Mugesha’s words against Besigye’s candidacy in the FDC and the result from the Flag-bearer voting at the FDC Conference in Nambole today (2.9.2015)

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It isn’t everyday another deflector from NRM who has been a vital part of FDC goes in on Dr. Kizza Besigye. As he has done with Museveni when he lingered in power he switched party to be a part of FDC as well. The words and letter he wrote to the Dr. Kizza Besigye is powerful words from a man who support the party that he deflected to. Both men left the NRM for some of the same reasons. They are both educated and has been on a long road to where they are today. So I respect the views from Mugesha. Therefore I see them as valued debate about how the opposition should show leadership skills and also get new blood in. I am a big-fan of Dr. Kizza Besigye candidacy, but I still see the issue! It isn’t just NRM who should have renewed leadership; its steady ships everywhere that need shifts. If not the staleness and roughness get inside the organizations and parties that doesn’t evolve, but makes certain systems around them. This is the big issue with the NRM. But the People President deserves another chance to win in an election and run as a president. Though with the rigging and running of the Electoral Commission the race isn’t in there in other lanes then theoretical, in reality it’s something else.

Who is Nuwe Amanya Mugesha?

“Nuwe Amanya Mushega is a law graduate of the University of Dar es Salaam, from where he left for Makerere University, becoming an Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Law. In 1974 he obtained a Masters and became a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Zambia in Lusaka. He returned to Makerere University in 1979 as a Lecturer and continued in that capacity until 1981” (…)”In the same year Mushega joined the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) of Yoweri Museveni where he rose to the post of National Political Commissar. He also served in various ministerial roles in the ministries of defence, local government, education, and public service. During that time, he also served as the Member of Parliament representing Igara East in Bushenyi District” (…)”In 2001, he was appointed by the EAC heads of state to serve a five-year term as Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC).He later disagreed with President Museveni over his continued stay in power and subsequently joined the Forum for Democratic Change(FDC). He was promoted to the rank of Colonel, and retired from the UPDF” (Mandu, 2015).

History lesson from TVO:

“The venue is Lubiri barracks and the day the NRA captured Kampala in 1986, Yoweri Museveni had just announced to his commanders that he was only going to rule for 2 years. One man stood up and told Museveni that the two years were not enough and it should be at least four.years before elections. THE NAME OF THAT MAN WAS NUWE AMANYA MUSHEGA.NEBASE”.

Nuwe Amanya Mugesha has said about Dr. Kizza Besigye:

On the 10th of August:

“No, I am not disappointed, but I am not happy [with Besigye] and I have no shame about it. You see, you cannot tell what you don’t have. When people believe that you are the answer God has given, [because] I have heard people say it’s only Besigye who can manage the FDC… “ (…)”But [Julius] Nyerere [Tanzania] gave up the leadership of CMM which he led and eventually the country, but he went on to support those who came after him in the party and the country to make Tanzania a better place. He even advised them not to do some of the things he had done and apologised to his people” (…)”[Nelson] Mandela in South Africa gave up the leadership of ANC and the country he even criticized them sometimes. He never went behind the scenes to create parallel structures to create civil society and other things…” (…)”So, let us learn from others. The moment you think you are indispensable, you begin to be a problem whether you see it or not, you will be and you are undermining the institution. It will be good if a leader steps down and then works hand in hand with those after him, and advise them if they see that they need you back, they should be the ones to genuinely say so. But when people praise you that without you there will not be a party, then you are not everlasting. We will all come to end but what will you leave behind” (…)”The crucial issue is not washing linen in public; it’s washing linen wherever you can wash it because if you don’t wash it and keep it in the closet, it will eventually stink and cause more problems. Don’t you see people washing clothes and plates and put them on wires when you move in Kampala? What are you hiding if the linen is dirty? Wash it” (…)”You are taking me back to my first answer. I don’t believe in saviors, I have seen it…there are things you will do by leading others…by advising your successors than leaving the grave to advise them…it’s not a question of defeating Museveni, it’s about if you are to be in power, what organisation is likely to lift Ugandans out of this situation. Is the priority strong leaders or strong institutions? But I have told you that the graves are full of indispensable leader” (Walusimbi, 2015).

Ingrid Turinawe answers to Mugesha on 12th of August:

“Hon Mugesha (with due respect) observer newspaper interview and attacks on KB remind me of the time when KB was in luzira prison before the 2006 election” (…)”we were organizing to nominate him in absentia, FDC members from all over the country had fully signed and submitted required signatures from nomination” (…)”I am trying to write all this history in a book that I will release soon” (TheInsider.co.ug, 2015).

She continued: “They were fronting Gen Muntu, a matter that would have left Dr Besigye to rot in prison. Don’t joke with FDC members; people refused to sign, and in most districts, these forms were torn into pieces while others were burnt” (Sadab, 2015).

On the 24th of August journalist Komakech wrote this about it: “Recently, Amanya Mushega, a former Museveni Minister, and now Opposition FDC elder, revealed that the sole candidacy idea was first mooted in 2001 when Besigye emerged to challenge the status quo. Subsequently stunts by MP Okot Felix Ogong and others who tried to challenge Museveni, made ring-fencing of the Party’s Chairmanship inevitable” (Komakech, 2015).

Again on the 31st August:

“You stated that in 1999, you approached some of us to leave the Movement and when we failed; you decided to start the work of ‘heavy lifting’ to remove the dictatorship and that you left the Movement for that purpose” (…)”For how long will this ‘heavy lifting be a personal obligation and mission? The fact is that you did not leave the Movement; you just run for the office of the President under the Movement system. There were some members who moved a motion that Mr President be declared a sole candidate in 2000. Some of those movers are now victims of that thinking, some of us openly opposed this move and argued that you were free to stand. We even advised against the efforts to have you arrested and victimised. Your ‘entasiima’” (…)”By the way, to refresh your memory, just 10 years earlier in 1989, you led a team to draft a resolution for a constitutional amendment to extend NRM rule and hence the leadership of President Museveni for an extra five years which was passed” (…)”We may recall that when the Constitution was being amended to remove term limits, there were many clear voices in and outside Parliament who opposed it and some paid and are still paying a price. Not everyone succumbed to money offers. This was before FDC was formed” (…)”Later on at the first NEC meeting at party headquarters, a meeting you chaired, it was raised that actually there were other people who had been nominated but papers not presented. To cut the long story short, Wandera was dropped and replaced by another person. The real reason, he had supported Muntu. Wandera is alive” (…)”When you stepped down, I told some leaders at that time that you had stepped down tacticfully in order to come back with a bang as flag bearer. So your coming back was not a surprise to me, what surprised was the spurious reasons you advanced” (Mushega, 2015).

Afterthought:

The opinions of Mr. Mugesha are important. He has history in both parties. Both in the NRM and also the FDC, he has been an important man for Museveni. He was even trusted with a position in the EAC. That was before he had fallout with him and went then to the FDC. And he will not be alone with these thoughts about Dr. Kizza Besigye. Especially since he now made a decision to stand again as a flag-bearer in the party.

By all means he is dramatic in words and tone. That is expected. If he is supporter for Gen. Mugisha Muntu then all of that is understandable. Mugesha has the right to ask and its healthy to be questioned the rights of Dr. Kizza Besigye to run again. The issue that can be clear is to have a viable candidate against M7 or Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the long-serving president in Uganda. And he would not fear Gen. Mugisha Muntu, but he will fear Dr. Kizza Besigye! That is something we will already know and is powerful in its self, especially when this continues to on the election trail to the February 2016. It is true that all the elections before Dr. Kizza Besigye has lost, but Mugesha nows, the whole FDC nows that the EC has been rigged by the NRM.

The history both this fellows has with Museveni is special because the way they we’re trusted men in the movement before their fallouts of his ranks. So that there will stories from 1986 and actions that is lacking of the ethics that are today can be understandable. Their words today will be different then back then. The way they act is different and being in opposition has changed them both. They also have stories from the NRM that hasn’t surfaced yet and the years they both have had there. The stories of how they lived in the FDC will also come to light there more things happen. For both Dr. Kizza Besigye and Mugisha Muntu their ways will be in the spotlight until the flag-bearer for 2016 is picked and is valid by the party. The NRM shouldn’t really matter and the Yoweri Kaguta Museveni ghost shouldn’t hunt the FDC party, but it does. Therefore when your hunted you have to use strategies to withhold the pressure and make sure you’re ready for wild goose hunt and hope you get the prey.

Reports as I write are that in the voting from the delegates at the Conference of the FDC for flagbearer.  The report is actually from Francis Mwijukye and says the result is:

Dr. Kizza Besigye got 718.

Gen. Mugisha Muntu 289.

So the party has made a good decision, but the issues and questioning from peers in the party is healthy for a democratic and influential party. Even though we can question the motives and time for doing so. Then again, what do you think?

Peace.    

Reference:

Komakech, Morris DC – ‘Contextualising Besigye’s real trial’ (24.08.2015) link: http://www.independent.co.ug/column/comment/10557-contextualising-besigyes-real-trial

Mandu, Steven F. – ‘Powerful voices of the 1970s and 1980s long gone or silent: Part 4’ (14.08.2015) link: http://www.eagle.co.ug/2015/08/14/powerful-voices-of-the-1970s-and-1980s-long-gone-or-silent-part-4.html

Mushega, Amanya – ‘Mushega’s answer to Besigye’ (31.08.2015) link: http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Elections/Mushega-s-answer-to-Besigye/-/859108/2853060/-/vytlkwz/-/index.html

Sadab, Kaaya Kitaffa – ‘Besigye supporters attack Mushega’ (12.08.2015) link: http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/39202-besigye-supporters-attack-mushega

TheInsider.co.ug – ‘Ingrid to leak Mushega secrets for attacking Besigye’ (12.08.2015) link: http://www.theinsider.ug/ingrid-to-leak-mushega-secrets-for-attacking-besigye/

Walusimbi, Deo – ‘Mushega attacks Besigye U-turn’ (10.08.2015) link: http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/39175-mushega-attacks-besigye-u-turn

UBOS Press Release: Uganda – Consumer Price Index – August 2015

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Press Release: AU Chairperson condems attack on AMISOM base in Somalia (01.09.2015)

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PLO Lumumba – “We are Co-Authors of our misfortune”

Interesting, right? Enlightenment, right?

Peace!

Three members of the Team Amama Mbabazi is arrested in Mbarara today

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Press Release from Team JPAM 2016-2021:

Comrades, it is with sadness that we inform you of yet another unfortunate incident that occurred in Mbarara just a few minutes ago where they rounded up people wearing T-Shirts with the face of Amama Mbabazi and took them to the police station. This must stop. We believe in equality in spite of political differences. The Uganda Police force must explain to us why they are continually arresting us and not members of any other political party. We find this unfair and unconstitutional.

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The Police are saying this about the arrests:

“I don’t really know whether when you want to become a leader means that you first demonstrate or stage a procession that is when you get votes. I think it really wrong and Ugandans need to understand that when you really have a heart for Uganda you can’t do what these people. We are going to treat them as the law says. it is not a procession, it is something staged. I think they either wanted to rob a bank or to steal. All those people who have alleged that they have lost things, they will have to compensate them” says Jaffar Magyezi the District Police Commander. The Police have apprehended them and have the suspects in the Mbarara Central Police Station.  They claim that the men were plotting to steal monies from the Centenary Bank in Mbarara (Observer.co.ug, 2015).

Jaffar Magyezi continues: “The arrest of Mbabazi supporters followed their refusal to follow laws in this country as they went ahead to stage demonstrations without alerting police, something that puts security at stake in Mbarara town” (…)”They staged the demonstration near Centenary Bank, Mbarara branch where one of the customer’s huge sums of money went missing. It is suspected the group was involved in the theft” (…)”This group will be presented before court to defend itself against accusation of the theft” (Chimp Reports, 2015).

This does not fit the press release from Team Amama Mbabazi 2016-2021!

One of the once arrested Mr. Joesph Kiiza has said this: “We shall do everything in our means to cause a transitional government. You can see how the police are holding us as if we are useless citizens of this country; we are tear-gassed day and night but we believe change must take place” (…)”But we will continue supporting Mbabazi till he is sworn in as the president of this country” (Chimp Reports, 2015).

Peace.

Reference:

Observer.co.ug – ‘Amama supporters arrested for ‘attempting to rob Centenary bank’ (01.09.2015) link: http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/39610-amama-supporters-arrested-for-attempting-to-rob-centenary-bank

Letter from the South Sudanese Diaspora Accept the Reservations on the IGAD-Plus Peace Deal read by Salva Kiir Mayardit (28.08.2015)

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Uganda – The Electoral Commison – Adm72/01 Postponement of Programme for Elections of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) Councils and Committees in Makindye Division, Kampala Capital City Authority (26.08.2015)

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UNCHR – Burundian Refugees in Tanzania – Daily Statistics (30.08.2015)

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Press Statement of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 537th meeting on Kenya’s efforts in fighting al-Shabaab and its plan of relocating the Dabaab Refugee Camp (31.08.2015)

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The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 537th meeting held on 24 August 2015, was briefed by Ambassador Monica Juma, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government of the Republic of Kenya, on Kenya’s efforts in fighting al-Shabaab and its plan of relocating the Dabaab Refugee Camp.

Council reiterated its deep concern at the growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism and the resulting impact on peace and security on the continent. Council expressed the AU’s condemnation of all acts of terrorism by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes. Council stressed the imperative for continued and enhanced efforts to combat this scourge, on the basis of the relevant African and international instruments and its own decisions, notably communiqué PSC/AHG/COMM.(CDLV), adopted at its 455th meeting held in Nairobi, on 2 September 2014. Council underlined the need, in fighting terrorism, for a comprehensive approach and to uphold the highest standards in terms of human rights and international humanitarian law, bearing in mind the relevant provisions of the AU 2004 Protocol to the 1999 Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism.

Council condemned, in the strongest terms, the cowardly and heinous terrorist attacks committed by al-Shabaab in Kenya, resulting in large numbers of deaths and serious injuries, causing massive destruction of property and disrupting the daily life of ordinary Kenyans. Council expressed the AU’s full solidarity with the Government and people of Kenya and its condolences to the families of the dead, and wished speedy recovery to the injured. Council reiterated its support to the Government of Kenya in its efforts to combat the al-Shabaab terrorist group. Council also reiterated its appreciation to Kenya for its contribution to the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the sacrifices made in this respect.

Council expressed its appreciation to the Government and people of Kenya for hosting large numbers of refugees at the Dabaab camp, since its establishment in 1990.

Council took note of the planned relocation of the Dabaab refugee camp, as part of the Kenyan Government overall efforts to prevent attacks by the al-Shabaab terrorist group. Council agreed to undertake further consultations on this issue with all concerned stakeholders, with a view to contributing to the search for a sustainable solution that would take into account Kenya’s overall national security concerns, whilst respecting relevant international and African instruments, including the 1951 United Nations (UN) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 UN Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, as well as the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. Council requested the Commission to submit to it a report on the issue, with recommendations on the way forward, by early October 2015.

Press Release: Mohamed Ibn Chambas reiterates the support of the UN to a successful conclusion of the transition in Burkina Faso (26.08.2015) + DW Short Documentary: Struggle for Democracy

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwAxrP6ZyMg