By Maj Gen (Rtd) Gregg Mugisha Muntu
Leadership starts with Ownership
In response to President Museveni’s remarks on Umeme:
“Then they went behind [my back] and brought something called Umeme. Umeme! What for! A private company looking for profits! You make it a middleman between the generation of electricity and the final consumers, including the factories which are supposed to create jobs.”
For far too long, the country has been subjected to speech after speech by the president, in which he appears to not only distance himself from the things going wrong in the nation but also blames others for them.
Police kidnappings, shootings or brutality is because of ‘bad elements’ in the opposition.
Theft in government is caused by ‘wrong elements’ in government.
Even assassinations of high profile government officials are due to ‘some individuals’ in security forces.
Everything problematic in Uganda seems to happen “behind the president’s back”.
Given the magnitude of crime, lawlessness, corruption and impunity, one wonders who is truly in charge.
If, as the president claims, all these issues are happening without his knowledge or consent, then he must admit that he has absolutely no control of government and that the state is in the hands of people other than himself.
If on the other hand, the president is in full control of the country as he tends to claim when listing his government’s achievements, then he must also take full responsibility for the corruption, injustices and complete breakdown of institutions that is happening on his watch.
He cannot have it both ways. Either the president is highly incompetent or totally culpable. Which is it?
ANT believes in leadership that takes full ownership of whatever happens under our watch.
If things don’t go as planned, we admit it, we ask why and we make the necessary changes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
We have done it in regard to the recently concluded elections and our leaders have done the same in their past and present positions.
Ugandans can trust that with us, the buck stops at the top.
We will be as accountable in government as we are out of it.
The writer is the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) leader and former presidential candidate
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