Col Mande on why he fell out with Museveni’s government

Mande’s struggle. Col Samson Mande, one of the heroes of the National Resistance Army (NRA) Bush War that brought President Museveni to power, fell out with the NRM government in 2002 and fled to exile first in Rwanda and later to Sweden. He is one of the first 100 original fighters of the NRA (now UPDF) during the 1981-86 guerrilla war. In an interview with Saturday Monitor on a wide range of issues this week, Col Mande said he will be returning home this year after 13 years in exile and explains why he fell out with Museveni’s government, what he has been doing in exile and says he is coming back to continue with his “struggle for democracy and good governance” in Uganda. Below are the excerpts

You left the country in 2002 and declared a struggle against President Museveni’s government. It is now 13 years since. What is the status of the struggle?
Let me make one point clear; the struggle I am part of is the struggle for democracy, good governance and respect for human rights, the rule of law and a sound economy for all. I joined the struggle in 1978 during the military campaign against the junta under the late Field Marshall Idi Amin (RIP) and I am still in the struggle.
I did not declare a struggle against President Museveni’s regime, I only made my opposition to the regime more public and open. We had earlier on been opposing the vices of the regime we brought to power but quietly, clandestinely and passively. So we were not easily understood until we opened up. In 2001, I was the only serving officer that stood up and declared support for Dr Kizza Besigye openly.
I knew the consequences would be painful but as a revolutionary I will always stand up for what I believe in even if it means standing alone or losing my life. My 14 years of exile is part of the consequences.

What was happening at that time that made you fall out with the regime you helped bring to power?
The NRM leadership’s inclination on monolithic politics (single-party state), corruption, sectarianism and gross human rights abuse were deplorable. The NRM had actually reneged from the 10-point programme for which many of our comrades died during the Bush War. Many of us got permanent injuries, thousands of innocent civilians’ lives were lost and billions worth of property destroyed in the Luwero Triangle and the Ruwenzori region.

You have been abroad, or let’s say in Sweden, for many years. What have you been doing there all this time?
Firstly I had to get treatment from physical and mental torture-related sickness. I joined political exiles I found there and added value in the international lobby against the bad situation we left back home.
We have two major achievements our international lobby network achieved: Opening political party offices after a long time ban on them and; persuading the donor community to reduce budget support to the government and channel the aid to the private sector, NGOs and humanitarian causes, especially in the northern Uganda and other war affected areas in the eastern Uganda.
We persuaded the donor community to pressure the government of Uganda to end the war in north and eastern Uganda and let our people there to leave the internally displaced peoples’ camps and go home. Also, I went back to school to acquire more knowledge and skills and I am now an entrepreneur, consultant and job creator.

Recently you said you would be coming back home. Are you coming back to continue with the struggle against Museveni’s government or have you given up the struggle and you are coming to work with the NRM?
Now that I have been fully repaired medically, have added value to myself and I am loaded with solutions to many of my motherland’s challenges; I am coming back home to enhance the struggle for sustainable political, social and economic development. I will soon give you more details on this mission.

Are you coming back to form a political party or will you join the existing parties, especially the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) which you have previously said you supported?
I have a wide network abroad and on the ground already we are coming to fuse the two and join hands with all those in pursuit of the long awaited fundamental change which is democratic dispensation, poverty eradication and above all free and fair elections that shall yield a peaceful and transparent handover of power from one head of state to another.
I will work “with” and not “for” anyone with whom we share the vision or ideology of our country and Africa in general. I do not mind which political party, religion, region, tribe, gender or age.
I will pay more attention to the youth and women because in all my life I have been on the side of disadvantaged people.

One of your colleagues, Lt Col Anthony Kyakabale, has returned home and has since met Museveni. Did Kyakabale inform you or have a discussion with you about his return before he boarded that flight back to Uganda?
My brother Anthony Kyakabale, who I gave an olive branch and rescued from what the Baganda would call ekibambulira vawo mpitewo (mayhem), did not have the courtesy of informing me he was going back home. He wasn’t obliged to inform me any way. He wasn’t in anyway under me and he wasn’t a member of my network in the struggle. We had nothing to share and nothing in common. This reminds me of a song I should dedicate to Ugandans: “Who that cap fits” by Bob Marley.

What is your view or position on Kyakabale’s return?
Returning home is his right and a noble thing. It’s only the way he returned and what he did after returning that is an issue of concern. He sneaked into his motherland like he was doing something wrong. That leaves a lot to be desired and juxtaposes his integrity to danger.
It’s incomprehensible to note that one can live in Europe for over 10 years and he comes back as a dependent of a fellow man when one has no project and no better future in sight. It’s as if he is now scavenging and is trying to fit in anyone’s pockets for his own survival.
The things he said against me in his interview with the Daily Monitor are false, uncalled for and childish.
What is very true is that he, as an individual without consulting me, declared war against the government of Uganda. When I read his declaration of war in the Daily Monitor I called him and asked him what was going on.
This is what he said: “Andrew Mwenda has misquoted me, I have told him we are in a struggle for democracy and good governance.” He has on many occasions refuted the allegations that he or we declared war or formed the PRA (People’s Redemption Army) rebel outfit if at all it existed.
His new revelations leave me wondering whether he has told us the truth about his conversation with Andrew Mwenda or he is making false confessions against himself and us under economic duress. Could it be in exchange of 30 pieces of silver since he admits he is under economic duress or in exchange for freedom to go home?

You did not trust Gen David Sejusa from the very beginning when he arrived in exile in London. Has your view of him changed since his return?
My view has not changed because afande Sejusa has not changed; he is still the same arrogant, domineering, undisciplined, lawless, inconsistent power-crazy General.

There are reports in security circles that the government is working out a plan to bring back all UPDF renegades (army exiles) back home and that you are among them. What do you have to say?
It’s become very clear that the government of Uganda wishes to have all the opponents, including ‘Maj Gen’ Joseph Kony back. It’s obvious that I have always been a target for such schemes. Many government emissaries have been sent to me to lure me back home since I came into exile in 2001.
I don’t need to be lured to go back home for it’s my intention to go back home. I am not a commodity on shelves in a market for sale for I am priceless. I have always advocated dialogue that can lead to truth, justice and reconciliation, freedom and peaceful return and co-existence. I will welcome anyone willing to discuss my return in that perspective.

Do you have any collaboration with the opposition here in Uganda in working for political change?
Yes. In in 1996 I played a role in forming the Inter-Party Coalition (IPC) with the help of Anthony Sekweyama (RIP) and Mathias Nsubuga. By then Uganda had not adopted the multiparty system. In 1999-2001 I supported the Elect Col (rtd) Dr Kizza Besigye Task Force that caused the climax of my persecution and forced me to flee from my motherland. In 2001 I supported the formation of the Reform Agenda with help of Beti Kamya, Mr James Musinguzi Garuga and the late Spencer Turwomwe.
I also became one of the founder members of the FDC in 2004 but I withdrew my membership in 2009. Since 2009, I decided to be a non-partisan member of the struggle for democracy, good governance and transformation of Uganda. So I am connected to and have supported political parties in the opposition, civil society organisations and all independent individuals in pursuit of the same goal.
I have even supported members of the ruling party with whom we share the same vision. The fact that there are the so-called rebel NRM members of Parliament and independent members of Parliament is not a coincidence.
I am also connected to a group of youth and elders with whom we are discussing the agenda for political reforms for sustainable political and economic transformation of Uganda. With time we shall come and openly associate and work freely with all these networks that we have been working with clandestinely. The struggle continues.

What do you say about the fallout between Museveni and his former prime minister Amama Mbabazi over political power? He was thrown out of Cabinet and subsequently out of the post for the NRM secretary general ostensibly for harbouring presidential ambitions in 2016. Last month, Mbabazi’s wife was blocked from attending the NRM Women League for which she is the chairperson, although she was later allowed in as a mere listening post.
First of all I don’t see the fallout between Gen Yoweri Museveni and Capt John Patrick Amama Mbabazi. Both are still major “shareholders” of the NRM. They belong to the same old school of politicians, share the same ideology and both have endorsed the “sole candidate” scheme for Museveni’s 2016 return. I have neither seen Mbabazi withdrawing his signature from the Kyankwanzi resolution or revoking his statement that he can never stand against his colleague Yoweri Museveni.
I don’t doubt Mbabazi’s and his family’s desire to become President of Uganda and the First Family respectively. But they have run out of time, age and ideas. By the time Gen Museveni retires, Mbabazi too will have run out of the constitutional age limit. Unless he will once again initiate and support another Constitution amendment to remove age limit, like he and Museveni did to the presidential term limits. Little did Mbabazi know he was biting his fingers.
His ideology and methods of work in the last decades — he has been the most powerful adviser to Museveni– puts a big question on him as to whether he is compatible with challenges of this and forthcoming generation. Uganda deserves a clean person void of Mbabazi’s political past record.
Blocking Mbabazi’s wife Jacqueline, the chairperson of the NRM Women’s League, is so unjust and a manifestation of the political persecution, repression and suppression of divergent views in NRM which has reached the climax. Jacqueline and Mbabazi bit their fingers when they supported the passing of the Public Order Management Act.
Uganda is now clearly on the political crossroads and in an explosive situation. It’s just a time bomb waiting to explode. The leaders of NRM are at loggerheads with each other and threatening to tear their party and country apart. Power struggles in all political parties are the order of the day.
The National Consultation on Free and Fair Elections held in Kampala from 24th to 26th November 2014, a noble cause for peaceful ascension to power and orderly succession, proceeded without two major stakeholders- the ruling NRM and Uganda Diaspora.
The ruling party has the tools and a big role to play on the ground and the Uganda Diaspora has politicians with a lot of skills and experience in how functioning states and democracies work that they can bring in and add value to the change all Ugandans can believe in. They also have three million voters who are accustomed to voting leaders on issues and on merit as opposed to the situation in Uganda where most voters have resorted to selling their votes. The Uganda Diaspora votes shall be a game changer if harnessed and made part of the democratisation process, allowed to vote and be voted for.

What do you think the Opposition should do to win the 2016 elections?
1. The opposition needs to work out a national Vision and Strategy that the masses can buy, a direction the country is heading to which the grassroots (masses) can believe in, support and follow. Today, neither the ruling party nor the opposition shows a clear direction of the country. Some opportunists and negative forces seem to be positioning themselves to take advantage of the fluid situation to slide our country into chaos.
2.The opposition quickly needs to return to the drawing board on the National Political Reforms Agenda with a view to including all stakeholders in the process to reinforce the calling for free and fair elections. If by July the political reforms have not been endorsed, the 2016 election shall not be free and fair. A deadline needs to be set.
3. The opposition can win the 2016 elections if they restore voters’ confidence and defeat voter apathy. They should mobilise the masses to register en masse, turnout on the voting day and vote en masse. The Afrobarometer survey of 2011 indicates that only 58 per cent of registered voters voted. Museveni got 68 per cent of the 58 per cent, which was actually 38 per cent of the registered voters. The 42 per cent of the registered voters who didn’t vote were mainly the opposition supporters because the opposition leaders had preached the elections were going to be rigged. Had the opposition encouraged all their voters to register and turn out to vote en masse it would have been difficult for Gen Sejusa and his team to rig the elections.
The report further reveals that President Museveni’s NRM got 68 per cent of the 58 per cent, which was actually 38 per cent of the registered voters so the NRM is a minority party. If the opposition styles up and mobilises all voters to register and mobilises the registered voters to turn out to vote, monitor and count their votes, the NRM minority rule shall end.
4. The opposition old guards need to front the youths and work with them to lead the change rather than use them to consolidate their power. Our demography reveals that youth are the majority. They own much of the future ahead of us. Therefore they have more at stake. They are very energetic and more compatible with the challenges of this and the incoming generations. Isn’t it imperative that we help them to take leadership right now when we are still powerful enough to inspire, guide and support them? The opposition needs to grasp this point and mobilise the youths to take on the tasks in time.
5. There is need for the opposition to invest more in civic education and educate the masses on their role in the democratisation and electoral process to deter manipulation, intimidation and voter apathy. There is need for us to go beyond the Agende, Agende (Museveni must leave) and articulate the values we stand for that resonate with all people.
6. The political parties in opposition need internal reforms that can give them clear vision and ideology. They need reorganisation and reconciliation to restore unity and cohesion. This will restore confidence in their supporters, defeat intrigue and internal enemies, some of which are planted by the NRM to weaken the opposition from within.
7. It is imperative that the opposition political parties consider establishing a deeper partnership with Uganda Diaspora than just expecting them to send campaign dollars. There is more value. For example, if the opposition supports their right to vote, they will vote the right choice and are likely to influence and facilitate millions of voters in Uganda. There is need for the opposition to understand the needs, challenges and values of Uganda Diaspora such as double citizenship, visa fees when they visit their country, hiked passport renewal fees and taxes on material repatriated to Uganda.

Some opposition members are mooting to have a joint presidential candidate to form a formidable challenge to Museveni. Is that something you think can work for them?
Without working on the points I have raised above effectively whoever the candidate will be, it won’t work for them. It won’t be the first time to combine and field a single candidate. Since the 1996 elections, the interparty loose coalition has always supported a single candidate and there was no win.

Last week, the USA-based International Republican Institute published an opinion poll on Uganda, saying majority Ugandans are happy with the way the government is doing things and think the country is moving in a right direction. What is your view?
I don’t think 2,402 respondents who said Uganda is headed in the right direction in the survey conducted by Hatchile Consult were enough to represent 35 million Ugandans.
We respect their opinion but they might be some of those that are benefiting from the endemic corruption and favouritism. I have also heard the head of state lamenting against service delivery. The researchers should respect the President’s opinion. He knows the situation in the country better than them and he is the voice of the 35 million Ugandans compared to the 2,402 the researchers could reach.

Finally, when are you returning to Uganda?
It’s my wish to return to Uganda this year.

Any other matter that you may want to comment on about Uganda?
I wish to remind Ugandans that while still serving in the UPDF and NRM government, I wrote a document titled “Dear Comrades” and warned that the propensity to adhere to militarism and tolerance of intrigue, power struggle, sectarianism and corruption had reached levels that totally undermined and threatened the National Resistance Movement’s ( NRM’s) revolution ideal, threatened cohesion of the NRM, stability and security of the country and could reverse the achievements we had toiled for and for which many of our comrades died.
The situation has not changed and I see groups opposed to the NRMO regime propagating a new violent struggle for a democratic dispensation, good governance and hope for a living. They could be justified by the fact that the ruling party has fused itself with the state, the army has adhered to use of repression to retain power, rigging elections has become a practice and the majority Ugandans have lost hope for gainful employment and a foreseeable better future so they will soon say ‘we have nothing to lose’.
As long as the head of State has not renounced the idea that he is a “cota-pin” and can only be removed by force (violence) and retired Col Kizza Besigye remains the hammer and the wish for Gen Sejusa to become a power saw becomes a reality, our country can slide back into violent and worse struggles than we have ever experienced.
I want to appeal to both groups to rule out use of violence to retain and attain political power. I am not saying this because I fear to fight; no one should mistake me for a coward. I am saying this because I participated in all the armed struggles against Uganda dictatorships, I still remember the pain, the losses the fighters, civilians or the country suffered and up to today we have not got what we fought for. Therefore, I have abandoned the old school of depending on violence to bring about change. The struggle is inevitable.
I and the network of activists I worked with over years will soon unveil a project that will contribute to achieving the dream of non-violent change.

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