By Odaka Asuman
While fighting in Gaul (modern-day France), Julius Caesar was forced by the Roman Senate to abandon his army and return to Rome as a civilian.
Giving up on an army whose creation, existence, and strength he wanted everyone to attribute to his sole and personal efforts, and returning to Rome without it, was equivalent to giving up power, which was completely out of Caesar’s mind.
Instead of surrendering power, Caesar led his army across the Rubicon River, a line that no Roman general expected to be crossed. “A dice is tossed,” he boasted, “and I am just like that. There is no going back.”
What followed was a brutal civil war with his former ally, Pompey, whom he even chased to Egypt.
For a moment, Caesar appeared unstoppable, but there was a catch.
The Greed to Takeover Everything with Absolute Control including everyone’s aspect of livelihood together with all national resources created him a lot of enemies (open and concealed) at all segments of political, economic and in the social power structure.
Even people he thought were his friends, such as Marcus Brutus, began to turn against him due to his unwavering absolutism.
A group of senators stabbed Caesar to death on March 15, 44 BC, while he was appearing before the Senate. Cesear choked out, surprised that even his step-son and good friend Marcus Brutus was involved in the plot. (Even you, my child?)
But on the steps of the Senate, the most feared and powerful man in the ancient world lay dead in a pool of his own blood.
His assassination threw Rome into chaos, and instead of restoring Rome as a Republic, it paved the way for the rise of the Roman Empire, which Caesar had spent his entire adult life avoiding.
Julius Caesar’s decision to cross the Rubicon River resulted in short-term victory, but cost him and his family everything, including power.
Uganda’s Museveni
Mr. Museveni’s successful capture of power on January 25, 1986, through gorilla warfare in the face of doubt and discouragement from various quarters emboldened him, giving him the illusion of invincibility. (More like crossing the Rubicon River).
Although the fraudulent currency reform of 1987 was the first plot by the NRM/A to impoverish Ugandans, “the short cuts” in Museveni’s extension of rule from 1989 to 1996 was the true first political experiment to the now-revealed life presidency, absolutism, and despotism in the Luwero consensus grand scheme.
This laid the groundwork for the eventual removal of the presidential term limit from Ugandan law, the privatization of government parastatals and other public assets, and the abolition of the age limit, which marked the pinnacle of Museveni’s victory in his conquest of Uganda and its people.
With those done and achieved without any personal or political cost to the regime, Mr. Museveni imagined that there could not be a battle he could not win in pursuit of his despotic ambitions against Ugandans.
The intention to amend Article 102 (b) of the Republic of Uganda’s Constitution was announced alongside the need to amend Article 26, which addresses citizens’ right to own property, with land being of particular interest.
Although he wanted both, he was not sure he would get them all at once. In his heart, he was willing to temporarily settle for one, particularly one that would give him a new lease on political life as the country’s leader.
The removal of the presidential age limit suited him best because it would not only allow him to restructure and relaunch himself into the land contestation, but it would also fulfill his long-held monarchical cycle ambitions, with his son succeeding him as absolute ruler of the country being part of the larger plan.
But all said and done, Mr. Museveni is aware that his most inner despotic ambitions would never be full cycle unless he has deprived private citizens of their land. But as a gorilla, Mr. Museveni remembers uproars, which the issue of outrightly taking over land caused in the past.
He believes it is more prudent to demoralize those who rely on land for a living and wealth creation. Coffee is only the most recent cash cow to fall victim to the state’s ruling elite.
The tragedy that befell the cotton, tobacco, vanilla, sugarcane, milk, tea, moringa, and mineral sectors, while making the boda boda and money lending sectors artificially profitable, was far well intended.
Political scientists can attest that poverty, as a policy, is a weapon of occupation, particularly by misrulers. The simplest method of impoverishment is to deprive and deny the population the most important factor of production: land.
Museveni’s ambition to create a “middle class” is the driving force behind all of these plots. This fueled the personalisation of what were once national assets, the appropriation of public/government land across the country, and the degazzetting of previously gazetted land for private use, which is the driving force behind grand corruption in the country.
Other things, such as political persecution of political opponents and critics, nepotism, state-sponsored abductions, and endless scandals in government institutions, will be carried out to either feed into the larger agenda or divert the population’s attention away from the evil plan.
My pain, however, is that a good portion of our people are acting indifferently, living and surviving in the hope that the will of God will bring the news about Museveni someday. Doing nearly nothing to stamp their feet for the country.
Mr. Museveni can be forced to hand over this country to people who can manage it better. We can also create a condition to force him into negotiating his own role, but this won’t be through weekly press conferences or through his institutions.
The conduct of some of our people reveals naivety or a compromised lot hired to frustrate the efforts.
Without a doubt, these regime actions have harmed many, including Mr. Museveni’s inner patronage network. However, the image of a vicious and decisive man has led many to either remain silent or pretend to work with Museveni.
It could be some percentage of truth that Museveni picked this country from afar, but it’s now crystal clear that he is driving it to a much worse direction, and there must be people willing to stop him.
Unfortunately, the opposition’s current leadership is inadequate for the task.
Yet, just like Julius Caesar, who had made a pointed and public display of turning down kingship but being more “kind” to dictator for life, Mr. Museveni has kept metamorphosing from a pseudo Marxist, West-world supported Crusader, a venture capitalist, “dictator for life” without openly declaring it, to now a republican monarchy openly transferring power to his son; a thing driving Uganda way beyond the chaos he found the country in on January 25, 1986.
And, given that the majority of those fiercely opposing him were once his closest allies, his fate is closely related to Julius Caesar’s.
Shall Uganda experience its own “Ides of March…?”
The writer is the Secretary General of National Economic Empowerment Dialogue, NEED
Telephone: +256753195384
Email: asumanmrjn@gmail.com
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