Trump, the Comedian, sparks the USA Prediential race!

Generally speaking, USA presidential politics has no room for the poor and definitely no room for going to the ‘Luwero’ bush in order to become a president. Apparently, during Viet Nam war, Donald Trump rode in his father’s limousine while John McCain flew fighter planes in combat,and the only reason the later is “famous” was his sudden inability to fly one of those planes.

Mbu Trump got out serving due to a bone spur and he doesn’t
even remember which foot he claimed it was on. He also got caught using illegal workers when building the Trump tower. Yet he’s going to make Mexico pay for the wall he wants to build to keep illegals(Mexicans) out.

In the UK, we rarely get this kind of entertainment during elections. It last felt like this when John Prescot was still Deputy PM and Blair was PM. Prescot was our ‘Trump’ then as he was so funny, man. In Uganda, It would be fun if Gen.Otafiire decides to stand for presidency too but he wasn’t born rich. Trump is great entertainment right now in what would otherwise be a pretty boring start-of-the-campaign season.

The only thing, i suspect, Americans like about Trump is saying exactly what he thinks regardless of the consequences. But if he stays in the race, then Hilary will have a cakewalk! In all honesty, I cannot see Trump ever becoming the president of USA despite his billions!

WHO IS POLICING THE PRESIDENCY IN UGANDA?

Friends,

JPAM is being abused and abased by the NRM-Museveni, and its not fair. It’s only Besigye supporters allowed to do so to this gentleman.All those attacking him would hardly be considered the linchpins of NRM political thought. JPAM has advanced his presidential case by using—some say abusing—the coercive defacto ‘presidential’ power granted him while still in govt. And the Museveni administration has sought to use the state machinery against him.It has sought to win allies not by detailing the merits of its case but by appealing to partisan sympathies in form of church donations(Mbarara), media thuggery(Andrew M. Mwenda on NTV, Wanyama Don Innocent in Newvision, e.t.c), police thuggery, Facebook lumpiness, e.t.c. Its very unfortunate that the 30 years of NRM political ‘evolution’, culminating in the 1995 Constitution,haven’t rendered such primitive methods obsolete.

To complete the irony, M7 doesn’t care how he’s perceived by the below 35 years anymore–he could whip anyone who dares him in the name of the Constitution and the rule of law.He has hopelessly discredited the office of the presidency as it now exists, and it hurts that we cannot do much about it for now. I bet a lot of political activists dream of either being arrested, killed and ‘punished’ in some way for campaigning against the ‘boss’.

We basically need an equivalent of the USA’s independent counsel law—the legislation to prevent abuses of power by the presidency which was passed by Congress in 1978, in the aftermath of Watergate.An institutional check on the presidency is very necessary.Yes, that’s right—the presidency, not the president. The president is an individual; the presidency is an institution. Or, to be more precise, two institutions: the executive branch, which was created by the Constitution and comprises the Cabinet and independent agencies, and “the presidential branch,” the term political scientists use to describe the State House staff and the staff of the Executive Office.

Unlike the Cabinet ministers,State House and Executive Office aides are not confirmed by the parliament.This removes one of the major constitutional checks on presidential power. For instance, Major Edith Nakalema is probably more powerful than a cabinet minister, but we’ve got no powers over her at all. We cannot even sack her if we think she’s doing a bad job.Often,presidential aides goal is not good government, but good press and good poll ratings for their boss, but we are the one paying all these people’s salaries. They make illegitimate partisan interference in the day-to-day operations of government practically inevitable.

Furthermore, Tamare Mirundi was sacked as a presidential spokesperson but he’s now a presidential advisor, but the tax payer doesn’t know exactly why or if he deserves being an advisor to anybody. Our MPs should really take these issues seriously and get it on records that, at least, they tried asking.

The Attorney General(AG) is responsible for supervising the impartial administration of justice by law enforcement officials. At the same time, he or she is also a political appointee and is expected to be part of the president’s partisan team—even to serve as the president’s attorney. An attorney general cannot be counted on to remain unbiased while investigating possible criminal or unethical activity on the part of his or her boss and colleagues. For instance, AG allowed JPAM to do his consultations but the NRM executive of which the president is the Chairman didnt agree. The AG found himself losing his tongue and doing nothing about this insidious abuse of the law by the presidency.And the threat posed by a corrupt or excessively partisan attorney general is genuine.

Right now, participation in the presidential elections only gives the Besigyes the chance to do political activism and enlightening Ugandans more about their rights and powers, obviously with the hope that the tide may change, but we all know that at the end of this process, only M7 will remain the president. And this hurts a little bit! Nze bwendaba banange!

Abbey.K.Semuwemba
UK