Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) 2021 presidential candidate Maj Gen (Rtd) Gregg Mugisha Muntu had hit back at long-serving President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni for labelling him a useless leader that he oftentimes had to push like a wheelbarrow.
Addressing his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party leaders in Rukungiri on December 14, Museveni said his bush war comrades Dr Kizza Besigye, Muntu and Henry Tumukunde had no potential to rule Uganda.
“But if I leave power, you guys [Besigye, Muntu and Tumukunde] who are useless when I am still in power and want me to push you like a wheelbarrow, where will they take Uganda?” wondered Museveni.
“Let me stay since Ugandans still want me. I will go if a useful person comes and I see where to leave Uganda.”
While Besigye, Museveni’s fiercest opponent for two decades, has simply ignored the president’s statements, Tumukunde and Muntu have fired back.
Tumukunde reminded Museveni it was he who had helped him resolve the problem of terrorism when he (Museveni) and his government seemed stuck.
For Muntu, who formerly served as an army commander, Museveni is simply under pressure piled on him by the opposition.
“Gen Museveni is feeling the pressure, that’s why he is lashing out. But I don’t know what success looks like to him! As for us at Alliance for National Transformation-Uganda, we remain faithful to the values that we have held onto all this time,” Muntu said.
He added that Museveni’s definition of success could be warped.
“Gen Museveni who is talking about us having failed if he calls remaining disciplined and not stealing people’s money failing, I don’t know what he thinks success looks like!” he continued.
“We have withstood pressures and temptations and we have remained steadfast on the ideals that we were fighting for. To me, that is success; to him, it is failure! I don’t know what success looks like in his eyes.”
In power since 1986 when he took over power following a five-year bush war, Museveni is seeking to extend his rule to four decades.
In the January 14, 2021 election, Museveni will for the first time since 2001 not be competing with Besigye.
But he will not be free from competition.
He is up against Besigye protégé Patrick Oboi Amuriat (POA) of the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), two of his (Museveni’s) bush war comrades – Muntu and Tumukunde – Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine of the National Unity Platform (NUP), and Norbert Mao of the Democratic Party.
Others are: Joseph Kiiza Kabuleta, John Katumba, Willy Mayambala, Fred Mwesigye and Nancy Kalembe.
