Robert Muhereza
30 June 2008
Kabale — President Yoweri Museveni has said he is too strong at the grassroots to be bothered by alleged schemes of some NRM old guard who plan to oust him.
"I am not worried about those reported to be planning to oust me because it is not the first time that such a thing is being planned," the President said. "NRM is like a train, if somebody feels he wants to jump in or out it is his/her will to do so," Mr Museveni told reporters on Saturday at White Horse Inn in Kabale, where he had spent the night after handing over the chairmanship of the East African Community to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
"NRM is focused and it's the focused politicians that can understand its operations. Those who cannot be with it and its leaders, can go to where they feel they belong," the President added.
The NRM, he said, has become a way of life because of its track record in leadership and development. Some recent press reports have suggested that a group of NRM historicals, some of them former ministers, are plotting a strategy that would ensure that Mr Museveni does not get elected in 2011, if he chooses to stand.
Saturday Monitor, quoting intelligence and security sources, reported that the anti-Museveni group was in the process of putting together "a carefully crafted grand strategy" to defeat Mr Museveni in 2011.
The report followed claims by Presidential Adviser Roland Kakooza Mutale, who recently told NRM supporters in Luweero that there was a group of 10 individuals within the NRM who are working clandestinely to unite and strengthen the opposition.
The group, which includes a minister currently serving in Mr Museveni's government, is said to be working closely with elements in the opposition.
Some of the high profile plotters named in the Saturday report include Local Government Minister Kahinda Otafiire, ex-ministers Jim Muhwezi, Tom Butime, Edward Rugumayo, Amanya Mushega, Richard Kaijuka; and former ISO chief Henry Tumukunde.
They are allegedly joined by other influential NRM historical members who have since joined the opposition or are quietly waiting for the opportunity to do so.
Most of the plotters, according to the report, are former government or military officials who are now out of favour with the government, and are focused on denying Mr Museveni majority wins in his traditional strongholds in the west, east and some parts of Buganda.
"One of the strategies is to join a group of Baganda and Catholic leaders who are fronting the Vice President, Prof Gilbert Bukenya, to stand against Mr Museveni during the NRM primaries scheduled for early 2011," a source was quoted as saying.
All the alleged plotters that spoke to Saturday Monitor denied the allegations, saying Mr Museveni was being fed on bogus information.
Mr Museveni has not said unequivocally that he will seek to retain the presidency in 2011, but most of his public comments since 2006 have suggested that he is not about to quit.
Mr Museveni, who will have ruled uninterrupted for 25 years in 2011, is the NRM chairman and will have to win his party's nomination to stand for reelection in 2011.
He has won three consecutive elections--in 1996, in 2001 and in 2006--but the last two elections were discredited by widespread allegations of vote irregularities and malpractices.
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