HE WOULD "TURN HIMSELF INTO A LION, WOMAN,ETC," WHAT WE WERE TOLD ABOUT MUSEVENI

 NRM@28: A Personal Testimony

By John Blanshe Musinguzi

NRM/A today celebrate 28years after taking over power with president Museveni sworn in as president of Uganda on 29^th January, 1986. He is running the country. After taking over, he enjoyed popularity among Uganda who had lost hope in the political turmoil that engulfed the country from 1971 to 1986.

We who were born later were told stories about a ‘superior Museveni’ which presented him as a ‘magician.’ Born in 1992- seven years after guerrilla war that brought NRM to power in Ruhaama- Ntungamo, Museveni’s ancestral home to peasant parents. My mother is a Mukiga while my late father was a Tutsi of Rwanda origin; the father of our grand-father migrated from Rwanda in late 1940s and settled in Kishami-about 15 kilometres from Mirama (Rwanda boarder with Uganda) where we still live today.

I don’t remember origin of these stories about Museveni turning himself into a lion, woman and so on but by 1997, when I was about five years old, I and other siblings would talk about nobody else but becoming ‘superstitious Museveni’ when we grow up into ‘big men and women.’ I can remember we all fought to be nick named Museveni. Interestingly, no one won that nick name because we all wanted it.

During 2001 general elections, enthusiasm about Museveni went up. We would sing and sing ‘Museveni oye’ and ‘no change’ as we thought he was the only capable leader. Why would we bother about Besigye would not turn himself into a lion to defend Uganda?. Singing and praising lead me into troubles with my dad (RIP), a supporter of Besigye. He would complain and threaten to send out of the house whenever he came back drunk if we did not stop singing ‘Museveni: no change.’

As time went on, we grew up and started to concentrate on studies and other businesses. In 2006 general elections, we did not sing ‘a magical Museveni’ though I hope most of us were still vocal supporters of incumbent president.

Today as NRM celebrates 28 year down the road, these stories are no longer  told to kids. Most of them for example wish to be nick named after European successful footballers such as Wyne Rooney, Manchester United striker, Lionel Messi, Barcelona super star, Christiano Ronaldo among others.

It is of recent that I discovered that we were told us these stories to nurture us into future NRM supporters. The success of their aim hangs in balance today. Some of those who were told those stories are still supporting NRM while others are subscribe to other political groups.

These stories were also told during Kenya’s struggle for independence. As Ngugi and Githae Mugo wrote in play “The Trial of Dedan Kimathi ...the girl wondered how Britons arrested Dedan Kimathi. She believed that he was not the one arrested. She retells the story of how once Kimathi wrote a letter to the governor. He said he would dine with the governor at the state house. The collected all the police in Nairobi to come and arrest him. But Kimathi disguised himself as a police officer and went there. The next day, he wrote a letter to the governor thanking him for the dinner and it was signed by Kimathi himself.

The boy too wondered how a man who would turn himself into aero plane could be arrested. This is how far the struggle for independence in Kenya reached.

 I developed interest in reading this play because my brother who studied from a better school, Kitabi Seminary used to tell us stories from novels and plays they read.  This story of the boy and girl is related to what we were told about Museveni.

John Blanshe Musinguzi is a Journalism and Communication Student at Makerere University