Hon Jaberi Bidandi Ssali

Bidandi courts PPP mantle

Bidandi moves campaign to Mukono

PPP candidate Bidandi Ssali nominated

Bidandi blasts ex-Buganda premier

Ali Mambule 

Sunday Vision

PEOPLE’S Progressive Party president Jaberi Bidandi Ssali has accused the former Buganda premier, Joseph Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere of seeking to create problems for the Kabaka and Buganda.

Bidandi said he was shocked to hear a former premier claiming that the Kabaka of Buganda had sent him to openly campaign for FDC and IPC’s Col. Kizza Besigye.

“Semwogerere was in Masaka when he told voters that someone had sent him to campaign for Besigye. He said the person was vital but could not campaign for Besigye openly and that is why he sent him (Semwogerere),” Bidandi said.

He was on Friday addressing the residents of Kamenyamiggo village in Kingo Sub-county, Lwengo District.

He said such comments were likely to create problems for the Kabaka in case Besigye lost the election.

Bidandi said: “The Kabaka is for all people in Buganda, every religion and political party. Those people are trying to bring back what was here in 1960s when the late Kabali and other people claimed that the Kabaka had assigned them to speak for him.”

“Where shall we put the Kabaka and Buganda if Museveni or any other person won the election, especially so at this time when you have openly announced that Mengo is supporting Besigye?” Bidandi asked.

Bidandi warned the people of Lwengo District against listening to those leaders who hide behind the Kabaka’s name.

Bidandi, however, commended Buganda premier J.B. Walusimbi for distancing Mengo from Mulwanyamuli’s statements but wondered where Buganda would remain with such confusion.
“One side is saying that it is the Kabaka sending them to campaign for Besigye and Mengo is denying the allegations. Where shall we go as the people of Buganda?” Bidandi Ssali asked.
He also accused Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere of denying his acts pointing out the issue of the regional tier which he (Semwogerere) signed for Buganda Kingdom.

“It was Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere him self when he was still the Katikkiro of Buganda who introduced the regional tier to Buganda Lukiiko which was also attended by the Kabaka but surprisingly, he denied having welcomed it,” Bidandi Ssali said and wondered why a mature and respectable person like Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere would deny his statements.

He advised the former premier to accept that he introduced the regional tier to Buganda and apologize before the people of Buganda than denying something that are written on paper.

“I asked Ugandans to vote for Museveni during the last general elections but when he diverted from what we agreed upon, I realized that I had made a mistake and I indeed apologized before Ugandans. Semwogerere should do the same,” he said. 

Published on: Saturday, 6th November, 2010

In the Monitor today

06/11/2010 16:00 

Daily Monitor:  - National |Age gives me an edge over competitors, says Bidandi 

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1047590/-/view/printVersion/-/108t8qy/-/index.html 

NATIONAL 

By Michael J Ssali  (email the author <URL: javascript:void(0);>) 

Posted Saturday, November 6 2010 at 00:00 

Masaka 

Whereas some people might think running a country could be a rigorous task for someone of advanced age, Progressive Peoples’ Party candidate Jaberi Bidandi Ssali says this is what gives him an edge over the others vying to for the presidency. The 73-year-old politician told his supporters in Masaka on Thursday that he has been witness to many of Uganda’s political problems and he is best qualified to solve them. He said many of Uganda’s problems were caused by politicians who had risen to the presidency at a relatively young age. 

“Take the example of Apollo Milton Obote who became head of government at the age of 37,” he said. “Within a few years of his rule he dismantled nearly every institution in the country, including traditional institutions that had never opposed him and he finally became the country’s main problem.” 

Litany of examples 

Mr Bidandi, a former confidant of President Museveni, who fell out with the latter when he amended the Constitution to run for a third term in 2005, said: “The other example is that of Idd Amin who became president at the age of 44 years. The last example is President Museveni who took over leadership of this country at 42. He has created new traditional rulers and divided up Buganda and other ethnic groups and his regime is looting everything.” 

Because of his age, Mr Bidandi said, he will only serve a single five-year term. “I will be 78 by the time my presidential term ends and too old to demand another term,” he added. “I am going to be another Mandela of this country.” 

Mr Bidandi said he also had an impeccable record while working in public service—noting that he never allocated himself a plot while overseeing the sale of buildings and land when he served as minister for local government. 

“I handled issues involving large markets like St. Balikuddembe and many others but I never grabbed anything or took any bribes. And I have always been contented with just one simple residential house—the one I built more than 40 years ago and the one I still live in today with my wife. I have no school going children and so I am a man of very simple needs who will never be tempted to steal anything.” 

Buganda cautioned 

He also cautioned voters to be wary of individuals who claim they have signed pacts with certain political parties to guarantee Buganda Kingdom’s interests. “This is not the first time we have seen people getting into agreements,” he said. “There was a similar agreement in 1962 between Mengo and the UPC. Its aim was for Mengo to block their fellow Muganda, Ben Kiwanuka, from becoming the prime minister of Uganda.” 

He added: “Now Mengo is at it again trying to make sure that no Muganda ever becomes a leader of this country. Why do we Baganda, like yams, want to creep around other plants to get to the top? In the eighties other people made an agreement with Museveni to return all Buganda’s property and to grant federal status to Buganda. Are they now returned?” 

Mr Bidandi also said President Museveni and Dr Kiiza Besigye, the IPC presidential candidate are birds of the same feather. “If you ask Museveni to show you his political mother he will point at the bush. If you ask him which breasts he suckled he will point at the gun. Then if you ask Besigye who his political mother was, he will also point at the bush. If you ask him to show you which breasts he suckled, he will tell you it was the gun. The two men are therefore identical twins; one is Wasswa and the other is Kato. Having been disappointed by Wasswa why should you trust Kato fully knowing that they were born and raised by the same woman?”

In the New Vision today

06/11/2010 15:50 

The New Vision Online : Army generals trust me - Bidandi 

http://www.newvision.co.ug/PA/8/13/737204 

Army generals trust me - Bidandi 

Publication date: Friday, 5th November, 2010 

By Henry Mukasa 

PEOPLE’s Progressive Party (PPP) leader Jaberi Bidandi Ssali has said UPDF generals respect him and would not cause mayhem incase he won the presidency in february. 

“My son Aronda Nyakairima (the Chief of Defense Forces) and my younger brother Katumba Wamala (commander of lands forces) address me as Mzee (elder),” Bidandi said, adding that even when he meets President Museveni, the President addresses him as Mzee. 

“That shows I have respect from the top to the bottom. They prefer me to other candidates. I don’t think the generals can salute other candidates in the race for President,” Bidandi said. 

He made the remarks at Nyendo Market in Masaka as he commenced his tour of the district on Thursday. He disclosed that he had built the confidence of the generals in security agencies by not attacking them and that he was still in touch with former colleagues in government. 

“Have you ever heard me attack Museveni, the army generals or those in government? You need them because when you become president you will not recruit the army and Police afresh.” 

The PPP leader credited the army for having transformed from a liberation force to a professional army. He elaborated that 70% of the UPDF were not in the NRA bush war while 90% are trained professionals and not guerillas. 

Bidandi also disclosed that he supported Museveni in 2001 to save the country from a military coup and the resultant bloodshed that would happen if Kizza Besigye’s Reform Agenda had won the polls. “The political high command had agreed it was Museveni’s last term and put it in the 2001 manifesto. When he started the kisanja (third term debate) I disagreed with him,” he explained. 

Bidandi criticized Museveni for being tolerant of corrupt cabinet ministers. He said all ministers implicated in the swindling of CHOGM money and the Temangalo-NSSF land purchase scam should have been told to step aside for a probe. “They are robbing the national coffers to amass wealth and grabbing large chuncks of land. That is not what politics was meant to be. You are there to serve.” 

He said as president he will not be preoccupied with getting rich because he has a house, property and all his children are grown up. “I am not looking for school fees. Trust me. At 72, I will lead for one term like Mandela and re-align national leadership. I cannot change the Constitution to remove the age limit because at 78 I would be using a walking stick to move.” 

Bidandi travelled to Nyendo, Kyannamukaka, Lukunda, Bukoto, Kaswa, Kyanjale and Masaka town. 

This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/737204 

© Copyright 2000-2010 The New Vision. All rights reserved.

Memorable Quotations

Responding to queries from supporters at Maddu town in Gomba district who asked him whether he has what it takes to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces yet he is not a soldier like the incumbent, Museveni. 


Bidandi said:


“When I meet the army generals, including President (Yoweri) Museveni, we talk freely as friends. They refer to me as Mzee Bidandi, which means they respect me and I do the same. I do not have a problem with Museveni, only that he went for the third term, which I did not agree with,” 


“The army is now professionalised and I believe they can handle change, especially when a person like me is elected. You should also know that the army belongs to the country and not individuals.”  

On himself Bidandi said: 


“We need a person who is trustworthy, accountable and rich at heart and that is me. Have you ever heard that I stole anything? Trust me, together we shall deliver.”