictment on them.

But “the disaster’s” short tenure – Thank God for that, demystified the position, which people had long thought was customized for the original leader.

Is that what is happening in Uganda today?

"I was shocked to read that there are 24 people gunning to be CEO of Uganda at the next election...

Every Ugandan citizen of sound mind, appropriate qualifications and age has a right to be president of the country. And standing for the presidency should not be left to those who have a realistic chance of success. But that being said, is it possible that we can have 24 alternative views of how to run this little African nation?

Abraham Lincoln said if he was given six hours to chop down a tree he would spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.

I can count on my index finger the number of potential candidates who have been preparing to run for presidency in 2021. And I am not talking about over the last 12 months but over the last few decades at least. They have been actively involved in politics, their visibility is better than average and they have some credible believers in their cause.

Then there are others who clearly are trying to take the country’s ethos of Okuliira omukavuyo (smash and grab) a bit too far.

I am convinced these types have watched too many movies, where the underdog comes to a gunfight with a disposable knife, builds a groaning, cringing, broken pile out of the badies, with nary a scratch or bruise on his person. And the disposable knife too, still intact.

"What would be one’s motive of getting on the ballot when you have no chance of making an impression, which is not a crime, but not even making an effort to run a credible race?...

Can it be the money? Each presidential nominees is entitled to sh20m to aid in the campaigns after paying a nomination fee of eight million shillings.

Can it be the fame? Each candidate is supposed to at least canvass two thirds of Uganda’s 100-plus districts, which can rocket their visibility from zero to 100 over four months set aside for campaigns.

As earlier said we may be a nothing country in the greater scheme of things, but surely contesting for the highest position in the land should be taken more seriously.

Alleviating those same issues of poverty, disease and hopelessness should be top of every candidates agenda. The differentiator maybe how each candidate hopes to achieve this. Upsetting President Yoweri Museveni can be part of the strategy but not the strategy. Knowing our fickle public it maybe the best strategy to personalize the election but can you seat through 23 candidates badmouthing Museveni before you nod off?

It occurred to me that President Yoweri Museveni has the hardest campaign to run because everyone else is focused on removing him. So his may be the only issues based campaign?

Beyond the hundred signatories to the nomination from two thirds of all districts set as a condition for nomination, each candidate should have a functioning organization in those same districts. This shouldn’t be a condition of nomination but would determine whether a candidate is going along for the party or can be a serious contender.

"This also will ensure that the candidates are not only heard in Kampala, ceding the countryside to the NRM, but should have a real presence all over. Playing to the foreign press from Kampala just doesn’t cut it...

I think we deserve a more serious airing of our concerns as an electorate. Wheeling out the clowns every five years in the name of presidential elections maybe damaging the credibility of the process. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day, someone asks, “Whats the point?” and we – God forbid, contemplate scrapping presidential elections.

Maybe we should actually. Let’s have a parliamentary system like in other mature democracies, where the party with the winning majority in parliament chooses the president. It would spare us a lot of amateur theatrics that threaten to make the presidential race a farce.