United Kingdom has just had an election and they now have a coalition government. After the elections that returned no single party with a majority to form a government, the party with the highest number of votes had to merge with another party for the sake of forming a majority so that they are able to form the next government.

Initially, the assumption was that if no one party pulled off enough majority, Labour Party and Liberal democrats would form the next government because their policies are almost similar.

But because the lib-democrats realised that entering into a coalition with the loser - the labour Party - would not automatically give them a guaranteed majority required to form a government, they abandoned the Labour Party and joined the Conservative Party which had returned the highest number of votes.

If Mao sincerely and realistically believes that political victory in 2011 elections lies within the coalition of the parties that have been losing to the ruling NRM, aware that real politicians get into politics to win it, then he should feel at liberty to join that coalition.

However, if he has any doubts when it comes to challenging the incumbent, he would do well to, and it would be strategically wise to ally his forces with the ruling party with a clear agreed arrangement as to how they would share power on attainment of victory.

That's what political commonsense and political wisdom call for in times of political uncertainty. That Mao wants to become president of Uganda one day is clear. He has always said he doesn't want to be a president of IPC but president of Uganda.

It progressively looks clearer that he is after all not the favourite choice of the IPC and this has not been helped by Mengo's endorsement of FDC's Kiiza Besigye who, in turn this week, made a solemn pledge.

Politics is not about permanent friends or permanent enemies but permanent interests. Any politician worth his or her salt is familiar with this common wisdom. Mao may not like Museveni but Museveni has, by virtue of his incumbency, established an arrangement for Mao to exploit. To do so he would require working with a former enemy for the benefit of his political future.

Going by the glaring lack of organisation in the Opposition camp, and given the way Museveni has been running his campaign nationwide, indicators show Museveni as a likely winner unless something goes wrong with him or the opposition undergoes magical transformation.

This means that if today Mao decided to form a coalition with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), or better still with Museveni the man, Mao's political fortunes and those of his party would drastically improve, giving him a chance to market himself nationally.

This country's politics is being progressively being hijacked by angry politicians. What our country needs and deserves is politics that encourages national unity. That is why it is important for all the peace loving Ugandans to follow their heads and not their hearts.

June11 - 17, 2010 blog comments powered by Disqus

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