The answer is MAYBE.
Maybe, if the opposition unites in his favor.
Maybe if realizes he needs to go beyond urban centers for mobilization.
Maybe if he improves a great deal especially his knowledge of matters to do with policy etc. etc. But see those are too many Maybes! And one might argue that the very much talked about Alliance with Bwanika, Mao and Muntu leave alone Besigye, does not call for a prophet to realize that it is a political non-starter. You might also argue it is too little too late to mobilize and build strong structures before 2021.
I can hear you, in your deep voice like that of Jon Blaq saying that Aya bus bwo bwo bwo, he cannot change as dramatically as it might be required of him, since we all know the African proverb that you cannot feed a goat the same day you want to take it to the market and expect it to grow in size dramatically, that at best is wishful thinking. But see the above question is just a question but is not THE QUESTION.
The question we all need to ask ourselves and try to answer objectively is this; IS BOBI WINE PRESIDENTIAL ENOUGH?
The answer is definitely NO! Let us not argue, that there is no such a thing as being Presidential, at best we show our naivety and at worst we are made to live in denial, either way we are doomed!
For starters, picture your high school head prefect and mess prefect. Do you remember those guys? Do you remember it was not written anywhere not in religious books and not even in a constitution? But you judged them instinctively with different standards, didn’t you?
So the naysayers will say constitutionally he is eligible to contest ergo presidential, in Kasirye’s voice constitution my foot!
Generally speaking we all can tell a presidential material when we see one, Norbert Mao Mugisha Muntu, Kiiza Besigye, Charles Peter Mayiga, Semujju Nganda and Like him or not Museveni is presidential , bitter truth, you can add on that list but please do not add Bobi Wine or Segirinya.
Feminists must be wondering why I have not yet talked about any lady in that list above, you are partly right (I don’t include them in the list for gender purposes, that is at best playing identity politics and just know I detest that stance, I add them in because they deserve to be in that list due to their capabilities) Winnie Kiiza, Rebecca Kadaga, Salam Musumba and Winnie Byanyima to me, can make good presidents cateris peribus and mark you Musumba and Kiiza Besigye can also make good first ladies that is to say, if their spouses became presidents respectively Lol
For those, that like Bobi wine like I do or even more than I do (for in honesty’s sake I’m his fan musically for lack of a better word) Forget these new songs like Kyarenga, I started following him religiously from songs like Kagoma and at some point I wished his song Kikomando was made our National Anthem, Mehn the song resonated to many Ugandans then and now!
Besides music Bobi Wine is so creative like the character in the Bureaux of Propaganda BRAVE NEW WORLD who boosts “I’m pretty good at inventing phrases-you know, the sort of words that suddenly make you jump, almost as though you’d sat on a pin, they seem so new and exciting even though they’re about something hypnopædically obvious. But that doesn’t seem enough. It’s not enough for the phrases to be good; what you make with them ought to be good too.”
You already know of his coined phrases like “Funa Endagamuntu” “Twebelelemu” and that is a plus for a leader because that is exceptional mobilization skill. In a word he is good, but not good enough for the top most office in the land.
For many Ugandans, they realized this fact after, the NTV Patrick Kamara interview but to me, it was always a question of WHEN? And not a question of IF? Bobi Wine was going mess-up at some point in time, I’m not a prophet but mark my words he will do it again and again.
You just listen to him in his deliberations and besides the quotes from Nelson Mandera; you will never get any second paragraph from him on any topic whatsoever. He does not seem to stand for anything, at least we know what he stands against, the only time you see him standing is when he is standing on some things!
Like a dog in the manger. See other countries can afford to have a naïve leader and still operate business as usual but Uganda does not have that luxury, in as far as democracy is concerned we are infants, just like Fresh Kid we still have a long way to go. And therefore we cannot afford a Bobi Wine Presidency, What if he zigs or zags in that office?
Now to what Nesim Talleb calls the IYI (Intellectual Yet Idiots) I hear your arguments for lack of a better word. He does not need to know it all to become President, all he needs are experts around him and all will go according to plan. In Nietzsche’s words “YOU FOOL!” This is an argument as old as humanity and you don’t need to be a philosopher to see how absurd that argument is! For no one ever said he needed to know everything in the first place.
When Socratis talks about Guardians in his discussion about the Republic that is what he was guarding against. If that was too hard for you to grasp, why don’t you read Machiavelli’s book THE PRINCE when he writes “A prince, therefore, always ought to take advice, but only when he wishes and not when others wish. Therefore it must be inferred that good advice, no matter where it comes from, is a result of the wisdom of the prince. The wisdom of the prince does not come from good advice” in other words he needs to be a fountain of honor, he needs to be informed, tried and tested.
You IYI (Intellectual Yet Idiots) make another argument; experts have failed us with examples of the most recent scandal about Bank of Uganda and want to deduce from such a premise that we are better trying out a clueless individual and see what happens.
Do you even listen how ridiculous you sound? So you are saying your cousin died after a heart transplant at Agha Khan Hospital and now you suggest we try a mechanic in Kiseka Market, in case we need to do another operation because you were disappointed by the so called experts.
Let us start with you because our diagnosis clearly shows, you have a brain tumor literally, can we please take you to the mechanic of your choice? Is this no sense, not reminiscent of the story in Plato’s Book the Republic where the sailors are quarrelling with one another about the steering everyone is of opinion that he has a right to steer, though he has never learned the art of navigation?
You IYI (Intellectual Yet Idiots) make another naïve argument that even those that seemed right and promising like Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, Prof. Binaisa, Yusuf Lule, Yoweri Museveni if you like (all former presidents of Uganda except the latter) have disappointed you and just like your previous argument you are willing to risk it all.
Without trying to defend any of the above mentioned people, don’t you know the African Proverb “You cannot choose who becomes your father, but you can choose your father in-law” do I need to explain that to you? (Okay I will explain, it means you cannot change your past but you can change your future).
Now I know the only tool left in your Arsenal; The idea that you have a right to choose whoever you wish to choose for a leader, SURPRISE!
YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT, BUT YOU ARE NOT NECESSARILY RIGHT!
The bottom line is; THINK, IT IS NOT ILLEGAL.
Author; Edwin James Tumwine
Founder; Youth Embrace Sustainability (Y.E.S)
