OPINION
28th September 2025
Dear Mr Tegulle,
I read with interest your opinion in the Sunday Monitor of 28th September 2025, titled “2026 polls: Gen Mugisha Muntu the stone that builders rejected.” While you are entitled to your opinion, one cannot help but notice the deliberate blindness in your piece a blindness not of sight, but of choice. You appear determined to ignore the good that has been achieved in this country, preferring instead to amplify only what fits your narrative. That is not objectivity, sir; it is arrogance dressed up as analysis.
You describe Uganda as incompetent, corrupt, and hopeless. Yet the facts stubbornly disagree. The Inspectorate of Government continues to bring cases against those who misuse public resources. The Public Finance Management Act has strengthened discipline in how funds are managed. The Auditor General has noted improved compliance in several ministries and districts. International institutions such as the World Bank and IMF have credited Uganda for macroeconomic stability through global shocks. But of course, when one chooses to be blind, progress becomes invisible.
You further suggest that Ugandans have “surrendered their conscience” by voting for the NRM. That is an insult to the millions of citizens who have freely exercised their democratic rights since 1996. In 2021, no fewer than 11 presidential candidates contested, and over 18 million voters participated. Ugandans have consistently decided their own future at the ballot box. It takes extraordinary pride to dismiss their choices simply because they do not align with your preferences.
On service delivery, it is again convenient for you to pretend nothing has been done. Yet roads have been constructed across the country, power generation projects like Karuma are transforming industry and households, schools under UPE and USE are educating millions of children, and new regional hospitals are saving lives. These are not illusions; they are realities that citizens experience daily. Only arrogance or perhaps selective blindness would write them off as “abuse of resources.”
Regarding Gen. Mugisha Muntu, the government respects his service as a soldier. But politics is not about who looks principled on paper; it is about who earns the trust of the people. In 2021, despite his stature, Gen. Muntu received only 65,574 votes, less than 1 percent. That is not rejection by “builders”; it is the democratic decision of Ugandans. Integrity is noble, but in politics, numbers matter. To argue otherwise is to suggest that Ugandans are incapable of making informed choices an arrogance greater than any fault you may attribute to government.
Finally, to claim that Ugandans have abandoned patriotism is simply wrong. This is the same nation that mobilized during COVID-19, that continues to host over 1.5 million refugees the highest in Africa and whose sons and daughters in the UPDF are recognized for their peacekeeping role in Somalia, South Sudan, and the DRC. If that is not conscience, resilience, and solidarity, then perhaps your definition of patriotism needs revisiting.
Criticism is welcome in any democracy. But criticism that refuses to acknowledge progress, that dismisses citizens’ choices, and that is clouded by arrogance and pride, loses its moral force. Uganda is not perfect, but it is moving forward. Those who choose to close their eyes may remain blind but their blindness will never erase the facts.
Sincerely,
Olivia Nandi (HR Specialist and writer)
