Controversial John Nagenda Desperately Wants President Museveni Step Down From Power before 2021!

Controversial John Nagenda Desperately Wants President Museveni Step Down From Power Before 2021!

Mr. John Nagenda, is a senior Ugandan media personality known for writing a weekly column full of very difficult grammar.  His writings have exposed him as one of the most arrogant and uncompromising figures in the country who seems not to know the meaning of words like humility , courtesy and tolerance. 

At best you can call him a bigot.

While writing in his popular but snobbish column known as One Man’s Week, the highly opinionated presidential advisor has never hidden his desire to witness the peaceful transition of power from president Museveni to another Uganda, a topic that no Ugandan in government can dare discuss.
 

But Mr. Nagenda  has always fell short of mentioning the person he deems fit to fill the big shoes of the Ugandan presidency which Mr. Museveni has occupied for the last 30 years and on course to  make it 35 years after the end of his current reign in 2021.

Last Saturday he reiterated his desire by writing about the beauty of the Tanzanian two term limit format which has seen four tanzanian presidents (Ben Mkapa, Hassan Mwinyi and Jakaya Kikwete and now john pombe Magufuli)serving in the last thirty years, the same period the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has single-handedly been at the helm of power.

The 78 year old Nagenda is about six years older than president Museveni and both men have had a sweet sour relationship.

  Nagenda’s desire for peaceful transition of power from Museveni, directly affects his job security as media advisor to the president.

Although he is rumored to be a farmer, his job as presidential advisor remains the only officially known source of income. His other source of income is the weekly column which he eagerly writes without fail every Saturday in The Newvision newspaper.

His controversial opinions therefore endanger his livelihood.

Over the years he has poked his nose into very sensitive national matters.

A few years ago, he was quoted by the wiki leaks saying that the First Lady, Janet Museveni, as “a very extreme woman” who was behind the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and President Museveni as being “quite intemperate”, which means too extreme.

 By doing that Nagenda was trading on very slippery ground since there is an unwritten script that forbids Ugandans from criticizing the first family in general and Janet Museveni in particular.

The only sacrificial lamb from the first family that can be criticized and nothing happens, is President Yoweri Museveni. 

But even then, criticizing president Museveni has its own limits, since it’s only permissible as long as it doesn’t endanger his stronghold on power.

A good example of casualties of this rule was president Museveni‘s childhood friend Eriya Kategaya who was sacked from cabinet for opposing the continued stay of president Museveni in power.

The late Eriya Kategaya opposed the lifting of the term limits that paved way for president Museveni to contest in 2006 elections after the expiry of his constitutional term in 2005.

Kategaya went on to join the Forum For Democratic Change but was later reintegrated back into cabinet after reports that he was socially not doing well. He later died while serving as minster for east African community affairs.

At that time it was reported that Kategaya’s health was badly affected when he was sacked from government.  He reportedly couldn’t sustain the same lifestyle he enjoyed while in cabinet. 

Now Mr. John Nagenda is doing g exactly what Kategaya did; chopping the fingers that are feed him.

Some few years ago, Nagenda was interviewed by a Ugandan daily and he openly spoke out on Museveni’s long reign in power, saying Museveni had become “more autocratic”, “mischievous” and “no longer listens”. 

In the same interview, Nagenda said the First Lady is the only opposition voice in Cabinet.

The interview was the crescendo to the spat between Nagenda and Museveni, in which the President, while addressing teachers at State House, Entebbe, August 27, 2012 said “unlike some of those who engage in arrogance over Mabira, I do not drink alcohol or go to bars. I always think about developing Uganda for the well-being of Ugandans.”
President Museveni appeared to be reacting to Nagenda’s position against his (Museveni’s) insistence on giving away part of Mabira forest for sugarcane growing.
Nagenda, in his next column in Saturday Vision on September 3 2012, admitted thus: “Your columnist certainly and unashamedly enjoys a drink – come to that, many kinds of the stuff, each having its own place in the hierarchy of a meal. Rather than a bar, I repair to my seat at our table at the club.
A drink with others brings camaraderie where many things can be discussed, where for that moment they feel equals. I recommend it. I doubt, however, that I can convince some persons. Let’s admit: Equal-ness can form dangerous expectations!”
It’s highly unlikely that Nagenda will be sacked as a media advisor to the president but he is trading on very slippery ground. 

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