I am not a classroom general to be easily forced out – Museveni

Insiders said Mr Museveni stressed that everything happening in the countryside gets to his desk, and that he has lately received intelligence information that some senior NRM officials, whom he did not name, were secretly mobilising to wrest control of the party from him. Such individuals, he reportedly noted, were mistaken.

President Museveni told members of the ruling NRM’s parliamentary caucus that he is a “war general, not a classroom general” who can be dislodged with ease, new details emerging from the ongoing retreat reveal.

Mr Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, and according to sources at the retreat at the National Leadership Institute, Kyankwanzi, he has appeared cocky and irritated as he berated dissenters within the party over intrigue.

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, who recently told the new European Union Head of Delegation Kristian Schmidt that he would contest for President if chosen by the ruling party, chaired last Saturday’s session where the President went on the attack.

Insiders said Mr Museveni stressed that everything happening in the countryside gets to his desk, and that he has lately received intelligence information that some senior NRM officials, whom he did not name, were secretly mobilising to wrest control of the party from him. Such individuals, he reportedly noted, were mistaken.

“I am a war general, not a classroom general,” one source quoted Mr Museveni as having said. “Those who think they can dislodge me like that are mistaken.”
The room momentarily went quiet as the legislators became tense, another source told this newspaper.

Mr Museveni then delved into a lecture on how he had contained former confidantes who fell out of favour, naming past luminaries like Maj. (rtd) John Kazoora, author of the book, Betrayed by My Leader; the President’s three-time challenger Col. (rtd) Kizza Besigye; and, former Local Government minister Jaberi Bidandi Ssali as examples.

His account was that he tried to talk the trio and others back into the NRM fold but when they refused, “I mobilised the people against them”. By implication, the President put caucus members with intentions of jumping ship on notice that they risked a similar fate.

Mr Amama Mbabazi seized the opportunity to declare that his perception was that all this talk was being directed at him.

He observed, without making any direct reference to the President’s address or reported fall-out over intrigue within top echelons of the ruling party of which he is the secretary-general, that rumour-mongering led to the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam’s government in Ethiopia.
The prime minister, by accounts offered by individuals who attended the meeting, was philosophical and indicated he never stops mid-way on anything he has started.

Mr Museveni’s terse Saturday statements reportedly set off something of a panic, with another source saying it prompted Lands minister Daudi Migereko and junior minister Bright Rwamirama to spring to their feet and publicly declare their unconditional allegiance to him as NRM chairman and President.
A State House statement, which did not delve into the details of the exchanges between the principals, quoted Museveni as saying: “There is one little problem; lack of cohesion in the leadership of NRM which you have witnessed over the past years. I would like to advise those involved to restrain themselves. The forums are there to discuss everything. Why, then, create cliques?”

Museveni’s near three-decade stay in power has not been without controversy. Renegade spymaster Gen David Sejusa, formerly Tinyefuza, told the BBC in June, last year, that he believed that President wants to rule for life and establish a “political monarchy”.