Crossfire: Museveni responds to Bobi Wine’s claims in stinging open letter

The interim leader of NUP/ “people power” Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu (Bobi Wine) recently made a 7-issue unsolicited response to a statement posted by the NRM National Chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, on social media addressed to Bazzukulu and all Ugandans.

Here is a “one arm” public counter response to Bobi Wine from Office of the National Chairman, NRM (ONC)-Kyambogo

ON BOBI WINE CLAIMS THAT MUSEVENI’S ACTS OF WORSHIP & REOPENING PLACES OF WORSHIP

Had it not been for Bobi Wine and his group and some other deniers of the existence of Covid-19, the whole country, not just places of worship, would be totally out of lockdown.

Ugandans are disciplined people but they are being misled by agents of disruption who tell them that there is no Covid-19 like Francis Zaake, a whole Member of Parliament.

On the one hand, you see them wearing masks but on the other, they encourage citizens to flout safety guidelines.

These are killers and the law should handle them appropriately if they insist on destroying chances for restoring normalisation.

About Godliness, it is only the Most High who can judge who is upright and only He decides which prayers to accept or reject. Above all, only He will decide when places of worship will reopen and will eventually take away the terrible disease that has placed His people in captivity.

Indeed, it is He who “appoints” or removes leaders, since He has control over all things, including life and death.

THAT SFC WAS OUT TO KILL HIM IN ARUA

If SFC were out to kill Bobi Wine, they wouldn’t have missed. Elsewhere, Bobi Wine is to be blamed for putting his associates in harm’s way as indeed he has always done.

His irresponsible and provocative public conduct is legendary from way before he joined politics.

Everybody saw what he and fellow opposition MPs did desecrating Parliament when they staged violent protests in its precincts until they were ejected by security.

They were fooling themselves that they would block Parliament from transacting normal business for which MPs are paid.

In the unfortunate case of Yasin Kawuma (driver), after stocking trouble by pelting the President’s motorcade with stones in Arua, the main group fled from the scene and left the driver in a precarious situation.

While “the victim” (Bobi Wine) claims to have been tortured, he is on record bragging as having beaten “obusajja bwa SFC” (small men of SFC).

It’s on record that he put up resistance deluding himself that he could defeat the well trained commandos and he reaped thorough beatings. There is no apology for that.

The Kyaddondo East MP should present medical records proving the extent of torture he claims to have suffered and receive due legal redress and compensation. Failing that, he should retract the empty claims and apologise to Ugandans.

ON KILLING OWN SUPPORTERS AND SHIFTING BLAME TO GOVERNMENT 

About the deceased associates that he names and accuses Government of killing them, and President Museveni of ordering their killings, Bobi Wine is not telling the whole story and investigations have established the exact circumstances under which the deceased met their deaths. There is no need to panic. Facts will soon bite!

The monotony of naming disgraced former leaders in other countries is noted! There is nothing to say except that they had their lubimbi and did what they did, to acclaim and condemnation in varying measure. Museveni is different. Uganda has its unique matters to attend to.

ON YOUTHS AND S.I.G ELECTIONS WHICH NUP LOST

Bobi Wine and his NUP/”people power” lost the S.I.G elections and there are no excuses to flaunt.

Once you are unprepared you accept to lose instead of raising lame lamentations. Where you are not satisfied with outcomes, you petition the courts, not lament on social media.

The claim is always that Museveni has overstayed and NRM is unpopular.

Then why doesn’t NRM lose totally? Aren’t there the old opposition parties to carry the day since NUP is a new party? So how does the same NUP expect to win the general elections when the ground has already shifted?

Which free and fair elections will fix NUP’s amateur game for it to emerge winner? NUP even lost in its own backyard.

By the way, NRM is not competing with NUP. There is no basis in political formation. They just happen to operate in the same field. That is all.

ON ALLEGED TRIBALISM IN GOVERNMENT

Bobi Wine is in the same league of shame of those who undermine leaders appointed to offices of authority. In the end, those leaders are undermined and rendered useless, fought by their own kinsmen.

For some leaders, when appointed to high office they lose focus and fail to serve and leave a legacy. The result is falling from grace.

Instead of appreciating President Museveni for identifying suitable persons to appoint, he is demonised when they betray their legacies and hated when he revokes such secondment.

It should also be known that most appointees of the President are approved by Parliament of which Bobi Wine is a member.

Why doesn’t the Kyaddondo East MP stop them when in Parliament? Isn’t that the role of MPs, for which they are paid? How can a supposed Honourable member transact “work” on social media and on the street? Other appointments are made by respective organisations basing on set out criteria of which ethnic origin is none of them.

Can Bobi Wine tell the country why NUP is controlled by himself, family, relatives and friends? Which change is he advocating which he cannot practice?

On State House scholarships, can Bobi Wine release the list of beneficiaries rather than raise unaccompanied allegations? 

ON NRM NATIONAL CHAIRMAN MUSEVENI CALLING UPDF HIS ARMY AND ALLEGED TRIBALISM IN FORCES

Bobi Wine is least able to comprehend military doctrine and the structure of command and deployment. All he knows is the berets and mock fatigues purchased on the open market. Every soldier has influence in their own right.

Without a single soldier, the force is incomplete. Our soldiers are proud of their service regardless of the mockery they face from those who are used to earning big for doing nothing.

Over time, soldiers’ pay, and that of other service men and women, has been enhanced as permissible by the resource envelope.

By rushing to “offer” them higher pay, Bobi Wine thinks that men and women in service will be enticed to vote him but their conscience is not for sale. They have received such offers before but chosen to serve their commission with dignity and self-sacrifice.

That’s why UPDF is an outstanding, efficient and transformational institution which Ugandans are proud of and each is proud to call “mine”. Small thinkers can’t see this yet they don’t want to learn the dynamics of language in motion.

Are we being made to understand that Banyankole are under attack on account of serving their country?

Well, they are hearing everything but, as the head of state said, the army should be kept out of tribal talk because when enemies attack, they don’t ask who is from which tribe before shooting. The army can speak for themselves and have their own MPs to raise their issues.

Moreover, UPDF is an institution of national character where nobody has ever been turned away on any sectarian ground.

CALLING GOVERNMENT MONEY “EVIL MONEY” AND DEALING WITH FOREIGNERS TO DESTABILIZE UGANDA

Bobi Wine, as a Member of Parliament, is part of Government and earns pay from the NRM Government, the same Government he talks ill of day and night, home and abroad. What hypocrisy! Why does he draw a salary from a bad Government if he deems himself so clean?

Government of Uganda deals with foreign Governments at bilateral or multilateral level, as the case may be, on reciprocally beneficial terms spelt out in formal terms that are on public record.

Bobi Wine’s dealings with foreigners are on personal aggrandisement basis. Unfortunately, he has trapped a few gullible Ugandans in his schemes to grow his own chest.

However, some have woken up and opted out of the plot and they are revealing a lot.

The dealings which Museveni (NRA) had with foreigners during the Liberation struggle were all in Africa’s interest by Africans.

Bobi Wine cannot understand this since his perspective is limited to Uganda, and even in Uganda it is to a small section of inward looking interests. Museveni’s mission has always been long and protracted, and Afrocentric.

On the economic value of support from development partners, Bobi Wine is not expected to understand the calculations. Securing such support alone is a sign of donor trust.

If they didn’t have that trust, they would totally cut off dealings with Uganda, something Bobi Wine and fellow enemies of progress have been pushing in vain. They will reap misery for their treachery! 

CONCLUSION

On quoting the late Rt. Hon. Eriya Kategaya, Bobi Wine is bargaining for more than he can grasp. The Kategaya he “worships” was inspired by NRM National Chairman Museveni, his bosom trailblazing friend.

There is little that Bobi Wine can tell Museveni about Kategaya. While Kategaya lived, Museveni did for him a lot more than an ordinary friend would, a fact that the former acknowledged without reservation.

The Bobi Wines are pure “basiima ogenze” (they appreciate those who are dead while demeaning the living) class. Leave NRM’s revolutionaries out of cheap politics!

This response was written by the Office of the National Chairman, NRM (ONC)-Kyambogo, on behalf of President Yoweri Museveni

Below is Bobi Wine’s letter:

Bobi Wine to Museveni: Do you live in Uganda or you’re just a pathetic liar

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