The debate about President Yoweri Museveni’s successor has been on for a long time although the ruling National Resistance (NRM) Party has distanced itself from it.
However, Ruth Nankabirwa, the Government Chief Whip thinks NRM is prepared to continue ruling Uganda even when Museven is out of office.
The Kiboga Woman MP advises Ugandans to move on from debate on who will succeed Museveni, saying NRM isn’t barren and the children in the party are not planning to fight their elders but rather wait for their time to rise to power.
“NRM isn’t barren, we have produced people who respect their elders, who don’t plan to kill their parents so that they can become heirs,” Nankabirwa said.
The lawmaker made the remarks Friday while meeting with journalists at Parliament.
This was after she was asked on why NRM is silent on debating the party chairman’s succession.
Asked if NRM has already identified successor among the children, Nankabirwa said: “NRM has children who are learning from their parents; once the parents are no longer there, we know who is stepping in, there could be a thousand of them, but we have capacity to say no, you abandoned us.”
Nankabirwa defended NRM’s decision to keep Museveni at the helm of NRM leadership, arguing that Uganda hasn’t attained full African integration, a vision they share with President Museveni.
“Unfortunately, some people just see Uganda, they are just seeing the boundaries of Uganda but for us we are beyond Uganda, we want somebody who will take us to a solid Africa, real Pan-Africanism where we go and tussle it out with the other world. For us, our President isn’t only President for Uganda; he is a real President who helps stranded countries, the President who gives ideas about North and South Korea when the rest are planning sanctions,” she said.
President Museveni took over power in 1986 and his critiques have castigated him for holding onto power for over three decades with no signs of naming successor, something they say would be catastrophic upon his departure from Uganda’s political scene.
