Besigye vows to fight for change
Oct 26, 2005
Forum for democratic Change leader Col. Kizza Besigye returned from exile in South Africa yesterday. Below is his statement to the press<br><br>I am glad to be back in Uganda after more than four years of living outside the country. I would like to use this opportunity to express my thanks and gra
Forum for democratic Change leader Col. Kizza Besigye returned from exile in South Africa yesterday. Below is his statement to the press
I am glad to be back in Uganda after more than four years of living outside the country. I would like to use this opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude to all my colleagues, friends and countrymen and women who have, in one way or another, made my return possible.
I departed from Uganda on August 17, 2001; having come to the conclusion that my personal security was seriously threatened.
My right to free movement had been blatantly violated; an unlawful round-the-clock close surveillance was weaved around me: there was a broad daylight attempted kidnap on me at Lukaya in Masaka district; there were numerous statements by senior government officials, saying I was involved in terrorist and treasonable activities, etc. There was no doubt in my mind that my arrest and detention or worse was eminent.
It ought to be remembered that the attempt by President Museveni’s Government to criminalise me started immediately after I publicly declared my intention to contest against him in the 2001 elections.
This was in November 2000: only a few days after I was formally retired from the UPDF with high commendation.
The intention has been very clear: to use or abuse the legal process for the purpose of eliminating a legitimate political opponent.
I believe that if I had remained in Uganda, my life would have been in serious danger and that I would have been completely incapacitated to undertake any political activities. My departure, therefore, afforded me better personal security and the continuing ability to participate in the political struggle.
In my view, the situation I am returning to is not significantly different from the one I left. Many of our supporters have been continuously arrested and detained in various prisons in Uganda.
Some have been in prison for more than three years without being tried- a fragrant violation of the law. A number of the detainees have died in the prisons without facing the due process of the law as provided by the Constitution.
Some have continued to be held in contempt of High Court orders for their release on bail. Political intimidation and persecution is rife throughout the country; the Judiciary, the Police and other vital institutions in the administration of justice are openly intimidated by the Executive; and many public institutions and offices are openly and vigorously partisan (e.g. the intelligence organisation, sections of the military and the RDCs).
The significant structural changes have been the formal declaration of the Movement government as a One-Party State, and the expunging of the restrictions on political parties, by the Constitutional Court.
These developments paved the way for the formation, registration and functioning of political parties.
The eight-month-old FDC is an outcome of that historical, political, legal and constitutional achievement. The FDC has been working closely with five other pro-democracy political parties to secure an equitable democratic environment.
Many representations have been made by the G6 parties to the Government, seeking an opportunity for a national dialogue; with a view to generating a national consensus on a transition to democratic dispensation. It was the view of the FDC and the G6 partners that an opportunity now exists to mobilise the population to embrace a platform that can engender a democratic regime in Uganda.
All the G6 parties are currently busy with internal reorganisation that will lay the ground for the necessary mass mobilisation. The FDC will have its very first Delegates’ Conference commencing on October 28, 2005.
It is hoped that through these processes, our respective parties and the G6 as a group will be in a good position to confront and overwhelm the enormous obstacles arranged against a democratic transition.
It is against this background that the FDC felt that my presence was necessary in the internal structuring of the party and in the national mobilisation effort for a democratic regime change.
However, my return was made more precipitate after it transpired that my name was not included on the national voters’ register, and that I had to be physically present in Uganda in order to register.
I will, therefore, immediately proceed to register as a voter; join my colleagues in preparing for the FDC Delegates conference and continue working with the G6 to crystallise and implement an action plan for a democratic transition.
It is very important that all pro-democracy political parties, the G6, continue planning and acting together in order to generate the overwhelming capacity needed to realise the desired regime change.
We have continually emphasised that our bottom-line demand is for essential political reforms. We have no bitterness or hostility towards the persons managing the unfair system. I personally have no ill-feelings against the person of the President of Uganda or any of his colleagues in Government.
I appreciate and commend the Government for the recent encouraging rhetoric calling for national reconciliation. This is what we have consistently recommended for a long time. I appeal to the Government to make progress from the rhetoric to proposing practical steps through which national reconciliation can he realised. I am sure that I talk for the entire G6 in offering our unreserved cooperation to any genuine effort aimed at national reconciliation.
I look forward to a successful break of the vicious cycle that has bedeviled our country for decades.
Thank you.
Col. (rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye, transitional chairperson, FDC.
October 26, 2005
I am glad to be back in Uganda after more than four years of living outside the country. I would like to use this opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude to all my colleagues, friends and countrymen and women who have, in one way or another, made my return possible.
I departed from Uganda on August 17, 2001; having come to the conclusion that my personal security was seriously threatened.
My right to free movement had been blatantly violated; an unlawful round-the-clock close surveillance was weaved around me: there was a broad daylight attempted kidnap on me at Lukaya in Masaka district; there were numerous statements by senior government officials, saying I was involved in terrorist and treasonable activities, etc. There was no doubt in my mind that my arrest and detention or worse was eminent.
It ought to be remembered that the attempt by President Museveni’s Government to criminalise me started immediately after I publicly declared my intention to contest against him in the 2001 elections.
This was in November 2000: only a few days after I was formally retired from the UPDF with high commendation.
The intention has been very clear: to use or abuse the legal process for the purpose of eliminating a legitimate political opponent.
I believe that if I had remained in Uganda, my life would have been in serious danger and that I would have been completely incapacitated to undertake any political activities. My departure, therefore, afforded me better personal security and the continuing ability to participate in the political struggle.
In my view, the situation I am returning to is not significantly different from the one I left. Many of our supporters have been continuously arrested and detained in various prisons in Uganda.
Some have been in prison for more than three years without being tried- a fragrant violation of the law. A number of the detainees have died in the prisons without facing the due process of the law as provided by the Constitution.
Some have continued to be held in contempt of High Court orders for their release on bail. Political intimidation and persecution is rife throughout the country; the Judiciary, the Police and other vital institutions in the administration of justice are openly intimidated by the Executive; and many public institutions and offices are openly and vigorously partisan (e.g. the intelligence organisation, sections of the military and the RDCs).
The significant structural changes have been the formal declaration of the Movement government as a One-Party State, and the expunging of the restrictions on political parties, by the Constitutional Court.
These developments paved the way for the formation, registration and functioning of political parties.
The eight-month-old FDC is an outcome of that historical, political, legal and constitutional achievement. The FDC has been working closely with five other pro-democracy political parties to secure an equitable democratic environment.
Many representations have been made by the G6 parties to the Government, seeking an opportunity for a national dialogue; with a view to generating a national consensus on a transition to democratic dispensation. It was the view of the FDC and the G6 partners that an opportunity now exists to mobilise the population to embrace a platform that can engender a democratic regime in Uganda.
All the G6 parties are currently busy with internal reorganisation that will lay the ground for the necessary mass mobilisation. The FDC will have its very first Delegates’ Conference commencing on October 28, 2005.
It is hoped that through these processes, our respective parties and the G6 as a group will be in a good position to confront and overwhelm the enormous obstacles arranged against a democratic transition.
It is against this background that the FDC felt that my presence was necessary in the internal structuring of the party and in the national mobilisation effort for a democratic regime change.
However, my return was made more precipitate after it transpired that my name was not included on the national voters’ register, and that I had to be physically present in Uganda in order to register.
I will, therefore, immediately proceed to register as a voter; join my colleagues in preparing for the FDC Delegates conference and continue working with the G6 to crystallise and implement an action plan for a democratic transition.
It is very important that all pro-democracy political parties, the G6, continue planning and acting together in order to generate the overwhelming capacity needed to realise the desired regime change.
We have continually emphasised that our bottom-line demand is for essential political reforms. We have no bitterness or hostility towards the persons managing the unfair system. I personally have no ill-feelings against the person of the President of Uganda or any of his colleagues in Government.
I appreciate and commend the Government for the recent encouraging rhetoric calling for national reconciliation. This is what we have consistently recommended for a long time. I appeal to the Government to make progress from the rhetoric to proposing practical steps through which national reconciliation can he realised. I am sure that I talk for the entire G6 in offering our unreserved cooperation to any genuine effort aimed at national reconciliation.
I look forward to a successful break of the vicious cycle that has bedeviled our country for decades.
Thank you.
Col. (rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye, transitional chairperson, FDC.
October 26, 2005