UPC exiles to return if party ban is lifted - Monitor Story
Milton Obote
By Alex B. Atuhaire
Uganda People�s Congress (UPC) exiles have indicated they will return if the Movement okayed multiparty politics.
�I would be back home the next day if it [lifting of the ban] was officially announced tomorrow,� Mr Godfrey Ayoo, the UPC bureau chief in Germany, said on Wednesday after reading reports that President Yoweri Museveni has recommended a return to multiparty politics.
Mr Ayoo, was however, sceptical: �It is not possible to believe that Mr Museveni, by his own volition had a change of heart and is now advocating a return to multiparty politics and competition in Uganda.�
�The fact of the matter is that multiparty politics and competition is the ultimate expression of citizens exercising their rights of conscience, association, assembly and thought,� Mr Ayoo said in a telephone interview from Germany.
Mr Ayoo said none of the democratic considerations have apparently moved Mr Museveni to this new understanding and it would appear that the sole factor behind this change is pressure from the donor community.
�In this context, there is no need to celebrate the return of what was, is and will always be rightfully the right of citizens to enjoy and exercise according to their own consciences,� he said.
Mr George Okurapa wondered why there is a sudden change of heart by President Museveni.
Mr Okurapa, a UPC bureau chief in Canada, said President Museveni has finally seen the writing on the wall.
�He probably thinks that he will emerge as a hero in the end but he is dead wrong. Either way he is destined for political doom,� he said.
Mr Okurapa said President Museveni now wants to appease the donor community and has an agenda of manipulating the outcome of the 2006 election in his favour.
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