President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to resign from his military rank of lieutenant-general in order to concentrate on party politics will have little effect on the ongoing effort to root out the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) from northern Uganda, according to an opposition MP.
The Ugandan media on Wednesday reported that the high commend of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) had cleared Museveni to quit the army, following an application he made in October seeking permission to retire.
In it, he cited the need to concentrate on running his newly registered political party, the National Resistance Movement Organisation, Uganda’s independent daily, The Monitor, reported. “I have requested the army high command to allow me to concentrate on making the foundation of our Movement party and, good enough, they have allowed me,” the paper quoted Museveni as saying.
Under a new Armed Forces Bill, expected to be passed by parliament this month, all soldiers, including those serving on local councils and in parliament, will have to quit politics.
Cecilia Ogwal, the opposition MP for Lira, one of the areas worst affected by the LRA insurgency, said that Museveni’s retirement from the army was unlikely to change the current military focus on the rebels, because constitutionally he was still the UPDF “commander-in-chief”.
Rather, she said, the move confirmed Museveni’s plan to remain in power even after the lapse of his second and final term in 2006. “The president’s retirement was predicted,” Ogwal said. “It is a clear manifestation of the fact that he is still interested to continue in active politics.”
Last year, Museveni camped for several months in Gulu, northern Uganda, as the UPDF’s top commander, to personally supervise the ongoing military operations against LRA. As commander in chief of the UPDF, Ogwal said, Museveni was expected to retain most of his power over the army even though he was no longer a soldier.
“It will not have any effect. He is the one who set up the system,” Ogwal said.
“Museveni has been a leader for the last 18 years and, during the 18 years he has been changing his colour. He came in as a real military man, now he’s a civilian,” Ogwal said. – Irin