MP Tinkasimire: "I can tolerate Museveni for another five years... but not his son"

One of the things that make the Buyaga West County Member of Parliament, Barnabas Tinkasimire controversial is his bluntness and contrarian nature.

Today he will be critical of President Museveni, tomorrow he will shower him praises. He has also severally hobnobbed with the opposition earning the moniker of "rebel MP" within the NRM.

In an interview with The Nile Post, Tinkasimire explained why he sometimes disagrees with President Museveni and why he thinks the opposition cannot take over the leadership of this country among other issues.

Excerpts below:

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There have been rumours in corridors of power that the regime has been quietly mooting the idea of amending the constitution to establish a parliamentary system. What is your view about the proposal?

My view is normally informed by the facts and the law. As a lawyer the Constitution says power belongs to the people and it says they [people] shall determine on how they are going to be governed. This is a proposal which is coming from a group or an individual. This could be his [Museveni] selfish motive or some plan which some group has sat and are now trying to push as an agenda for this country to discuss.

This could be either an agenda to con President Museveni or an agenda which has been set by President Museveni and he wants to hide behind this group.

Don’t you think the proposal would help the country to save billions of taxpayers’ money spent during campaigns?

He {Museveni] has been running a campaign where he spends billions of shillings.

It is a very selfish act and in my own opinion, it [the proposal] is not an agenda that I would push for this country because it will culminate into undesired consequences. You saw what happened during the removal of the age limit; they almost killed us in the House. I don’t know this time whether you won’t pick dead bodies in the House because we cannot imagine that over 500 MPs should go to cast a vote and cast it for over 20 million voters in this country. Disfranchising 20 million people can cause upheaval.

In case this proposal happens to be adopted by NRM, don’t you think this will easily be passed since NRM has the biggest number?

You know what happened inside Parliament, when those MPs swore in ,they started taking loans. As I talk, we MPs are heavily indebted to money lenders, to banks .So President Museveni is going to bring this proposal when MPs dearly need the money. The minimum charge they are going to charge him is a billion. I am not a prophet, but they will ask for a billion and according to what he has been spending, a billion is just a pocket change, he will just give it.

We are 529 MPs; he will use less than a trillion to finish off Parliament. Even some of us choose to vote against it, we would have no consequence and the thing will go through.

The opposition has vowed not to allow the regime to amend the Constitution to have Parliament elect the president. Is there any chance that this proposal can be blocked?

The opposition is limited. I have been in that House, sometimes we who are outspoken inside NRM, we are even stronger than some of the opposition members. In the last age limit debate, some opposition members took the money President Museveni threw but I never took that money.

They took the money but I as an NRM person and my other colleagues never took this money .If you talk about this opposition in the face of money, let us not really depend on them.

The only hope for Ugandans to change the leadership of this country can only happen in universal adult suffrage. The day President Museveni will not appear on the ballot paper, it might be very difficult for any of the NRM candidates to win an election. It will be worse when he chooses this line of saying "my son will succeed me." That line is very deadly.

Don't you think Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba is qualified to be president like any other person? 

I can tolerate that Museveni has led me for forty years, I can even tolerate another five years of President Museveni but I am not ready to tolerate another 40 years of his son. I cannot tolerate that one.

There is a well calculated plan which President Mueveni has aligned with the politics of this country. In the 90s when I had just left Makerere University, his son recruited graduates and took them for cadet training. When they consulted President Museveni about it, he said ‘my son is an LDU’.

As we talk now, he is a general, a man who was considered to be an LDU. I want to ask you, 'if president Museveni was not a president, would his son be a general?' The answer is a big no. If he was to be put in the line of equals; he cannot run faster than some of the people I know.

As a rebel MP, sometimes you criticise Museveni and at times you embrace him. Most people think you don’t stand on your words. How serious are you and are you still a rebel?

From the time I entered Parliament, what I have spoken, I have always spoken it. If you think sometimes I have not been a rebel you tell me when I have softened. If you want to say what I am speaking makes me a rebel, so let it be because I stand for what is stated in the Constitution.

Of course people tend to misinterpret what we speak. When we chose to engage President Museveni and we said, 'we decided to oppose you, voted against you in the age limit, you defeated us, we are not leaving NRM but at the same time we want you to focus on the ordinary Ugandans.'

Why don’t you just leave NRM and either join the opposition or become an independent?

No, no, no’. Let me tell you, it doesn’t mean that NRM should be full of yes men .It doesn’t mean that NRM is religion .We don’t worship Museveni in NRM. NRM is a political party and in a political party, members are participants and that is where I belong. That is where I want to participate .You remember when they tried to throw us out that we opposed him on the budget for health, we took matters not easily .We went to the Constitutional Court This is my fourth term as NRM MP, now you are telling me to leave NRM. No, I will stick there.

Have you mended your relationship with President Museveni as you continue to pursue your political career?

We agreed when we held the meeting with President Museveni that we can work together particularly on areas that concern ordinary Ugandans. When he deviates from that fundamental fact, we again disagree

We are ready to disagree as soon as he deviates from the agreement of working for ordinary Uganda. When he starts to work on the project of his son to be the president, we disagree, we are not ready to move from the rule of President Museveni for 40 years and then we carry on with the rule of his son.

The leadership of People Power that later transformed to NUP appointed you as its coordinator in Bunyoro sub region but you turned them down at the last movement. Don’t you think you are a hypocrite?

I was not appointed by NUP, I was appointed by People Power. People Power is still operating in our place but NUP is operating independent of People Power .When you bring issues of People Power, I am there but when you bring the issue of NUP, no. I am NRM. NUP is a party that belongs to Moses Kibalama.

As a senior MP, are you not disappointed that you have never been appointed a minister?

No, no, no .Being minister is not a serious thing because if you are going to be a minister, you cannot do much. What is the value of being a minister? Do you want to tell me that those who have been appointed ministers, their people are doing well [in terms of service delivery]? No.

You are actually worse off because the demands become too much, your people are helpless, you cannot help them. Not every person should be a minister and I am really comfortable serving my people the way I do because sometimes when they make you a minister, they zip your mouth.

In your view, what is the biggest weakness of the opposition?

The weakest point of the opposition is that they love money too much. When you show them money, they abandon the cause. They start betraying their own. Now look at NRM, isn’t it now full of the opposition? There are those who are permanently on the payroll of President Museveni to disorganise Democratic Party(DP). They believe DP should never grow, it should remain stunted ,suffering from political kwashiorkor.

Are you comfortable where you and should we expect you to seek for another term come 2026?

At one point, I had given myself that when I clock 60 years, I have to retire from the politics of this country. I am going to finish this term when I am 54 years old because I am now 49 years. At 54 years, you cannot ask me to retire. Even when I ask for another term I will be 59 years [at the end of it]. How can I think about retirement you still have leaders who give accountability that they bought a rat at Shs 8 million? Who is going to call such people to order? Who is going to ask these very hard questions?