The accusations and counteraccusations between President Yoweri Museveni and his former prime minister Amama Mbabazi offer a glimpse into the divergent political strategies the two protagonists are likely to pursue as Uganda’s general election approaches.

Sacked as prime minister last September, and as ruling party secretary general four months later, Mr Mbabazi set his agenda for 2016 by announcing his presidential bid in a five-minute video, posted on YouTube at 4am on June 15. He outlined eight issues he sees as Uganda’s most immediate challenges.

The video followed a letter in which Mr Mbabazi served President Museveni notice of his intention to challenge him for the party’s flagbearer in the 2016 polls.

In both the video and the letter, he defines the challenges facing Uganda as economic transformation; stemming corruption; unemployment; providing universal and quality health care; addressing the poor quality of education and the lack of social equity; rule of law; and the competence to effect the necessary transformation.

President Museveni has turned the debate to whether his former right-hand man has the moral authority to raise those issues. In an appeal that has since gained traction within the NRM, President Museveni has cast Mr Amama as disrespectful and treacherous. 

Prior to his sacking, Mr Mbabazi had been accused by his party of harbouring ambitions to challenge President Museveni for the presidency, running parallel party structures and members’ register, and creating cliques and factions in the NRM.  

The former premier announced that he would seek votes to wrest the chairmanship of the NRM from President Museveni in party primaries later this year, and thus become its flagbearer in the elections. 

President Museveni and Mr Mbabazi had been allies for more than 40 years.  

“The NRM is not as organised as it should be, but Mbabazi was our secretary general for more than 10 years and that is why I moved that we should amend the constitution and have a full time secretary general,” President Museveni said in response to Mr Mbabazi’s presidential bid. 

In the video, the former premier talks of “breathing new life into our system of government, which has become weak and inefficient.” 

Mr Mbabazi also refers to Uganda as a “tired nation” and promises “to revive our mission to improve education, health and public services and ensure that they deliver fairly high standards.” He talks about the “need to restore our party... and return to its roots as a genuine, accountable and democratic movement. 

“As a people we must choose between achieving success and true prosperity in the new global economy or nursing a tired nation — yesterday’s story... yesterday is gone and today’s questions must have newer, better answers,” he states. 

However, President Museveni’s strategy to exploit his past relationship with Mr Mbabazi may distort his adversary’s message if the view of NRM eastern region vice chairman and legislator Mike Mukula is anything to go by.

Mr Mukula argues that although Mr Mbabazi is constitutionally free to run for the party’s top job, he shares the blame for the failures he points out in his video, considering that for 29 years he was part of the regime. 

Equally, Minister for the Presidency Frank Tumwebaze questions the legitimacy of Mr Mbabazi in labelling the regime’s officials as fortune seekers, since as the party’s chief mobiliser, the former premier and secretary general built the very system, and mentored the same people he now terms as exhausted. 

Indeed, in using social media, the 66-year old former premier is recognising Uganda’s youth — many of whom are voters — by presenting himself as the more youthful 21st century computer savvy leader compared with 71-year old President Museveni. 

By promising fair salaries for teachers, doctors, nurses, soldiers, the police and public service workers, Mr Mbabazi’s statement resonates with the sentiments of government workers. 

“A new age is upon us and it demands three things,” he says, listing them as an awareness of the demands of today’s modern world, a redistribution of national wealth that brings fairness in wages, and the competence to put in place the answers that a changing world demands. 

The issue of fair salaries for government and private sector employees runs counter to President Museveni’s position that at present, his government cannot increase wages for public workers or set a minimum wage for the private sector. 

The contenders could use corruption allegations, election theft, voter bribery and ethnic discrimination allegations that have surfaced over the two leaders’ political careers. 

Another issue is how Mr Mbabazi will distance himself from his role in the removal of presidential term limits from the Constitution in 2005.  

Ten years ago, during the Movement Parliamentary Caucus of March 14 2005, and later in parliament, Mr Mbabazi presented arguments against Article 105 in the 1995 Constitution that restricted presidential terms to two, citing Uganda’s political history of turmoil; he asked the lawmakers to vote for the lifting of the terms and allow for continuity. 

Now Mr Mbabazi argues that Uganda “must join those nations where a change of guard happens regularly and through the ballot. It is time for a peaceful transition.”