THE NATION, THE DEBATE, and THE CANDIDATES – PART II

Am just going to be as brief as I can, first I would like to thank the Organizers for their choice of the three key players in this debate:

1-The two moderators: (Ms Nancy Kacungira and Mr Allan Kasujja)
2-The master of Ceremony (Mr Samson Kasumba of Urban Television. And I wish he was one of the moderators to make three. Guy has good head too). It is amazing that the above three are all products of the western world education, culture and influence.

Given my knowledge of what a debate is and how it should look like, the moderators did a great job and whoever says they were not fair is because they come from different worlds and what was done in Africa isn’t African. So thanks guys. Another thing is that the problem wasn’t with the moderators, the issue was with the debaters who could not think and answer off-head. They came carrying their manifestos hoping that the debate was more of an academic examination that asks from class lecture notes…woe unto us.

Assessment: according to me:

Madam Maureen Kyakya was the best in OPENING STATEMENTS. and from that we never heard from her. The rest she was vibrating and rapping like any other woman in a nigiina circle. She sounded sectarian (busoga, busoga, West Nile studies under trees etc), and she eventually asked from a misinformed point of view (Besigye did you marry Museveni’s sister..arrrgh).

Mr Abed Bwanika was the best in answering to QUESTIONS ABOUT GOVERNANCE. this man looked informed, had facts, researched, coherent and corresponding to issues at hand. He said his greatest disappointment was the quality of our members of Parliament (legislatures) and he wondered how we can fix national governance with disabled leaders like the MPs who ought to be village chiefs (LC1).

Dr kizza Besigye was the best in addressing the ECONOMY QUESTIONS. the key economic question was about DEBT REDUCTION…and Kizza Besigye responded proper to the “HOW” question better than the rest…the rest were buried in the “WHAT” question yet the key question was: HOW?

Mr Abed Bwanika was again the best in addressing questions on: POLICY, SOCIAL SERVICES, and GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE. He sounded clearer on WHAT is the problem and demonstrated a logical transition from WHAT to WHY and HOW…in issues like education, agriculture, hospitals, building foundations and restructuring systems.

Prof. Baryamureeba Venantius and Major General Benon Biraaro are people “whose every problem is a nail and whose every solution is a hammer”. According to Prof. Baryamureeba, if we utilize ICT then every problem of Uganda is solved. And when it comes to Major General, for him he argues: fix agriculture and everything else is okay…uhhhm!!

Mr Amama Mbabazi performed very well in “non-issues” (questions not about the nation but from other candidates). He suffered “reputation concerns” and this reflected how he is viewed in the public. However he was shrewd and smart in all his rhetoric as he answered each question. He answered Baryamureeba’s question about basing their candidacy on Museven better than Besisgye. And he answered Besigye’s exposing question about vote rigging in a very scientific way.

Mr Mabirizi Joseph spiced the entire debate with comedy, and he always relieved all of us the viewers from the tension and seriousness….though he was serious and honest as a presidential candidate. He officially gave us many “Comical Breaks” and we all laughed even before he said a word. However this actually established that every election has its Ssebagala and am very sure Mabirizi would make another Iddi Amin if the world was still where it was 50yrs ago. In fact Mabirizi is a prophesy to all of us in two ways:

1-for Mabirizi to have collected all these signatures around the country shows how much of our population is made of the Mabirizi quality of mindset and calibre.
2-for Mabirizi to have been vetted by the electoral commission of Uganda reveals how this institution views the office of the president. Having Mabirizi as a presidential candidate is a prophecy that says: if we don’t review our presidential requirements we might end up with a Mabirizi in the state house. Regions please help us.

So according to me if we vote according to the debate…Abed Bwanika should be the next president. He killed it and performed better than all of them. His only problem was….that one of the candidates was absent…and that was my father President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni…with him in the race, poor Abed has no chance but to go to bed.

I think we should ask our regions through all organs of governance to conduct such debates even at the level of MPs, Political Parties (like FDC did), University Guilds, and other social services key offices. Let us turn our nation into a debating country on each and every pertinent issue. As we debate, we will shift the public from what I call PHYSIOLOGICAL-EMOTIONAL voting to EMOTIONAL-INTELLIGENCE voting. Our people are still physically driven than they are psychologically oriented…that is why Mugisha Muntu was the best FDC flag bearer based on issues but Besigye came collected more votes… Uhhhmm! My Africa.

I T WHITE
@Think & Become (Inspirational Link)
+256-793-822833