I had thought my column today would be about the selection of the joint presidential candidate by the opposition for which I speak, especially after Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) withdrew from the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC). Letters from the UPC leader, Olara Otunnu, found us in a Monday morning summit and all present expressed regret.

Like I have said before, during my time as a parliamentary journalist, I admired UPC MPs the most. In fact, if I were to join politics at that time, my destination would have been UPC. Legislators like Ben Wacha, the late Dr. Okullo Epak, Patrick Mwondha and Daniel Omara Atubo were exceptional. I hope you remember the UPC Constituent Assembly delegate from Arua Municipality, Zubair Atamvako.

Both Epak and Atamvako are dead, while Atubo has since joined the eating table with his former tormentors. The internal contradictions in the UPC have reduced Wacha to a bystander. Merit seemed to guide the UPC of yesterday in the selection of its leaders. The unfortunate thing is that some of these leaders applied their intelligence wrongly. It is the selection and mentoring of these intelligent people that distinguishes the UPC governments from the NRM.

Hospitals built by the UPC are still standing, while those built by the President Museveni-led NRM are collapsing on people's shoulders. It appears Apollo Milton Obote wanted to cling to power by surrounding himself with the most intelligent people, who would give him intelligent advice. Maybe that is why he faced internal revolts many times, and was twice overthrown.

Yoweri Museveni, on the other hand, has decided to surround himself with incompetent people. Many of them have no capacity to interrogate their leader. Museveni has also used patronage, as opposed to Obote's repression. The son of Kaguta, instead of locking you up in Luzira Prison, would rather buy your loyalty with billions of shillings.

I have used these two anecdotes to illustrate two incidents that have happened this week - withdrawal of the UPC from IPC, and the messy NRM elections. The UPC withdrawal could have been occasioned by many things, including internal disagreement as to the value the IPC is adding to their party. Some people inside the UPC genuinely think the FDC is using the IPC to spread its tentacles. To them IPC is FDC and FDC is IPC.

While this might be true, the FDC doesn't take the blame. Take, for example, the demonstrations we have been holding against the Electoral Commission. While the FDC leaders will arrive at the venue ahead of time, the UPC leaders will have kept monitoring the progress on cellular phones. It is this vigorous participation in IPC activities that has given the FDC more feasibility than the UPC. Interestingly, the other political party people must watch is the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by Michael Mabikke. I am not surprised DP's Mao is uncomfortable with this party's growth and has filed a complaint with the Electoral Commission over the usage of the words 'Democratic' and 'Party'.

There is a lot of value that SDP will derive from being a member of the IPC because of the vigilance of its leadership. A party that doesn't take advantage of working with others to learn and grow its membership is as good as dead. But it all depends on the leadership.

If a party chooses to elect as its parliamentary flag bearer Eddy Yawe to replace seasoned lawyer Erias Lukwago, then with or without cooperation with others, it is destined to fail. To the NRM, I am only shocked by the scale of the irregularities but not the occurrence itself.

Because of the many wrongs followers have seen their leaders do, the NRM bigwigs have lost the moral ground to call anyone to order. The party head has bribed MPs to change the constitution for him to stay in power. He, therefore, cannot reprimand anyone for the same offence.

He has unleashed terror against the opposition and sanctioned violence for him to stay on. Even when he is not the one who has ordered violence, he has rationalised it as long as it is against his or perceived opponents. Ballot boxes have been stuffed for him to win. With such a leader, things can only get worse. When a minister steals public funds and builds a hotel, the NRM leader will be the guest of honour at its inauguration.

That is why I have been calling upon Ugandans to rise up before the mafia finish off our country.

The author is the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) Spokesman.