As President Yoweri Museveni shifts his battle against his hitherto longtime right-hand man Amama Mbabazi to the position of the ruling party’s secretary general, the former premier’s silence is discomforting for his foes.

On October 1, Mr Mbabazi said in a post on Facebook that he would reveal his future plans “at the right time”. This has left his rivals groping for clues about his intentions.

His supporters see the silence as a “stroke of genius” that has held off the full force of the state’s machinery against him and them and facilitated a re-evaluation of the man many have profiled as arrogant, aloof, cold, detached and thus difficult to deal with.

“You have seen how other government officials at his level — when they have been dropped or had a disagreement with him [President Museveni] — have dashed to the public to complain about the president who has in turn responded with force and curtailed their movements. Mr Mbabazi showed humility by the way he responded to his sacking — by heartily congratulating his successor, showing up at parliament and continuing with his other work. He demonstrated maturity in politics and this has compelled a lot of people to take another look at him,” said a member of a youth pressure group associated with Mr Mbabazi.

Yet some observers say that, while silence can be a good political strategy, it can easily reinforce doubt and uncertainty among supporters and sympathisers and, as such, could easily derail whatever plans it was intended to advance.

“There are people who remain silent especially if you are pursuing a personal agenda. But when it comes to politics, silence can either work for or against you,” said Felix Okot Ogong, a four-term National Resistance Movement Member of Parliament.

“But now you cannot remain silent when you are going underground and yet activities are being carried out by people who claim, rightly or wrongly, to be your agents. That can be bad in politics, especially at his level,” added Mr Ogong, who has twice been blocked by NRM’s top executive organ from standing against President Museveni to lead the party and to represent it in presidential elections.

According to Ruhinda Maguru, a former aide to both President Museveni and Mr Mbabazi, the latter’s silence is informed by the fact that both men are territorial in nature and, as such, tend to avoid any direct confrontation.

“President Museveni and Mr Mbabazi have had a symbiotic existence like a knight and king in a game of chess. As President Museveni concentrated on projecting himself as the face of NRM, Mr Mbabazi worked tirelessly at being its engine. Both evolved into institutions at the cost of NRM. Although President Museveni has the capacity to oust Mr Mbabazi from the party, it will not be easy,” said Mr Maguru, who, in 2010, successfully challenged President Museveni’s sole candidature in the courts of law.

President Museveni dropped Mr Mbabazi as prime minister on September 18, ending a three-year tussle over the latter’s insistence that he could ably lead government business and still remain effective as secretary general of the party.

READ: Is this the end of the road for former premier Amama Mbabazi?

Ten days later on September 29, President Museveni reportedly told the party’s caucus at State House in Entebbe that he might consider taking over certain roles assigned to the secretary general because he had realised the party’s constitution empowers him to. He, however, did not reveal the particular sections that do so.

Mr Mbabazi, however, insists on holding on to the position, in spite of growing calls that he relinquish it as he may not be effective any more because of the ongoing feud with the party chair.

Mr Mbabazi said anyone who would like him to give up the secretary general’s post should make their views known by voting him out of it at the delegates conference, which is expected sometime next year.

“I will perform the duties entrusted to me by the party until such a time as I get to hand over constitutionally,” Mr Mbabazi said in a Facebook post.