UGANDA: Why Museveni abandoned UFM

WHY MUSEVENI ABANDONED UPM

CHANGE OF GUARDS - Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) was a Ugandan political party that was formed in June 1980 on whose ticket Museveni contested for the December 1980 general elections both as a Presidential candidate and a contender of a parliamentary seat.  The party vanished immediately after the December 1980 elections and despite most of its top leaders having captured power in 1986, 38 years down the road no efforts have been made to revive it.  We hereby examine the idea behind the abandonment of UPM.

Museveni claims to have been a member of the DP in the 1960s but the DP disputes this for lack of any corroborative records.  It is most likely that his claim on membership of DP is derived from his having spent his teenage years at the strong DP Byanyima family home.  What is not in dispute however is that he was a member of the UPC and by the time Iddi Amin overthrew Obote in 1971, Museveni was working with the Secret Service.

Together with Obote and other top UPC stalwarts, Museveni fled to Tanzania from where they embarked on plans to oust the Iddi Amin regime.  Driven by childhood ambition of becoming President, Museveni formed a parallel briefcase organization, FRONASA.  It was until the Tanzanian army entered Uganda territory that Museveni boosted his FRONASA with recruitment from Rwandese refugees and his ethnic Banyankole.  He was aiming at outnumbering northern Uganda dominated main armed group of Ugandan exiles, Kikosi Malum, under the likes of Oyite Ojok, Tito Okello, Bazilio, Omaria, Maruru etc.  This marks the begging of his sectarian war of Bantu Vs Nilotes or Sourtherners Vs Northerners.

After the fall of Iddi Amin in April 1979, as Minister of Defence Museveni made several futile attempts to carry out a military coup.  He had played a key role in the overthrow of both Prof. Lule and Binaisa. However, his armed  faction, FRONASA was kept in check but the final blow came when he was removed from the Ministry of Defence and his non citizen Rwandese formally eliminated from the new post Iddi Amin army, UNLA.  He helplessly opposed general elections for fear that he would further politically lose out.  But the final blow came when Obote returned from exile in May 1980 with intentions of contesting for the presidency in the general elections.

The traditional big political parties of UPC and DP swung into action followed by the smaller CP (Kabaka Yekka).   Some national leaders who felt dissatisfied with the UPC moved to form a third force.  As the Vice Chairman of the ruling Military Commission, Museveni blocked the return from exile of the popular Prof. Lule to contest for the presidency on the DP ticket.  Through Francis Bwengye, Museveni tried to join the DP.  At a meeting in Nile Mansions, Museveni led a small delegation comprised of Rugunda and Rev. Okoth into negotiations with DP's Ssemogerere, Binifance Byanyima and  Bwengye.  No breakthrough was made because Museveni accused the DP of being pro-Catholic wanted its name changed to National Democratic Party (NDP).  The truth is that he had wanted to be its flagberer.

In the meantime the third force was making progress and was about to launch a political party, the National Labour Party (NLP).  Its leadership was being contested between Prof. Kabwegyere and P'Ojok.  The now desperate Museveni went to the third force where using his influence as the leader of the FRONASA armed faction and moreso the Vice Chairman of the ruling Military Commission, he was appointed Chairman.  Obsessed with the idea of 'movement', he influenced the group to adopt UPM as its name.  In protest of Museveni's leadership, the likes of Prof. Kabwegyere, Prof. Kamuntu, Kanyomozi, Akena P'Ojok, Dr. Ezra Nkasibwe left and returned to their traditional parties.

Addressing his regime retreat in Jinja in December 2010 Museveni confirmed this development thus;
       "I talked with the leaders of the DP and suggested to Ssemogerere: “At least change the name of your DP and call it the NDP-National Democratic Party.
I cannot join the DP because it is sectarian.” The DP people refused; then Bidandi Ssali and Eriya Kategaya formed the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM). I did not like the idea of forming yet another party; but they said that we needed a platform from which to warn the people who had broken up the UNLF. I, therefore, agreed to join the UPM – and you know the rest of the story."  In his Mustard Seed at page 118 he confesses that he went into an election very sure that UPM would not win.

On 4th May 1980 the UPM was launched with Museveni as its Chairman, Lucas Opira as Vice Chairman and Bidandi Sali as Secretary General.  It had other national leaders as Rugunda, Kategaya, Bakulu Mpagi, Israel Mayengo, David Wangote, Fred Kagonyera, Rhoda Kalema, Mathew Rukikaire,  Robinson Kasozi, Rev. Father Okoth, Lawrence Ginyera, George Magezi, Kirunda Kivejinja, Matia Kasaija, Tom Rubaale, then Prince Patrick Kaboyo, Chango Macho, Prof. Tibamanya Mushanga, Kintu Musoke, Musaazi, Raphael Bitamazire, George Kagonyera, Kakwano, Bernard Buzaabo and many others.

Museveni became the UPM flag bearer and also contested for the parliamentary seat for Mbarara North constituency.  UPM fielded 70 parliamentary candidates who were nominated out of the 126 constituencies.  Campaigns went on smoothly with Fred Rwigyema who had been eliminated from the new national army taking charge of the UPM campaign security.  He drew unarmed and non uniformed guards from the FRONASA personnel then assembled at Kabamba Barracks for reorganization into UNLA.  As Chairman of the Military Commission, Museveni had been allowed to retain 30 rifles for his security detail.  At his campaign rally in Kiryandongo, his bodyguard accidentally shot someone.

At the constituency level, Museveni had a hard time campaigning against DP's Sam Kutesa as most Bahima referred to him as an immigrant.  At his 12th June rally at Makerere University, Museveni threatened to sue Obote who had earlier referred to him as a Rwandese refugee.  In July 1980 at a UPC rally in Masaka, Rurangaranga said that the UPM was a party of Rwandese refugees.  On 30th June 1980 at Busoga Square, Museveni said"
       ".......the gun should be an instrument of politics, but it should not command politics."
Throighout the campaign period, Museveni was to continue his threats that if elections were rigged he would go to the bush to fight.

A week before the election date of 10th December 1980, Museveni was arrested by the UNLA at a roadblock in Kampala.  He was immediately rescued by his private army comprised of the Rwigyemas.  The UPC was declared winner of the December 10 polls and the DP alleged rigging.  Museveni's UPM got only one constituency in Kasese just out of a protest vote by the majority DP supporters following the last hour murder of their preffered candidate.  Through Hunter and Gregg Advocates, Museveni petitioned the High Court challenging his defeat by DP's Sam Kutesa in Mbarara North constituency. 

The conclusion of the electoral process, marked the end of the UPM as on 6th February 1981 Museveni launched his Bush War against the one month old UPC government.  The then UPM Secretary General, Bidandi Ssali was later to give a clear account of events in his open letter to Museveni on 1st March 2011 thus;
         "I recalled a meeting you chaired as Chairman of the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) at Kintu Musoke’s residence in 1980 discussing the way forward for Uganda and UPM. This was after what we then termed sham election results announced by the military commission following an electoral exercise that had been characterised by vote falsification by the UPC leadership in control at the time.  The UPM Executive Committee discussed two options that is, going back to the people and build the UPM or going to the bush to take up arms to fight the Obote regime. In anticipation of what would be the cost in human life that had to be paid by Ugandans, the Executive Committee resolved for the former option to which some of us stuck.
You stormed out of the meeting declaring that you had taken the armed option. To date, your decision is epitomised by a devastated Luweero Triangle scattered with monuments of human skulls, and a devastated northern region still wailing the massacre of more than one million Ugandans with more unaccounted for."

Since Museveni intended to launch a sectarian war based on the Bantu against Northerners on one hand and exclusion of some ethnic groups amongst the Bantu, he did not want to use the UPM structures which were national in character.  On the contrary, it would have meant that different UPM functionaries from different parts of the country would have had to contribute by recruiting fighters yet he wanted to build an army dominated by his ethnic group.

In his book "The Chrisis of Confidence", Kirunda Kivejinja puts it clearly thus;
          "Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) was formed not necessarily to win the 1980 elections; ..............When the election results came out as we had predicted, Museveni took off with his most trusted people, and attacked Kabamba, announcing the start of the armed struggle.  Some of us in the party like Rukikaire, Rugunda, Amama Mbabazi, Kaheru, Kintu Musoke, Eriya Kategaya and others did not know. About a week after the attack, we met in a safe house in Ntinda and Kategaya gave us a message from the bush, saying: “We have already attacked and have moved through Kiboga; we are now somewhere in Matuga. Can you organise how to assist the struggle?  I got the impression that Mbabazi, Rugunda , and Rukikaire new about the attack because all of a sudden, they disappeared and went to Nairobi, leaving me with Kategaya and Bakulu Mpagi.

After the Kabamba attack, Obote arrested Bidandi Ssali thinking that he knew. The idea to go to the bush was Museveni’s and those he thought would advance the armed struggle but not the party."

For his Bush War, he tapped into the UPC's alleged election rigging against the DP and the exaggerated Baganda hatred for UPC's Obote.  He moved to weaken by undermining other fighting groups like UFM and FEDEMO.  When he took power in 1986, he suspended the operations of political parties. At the same time he pretended to form a broadbased government by predominantly incomprating the DP.  Ten years later when he allowed political parties to operate, UPM was nowhere but instead it is his Bush War political wing, the NRM that was registered as his political party.

Therefore, Museveni's abandonment of UPM was because he was not its founder, it would have brought on board other players from the unwanted regions, he does not believe in political pluralism, and he wants to erase that ugly history of how  he humiliatingly, freely and fairly lost an election.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM