NRM in Talks With Primaries Losers to Drop Intentions of Going Independent (Youtube-Clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHuSiwRLUo8

“Tanga says the NRM losers are wasting time since they will meet the same voters who didn’t give them votes in the primaries” (NBS TV, 2015)

It’s Official: Kahinda Otafiire is now a Independent Candidate for MP in Ruhinda Constituency

Kahinda Otafiire 2016-2021 Election Poster

Kahinda Otafiire the loyalist NRM, the bush-hero who lost in the NRM Primary Election recently. We all know he lost to a brother who was jailed. As many other losers he petitioned his case to Dr. Tanga Odoi and his NRM Electoral Commission without luck. He then described the whole “Primary Election as a Circus”. So now he has finally taken the last straw.

He has taken an official decision to go independent, even if his felly Yellow members in his constituency was tired of his life-long leadership. Now it is full-circle he has sided himself with other sore losers of the NRM Primaries and gone solo or Independent. Even if he has always been a NRM, he can’t be officially affiliated since he doesn’t go on their ticket or are their flag-bearer.

He will fight the one he has already lost to and other candidates from other parties. I am sure if he loses than also in 2016. He will claim misconduct and that he was unjustly treated by the Electoral Commission and that it was rigged in favor of one of the other candidates. That the tally center was controlled by fellow people who worked against him; and that ended in him not becoming an MP in the 10th Parliament. Peace.  

Press release: UNHRC Should Suspend Burundi from Membership (16.12.2015)

BurundiNTVNews

In response to Burundi joining the United Nations Human Rights Council for a three year term beginning January 1, 2016, Freedom House issued the following statement:

“Burundi should be suspended rather than be allowed to formally join the UNHRC, given the flagrant human rights abuses committed by the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza,” said Mark P. Lagon, president of Freedom House. “Suspending Burundi from the UNHRC, as the Council did with Libya in 2011, sends a strong message to the government that violent tactics are not acceptable, and may pressure the government to participate in an internationally mediated dialogue on neutral soil.  We welcome the Council’s special session on Burundi, scheduled for this Thursday, and the Council’s intention to send an investigative team there in January.”

Background:

The UN has received reports that as many as 200 people died December 11-12, when rebel forces attacked three military installations and Burundian security forces responded with door-to-door searches. Burundi’s military maintains the death toll was about 80.

Since April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza violated the Arusha Peace Accords by deciding to run for a third term, more than 300 people have been killed and over 240,000 have been forced to flee the country. In November, the Burundian government ordered the suspension of more than 10 local human rights organizations.

Burundi is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2015, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2015.

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

“Police to blame for Ntungamo violence” – Written by Ibrahim Nganda Ssemujja

Ibrahim Nganda Ssemujju

On Saturday and Sunday last week, I joined Dr Kizza Besigye as he campaigned in Mityana and Mubende districts. On Monday, Besigye campaigned in the districts of Kyegegwa and Kyenjojo. He was in Kamwenge yesterday and will today traverse Bundibugyo and Ntoroko. Col Besigye will complete the Tooro sub-region tomorrow and return to Ankole through Rubirizi, up to Bushenyi.

The response in Mityana was overwhelming, but expected. It is Mubende that made a big statement. I travelled in the same vehicle with Kampala lord mayor Erias Lukwago and Lubaga North MP Moses Kasibante. Because of the crowds along the main road, we occasionally stopped to at least greet them.

A senior NRM leader from Mubende later told me that “the MPs may win, but for Mzee, I don’t know”. Mubende has in the past overwhelmingly voted for Museveni, the reason it was nicknamed the Karamoja of Buganda. But this Karamoja of Buganda has significantly changed.

At Busimbi grounds, where we had the main rally, the crowd was as big as has been the case elsewhere, almost bigger than Mukono’s. The enthusiasm, especially among young people, was even more humbling. And there is no better person that illustrated the need for change than Mr Odrek Rwabwogo, husband to one of President Museveni’s daughters. While campaigning for the post of NRM vice chairman in charge of western Uganda, Rwabwogo noted that his father-in-law seized power when Uganda had 10 million people. Last year’s national census put the country’s total population at over 34 million people. This means that at least 24 million people have been born when Museveni is president. And to Rwabwogo, the new generation needed some “fresh air”.

That is what I saw in Mubende. Blue T-shirts bearing the FDC logo and Dr Besigye’s portrait were not being distributed but sold along streets. And of course Besigye continued receiving gifts, especially goats, everywhere he went. There is a gentleman who gave him Shs 400,000 at the Mubende rally. This one did it more dramatically by handing him a Shs 50,000 note at a time as the crowd ululated. The same man again pulled out a bundle of Shs 20,000 notes and started showering lord mayor Lukwago with a note at a time. This was followed by the offering of goats, some draped in Besigye posters.

IGP Kale Kayihura 16.12.15 P1
The NRM leader I mentioned earlier told me “it will be difficult to resist the wave of change this time”.
I am sure Mr Museveni watches and analyses these images daily. He knows his days are numbered. It is the reason he has started attacking media organizations. The crime of NTV and Daily Monitor is to continue broadcasting and printing these images. At FDC, we actually think the media has not reported the full extent of this wave of change, but we are not editors to determine that. The truth is that Besigye has bigger crowds than all the other candidates combined. And these crowds are not ferried, because the FDC and all Besigye supporters don’t have enough resources.

IGP Kale Kayihura 16.12.15 P2
You remember the talk of switching off NTV? Thank God it was a rumour. I have been told other TV proprietors, including those of NBS and WBS, have been summoned by State House and warned. Of course for Daily Monitor, it is routine. When the paper had just started, Museveni always complained against it and its founders were dismissed as Acholis who wanted to remove the new government. All people with names starting with letter O – Obbo, Oguttu, Ogen and Ouma – have since left the Monitor but Museveni’s hatred continues. I will, in a future article, revisit this relationship.

Ntungamo 13.12.15
I want to concentrate more on the Sunday violence in Ntungamo. I saw images of young people wearing Museveni campaign T-shirts being battered by candidate Amama Mbabazi’s supporters. And this was also expected. There is no presidential candidate that has suffered at the hands of NRM hooligans like Amama. Television stations showed us NRM youths defacing Amama’s posters in Bushenyi in broad daylight. And Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde flew a Museveni campaign chopper to the venue of Mbabazi’s rally in Fort Portal, moments before his arrival! All these look like actions of a panicky dictator. I was happy when NRM Secretary General Kasule Lumumba condemned these actions and distanced the ruling party from them. But the fact that they have continued is a clear indicator that someone somewhere is encouraging and probably financing them. What the police should have done was to arrest Ronald Kibuule when he lined up NRM youths along Mukono town council streets to provoke Amama.

NRM - Go Forward 13.12.15
Again police should have arrested Ntungamo municipality MP Yona Musinguzi who was seen distributing Museveni T-shirts to youths that stormed the venue for a Mbabazi rally. The reason presidential candidates harmonized campaign programmes was to avoid such scenarios. What inspector general of police Kale Kayihura is forgetting is that when you unleash violence, you are actually teaching everybody to be violent. In fact, Amama’s supporters have tolerated this for too long. Instead of protecting a regime that has lost popularity, Gen Kale Kayihura should prepare and begin rehearsing how to lose and hand over power. This is inevitable.

Bank of Uganda: Monetary Police Statement for December 2015 – “CBR at 17%”

Monetary Policy Statement December 2015 P1Monetary Policy Statement December 2015 P2

Lack of facilitation hampering Uganda’s mediation role in Burundi (Youtube-Clip)

“Lack of Finances to facilitate the mediation process in the Burundi conflict has crippled the Uganda-led Mediation Talks” (…)”A source who preferred anonymity told NTV that the African Union, which is meant to finance the operation of the mediation team is yet to disburse money to Uganda” (…)”The African Peace Facility which was set up to support peace and security on the African Continent in the Framework of the EU-Africa Partnership is meant to finance the process. And so it appears that with this hiccup, the violence between the Opposition and Government in Bujumbura could be far from over” (NTV Uganda, 2015)

Burundi Crisis – 28 on Trial Over the Coup (Youtube-Clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y4uEPfQMnk

Press Release: Suspension of Campaign Meetings for Parliamentary Elections from 15th to 23rd December 2015 (15.12.2015)

EC Press Release 15.12.15

The Electoral Commission letter of 14th December 2015: Re: Fracas/Clash of Supporters of Presidential Candidates during Campaign Rallies

Electoral Commission 14.12.15 P1Electoral Commission 14.12.15 P2