A TALE OF TWO PRESIDENTS: Ruto’s Support For Odinga Vs Museveni’s Political Calculations.

The support Kenya’s President, Samuel Ruto, is giving his longtime political opponent, Raila Odinga’s bid for the Chairperson position of the African Union Commission, highlights the political maturity in neighbouring Kenya, hence the steady and speedy development of this East African country.

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This political maturity if emulated by neighbouring countries, the region will have equal development and peace.

However in Uganda where the ruling NRM party and its leadership led by President Yoweri Museveni, treats its political opponents as enemies with no developmental ideas, will continue to lag us behind.

President Museveni’s long tenure in power and his history of suppressing opposition voices, is a sign of his continued grip on power which is clearly exhibited in the way his government suppresses his top critics like Besigye and Kyagulanyi and others, who rarely practice their freedom as Museveni prioritises his own political agenda.

The four decades long rule Museveni has had on Uganda, have created a personalised style of Governance and turning political appointments and elections from being regarded as a service to a jobs, hence attracting a number of youths from educational institutions to run for political appointments/elections as a source for jobs.

This dynamics of power and competition in Uganda’s political sphere differ significantly from those in Kenya, where alliances and rivalries are more fluid.

President Ruto’s support to Raila Odinga’s bid for the AU Commission Chairperson demonstrates the possibility of political rivals working together for a common cause, which is unlikely in Museveni’s Uganda, where he is only after consolidating his grip on power.