14 September 2009
opinion
Moses Wilson faced formidable odds in his long quest to become president of the Ugandan North American Association (UNAA). A very successful businessman in his home state of California, Mr Wilson was a veteran of UNAA presidential elections.
In 2007, Mr Wilson narrowly lost by 10 votes to Mr Frank Musisi, a lieutenant in the US army reserves. After that loss, Mr Wilson wrote a farewell letter announcing his retirement from UNAA politics.
"I have served UNAA faithfully for 15 years and retire now with the satisfaction of knowing that I gave the organisation my best," Mr Wilson wrote on September 5, 2007.
Few who knew Mr Wilson's abilities and his commitment to UNAA were willing to grant him his wish. My public response to the Wilson Farewell letter typified the sentiments of many. "We won't let you retire yet," I wrote on UNAANET, an Internet discussion forum. "Your work is not yet done. Take your break, but soon we shall call upon you to help us move forward."
Soon we began to hear reports that Lt. Musisi's one-man show had reduced the UNAA board to a dysfunctional state of perpetual conflict. Most of the UNAA board was in open revolt. The board's internal fights were taken to the public discussion fora.
Longstanding members of UNAA, disillusioned by Musisi's militarist style, began to abandon the organisation. By the time the 2008 convention ended in Orlando, Florida, it was evident to many that UNAA needed to be saved from Musisi's personalised and dysfunctional leadership. The man to do so was Mr Wilson of Los Angeles. It did not take much to persuade Mr Wilson to come out of retirement. Happy to oblige, out of a genuine desire to salvage the organisation and, one suspects, a residual itch to defeat the man who had robbed him of a chance to lead UNAA, Mr Wilson announced his intention to seek the presidency once again. Little did he realise that he was about to save UNAA, not just from Lt. Musisi but from Gen. Yoweri Museveni.
The campaign to unseat Musisi began in earnest. Veterans of UNAA quietly formed a network that carried out an underground campaign. Many who had sworn never to attend any more UNAA conventions, agreed to travel to Chicago in September 2009 to save the organisation from Afande Musisi.
The Wilson team, though not as boisterous as the Musisi supporters, was confident of victory come Chicago 2009. What they did not count on was the entry into the race by a young man by the names of Flex Kabuye Kayanja, brother of UPDF Brigadier Elly Kayanja.
Kabuye, a likeable and down-to-earth businessman from Atlanta, Georgia, was everything that Wilson was not. Wilson, a graduate of elite schools in Uganda and the United States, spoke English with a perfect fluency that was very easy on the ear. Kabuye, very fluent in Luganda, spoke a version of English that demanded patient concentration from the listener. Wilson came across as aloof and impatient, especially in dealing with the proletariat. Kabuye, at ease with all social classes, mingled and shot the breeze with everyone, especially the all important recent arrivals who were still struggling to realise their American dream.
Wilson reportedly did not attend funeral wakes, weddings and barbecues in his hometown of Los Angeles. Kabuye was known to travel long distances to support bereaved families, including making large financial contributions towards funeral expenses.
In short, Wilson belonged to the elite club of Ugandan professionals and businessmen who had abandoned the traditions of Uganda.
Kabuye was a man of the people.
Kabuye had one more potential advantage over Wilson. He had lots of money, not just from his personal savings, but mostly from the Ugandan taxpayer. Kabuye's candidacy was financed by the NRM government, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, not only as a means of removing Musisi from the UNAA leadership, but also as the regime's final assault on an organisation whose total control had been coveted by Kampala for nearly 10 years.
While Wilson had never shown any hostility towards the NRM, he was too independent to serve the Kampala regime's interests. A Kabuye presidency would deliver UNAA to Rwakitura, a new "district" abroad to be used and misused by Gen. Museveni regime, especially in the run-up to the 2011 elections.
Unfortunately for Kabuye, such an obvious link to the NRM was the kiss of death. Ugandans in the Diaspora are severely allergic to all things NRM. So, even before the delegates arrived in Chicago, the race was really between Musisi and Wilson. For his part, Musisi was counting on support from Buganda's leaders and the large anti-NRM constituency in the USA. He presented himself as the champion of Mengo's struggle against the Museveni regime. But in so doing, Musisi inadvertently alienated the non-Baganda vote, which went to Wilson.
What doubts remained about who the eventual winner would be, were erased at the presidential debate on Saturday September 5. On debate night, Musisi, using one of his supporters in Chicago, sought a legal injunction to stop the elections from taking place.
Announcing this to a stunned audience, Musisi was now trying to sabotage a convention that he was presiding over. His fate was sealed. The debate moderator assured Musisi that his legal maneuver would not work. The election would proceed as planned and the good lieutenant might as well join in.
Musisi promptly changed his tone, urging his supporters to turn up in large numbers and vote for him in an election he had just tried to stop. He then proceeded to offer a schizophrenic display that reminded Ugandans of the erratic military rule that had driven some of them out of their country.
It was over for Musisi. Many who were wavering abandoned him that night. Some members of the Buganda delegation confided after the debate that their vote would go to Mr Wilson. After all, was he not the great grandson of Ham Mukasa and therefore a cousin of Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi II?
Meanwhile, Kabuye's support, such as was left of it, dwindled further, following his poor performance at the debate. The Uganda government ministers, MPs, diplomats and others who had been openly campaigning for Kabuye whispered to us that they were now throwing their lot to Mr Wilson.
By the time the polls opened on Sunday September 6, the question was not who would win the presidency of UNAA, but by what margin Mr Wilson's victory would be.
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