Former presidential candidate Lt Gen (Rtd) Henry Kakurugu Tumukunde has blasted his successor security minister Gen Elly Tumwine for blowing his trumpet on President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s peaceful power transition.
In his handover speech this week, Gen Tumwine said he will use his new role as senior presidential advisor on security to advise Museveni to leave power peacefully as a way of securing Uganda’s stability.
Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986. In May, he started a new five-year term at the end of which he will have led Uganda for four decades.
The outgoing security minister feels it’s high time Museveni prepared for a smooth power transition and an honorable retirement.
Gen Tumwine handed over to former bush war comrade Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi.
He had succeeded Lt Gen Tumukunde in 2018.
But Tumwine’s statement on advising Museveni on transition have irked Tumukunde.
Tumukunde reminded Tumwine he was not a monopolist of trumpets.
He emphasized the need for continuity as a way of securing the future and stability of Uganda.
“It’s easy to blow your own trumpet and forget that others have trumpets too,” Tumukunde reminded Tumwine.
“But that is not the point.The key point is there is no better way to safeguard the future of our country than to ensure and plan for its continuity.”
In her 59-year post-independence history, Uganda is yet to see a peaceful transition of power.
In his 1986 inaugural speech, Museveni diagnosed the problem of Africa as leaders who overstay in power.
