{President Museveni is reportedly holding secret talks with former presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi with the latter’s eldest daughter, Ms Rachel Ciconco, acting as a go-between.}
This newspaper understands that overtures for reconciliation between the two have been in the works for several months, including gifting of books, but a decisive meeting on the initiative happened just before Christmas.
In that 9-10pm meeting at State House, Entebbe, on December 23, Ms Ciconco and the President reportedly spoke in detail on possible ways he could reset relationship with Mr Mbabazi after falling out two years ago.
We were unable to speak to Mr Mbabazi directly for this article since our repeated calls to him went unanswered. Ms Ciconco, however, confirmed the latest meeting but declined to give details.
“Yes, I have met the President on several occasions. However, it is bad manners to disclose what one discusses with one’s elders,” she said.
Until a couple of years ago, Mr Museveni and Mr Mbabazi enjoyed personal and political camaraderie spanning four decades.
Things began faltering in early 2014 when the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) caucus, in a motion introduced by current State minister for Investment and Privatisation Evelyn Anite, ring-fenced the party’s presidential flag bearer slot for the incumbent.
The relationship later hit rock bottom and Mr Mbabazi, then the prime minister and secretary general of NRM, was booted out from both powerful positions.
He stood as an Independent in the 2016 February elections and garnered only 132,574 votes, ending in a distant third position among eight contenders.
Mr Mbabazi has largely maintained silence, occasionally appearing at non-State public functions, since the Supreme Court where he challenged the election results ruled that Mr Museveni was validly re-elected.
News that Ms Ciconco is brokering talks between her father and the President is not surprising, considering the clout she holds in the Mbabazi family.
At his inaugural campaign rally at Nakivubo stadium following his nomination, the former prime minister told a frenzied crowd of supporters that “here in the place of my wonderful wife (Jacqueline who was indisposed) are my daughter Rachel Ciconco Mbabazi and my sister Ms Juliet Tumusiime Bagwowabo.”
Asked about the reported warming up of relations between the President and his former ally, the Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Don Wanyama, said he was not aware of the behind-the-scenes initiatives and “I cannot comment”.
However, sources close to the ex-premier intimated that there have been proposals to reconcile the two, something Mr Mbabazi is open to as long as it “has to be within a structured mechanism of dialogue”.
Four-time presidential challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye, had used the “structured dialogue” phrase a day earlier as he set five pre-conditions for talks with Museveni about Uganda’s governance and future. It remained unclear if the packaging of the response about the talks is a secretly agreed reply by the actors to any related inquiries.
On Monday, Dr Besigye said any efforts at dialogue would be acceptable to him only if the talk is formally structured with a mutually agreed agenda; is facilitated by a mutually respected mediator; clarifies mechanisms for implementation of the resolutions; and, the parties are treated as equals.
Mr Museveni has previously said he is open to unconditional dialogue if is not about power-sharing or matters already resolved by the country’s Constitution.
A senior NRM party official, who offered to broker talks between the duo, told this newspaper in an interview the principals were both receptive and a deal is a “matter of time anytime this year”.
Breaking the ice for the Museveni-Mbabazi talks, a source said, was easier because they did not engage in name-calling or altercations during the campaigns, although their supporters fought on occasions during the vote-canvassing.
During the campaigns, Mr Museveni and Mbabazi maintained an uncanny level of respect for each other, abstaining from personal attacks with the President consistently referring to the former prime minister as “my young brother.”
Mbabazi on the other hand stayed away from discussing his fall-out with President Museveni, preferring to stick to his Go Forward campaign points.
{{Background}}
There have lately been public signs of President Museveni and Mbabazi warming up to each other. At a wedding at Lake Victoria Serena Hotel of Mr Amanya Katabrwa and Olivia Gyezaho, a son to the late Sam Katabarwa, a National Resistance Army rebel commander killed before Museveni took power in 1986, Mr Museveni reportedly said he had no personal grudge against Mbabazi. The President who was reported to be in a jovial mood asked why “my brother (Mbabazi) who abandoned me is not here”.
He then recounted to the audience the history of NRA and mentioned the pivotal role both Katabarwa and Mbabazi played. On Christmas, Mr Museveni who was invited for the 50th wedding anniversary of Mr James Zatwoshaho at Kikungiri Church of Uganda in Kabale Town delegated Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda with a Shs10 million gift. Mr Zatwoshaho is Mbabazi’s former primary school teacher while his wife Joy is a sister to Mbabazi’s wife, Jacqueline.
Leave a Reply