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MOTHER�S LOVE: Winnie and son Anselm at the conference
By Hamis Kaheru
MBARARA Municipality MP Winnie Byanyima yesterday said the Government was using the press to frame her for treason so as to arrest her or make her flee the country.
She was referring to a story in Sunday Vision which said she told two private meetings of key Reform Agenda and Lord�s Resistance Army (LRA) sympathisers in London on November 24 that James Opoka joined LRA with 39 Reform Agenda members.
The paper, quoting security sources, said Byanyima said Museveni�s government would be toppled by July next year by armed rebellion, and that the Reform Agenda was raising sh3b for the operation.
�This is an attempt to frame me to make me a suspect for treason. If I said these things, let them come and charge me. It is absolute rubbish,� Byanyima told a press conference at her home in Kololo.
She said she addressed only one public gathering in London on November 24 on human rights and democracy.
She said it was organised by Reform Agenda and another pressure group. �At no time did I talk about Kony�s strategy to overthrow Museveni or appeal for funds,� she said.
She accused Sunday Vision of �a disgusting attempt to smear me and discredit me by linking me with LRA terrorists.�
She gave the paper 14 days to retract the story and apologise to her or face court action.
Dressed in a white long kitenge dress and flanked by a Reform Agenda activist, a tough-talking Byanyima said, �You must show where you got these things,� as she pointed at this reporter.
Byanyima arrived at the conference carrying Anselm on her chest.
She apologised for bringing him along. �You know my son misses me a lot when I am away, so he could not accept to remain behind,� she said, and seated him in the chair next to hers.
Anselm sat attentively throughout the conference and at one time urged other children who were calling him to the house not to disturb him �because I am in a meeting.�
�It is a shame that this paper (Sunday Vi
sion) has turned into a propaganda sheet for Museveni. Because Museveni is bent on being a dictator, therefore he must use propaganda to discredit other people,� she said.
Byanyima said the Government had a strategy of framing opponents to scare them into silence or exile as was the case with her husband, Col. Kizza Besigye.
�I am not running away from this country. I will never abandon my people. I will die with them. If they (government) want to kill me, let them come and kill me here in my compound,� she said.
�The whole intention is to strike fear in our country and Reform Agenda so that we don�t expose the dirt. But you will not scare me,� she said.
�I will not be intimidated because what I am doing is lawful: to mobilise Ugandans to speak up about a government that is brutal and persecuting its people,� she said.
Byanyima said she arrived at Heathrow airport at 10:00am on November 24 and was driven straight to the seminar hall of Ryan Hotel by the organisers.
She said she remained in the conference hall until she returned to the airport at 6:00pm and flew out.
�I didn�t even have a cup of tea with anybody. My tea was brought in the conference room. Others broke off for lunch but I remained there up to 6:00pm.
�Where was the time to hold a private meeting? How does one hold a private meeting with 100 people? How private can that be?� she said. She did not say where she flew to after the seminar.
She said she did not meet her husband nor talk to him during the trip.
The Reform Agenda has persistently denied links with the notorious LRA rebels who have wreaked havoc in northern Uganda.
The army recently supplied a photograph it said was of James Opoka, a top aide to Col Kizza Besigye, the runner-up in the 2001 presidential elections.
The photo was reportedly seized from rebels during clashes in Sudan.
Published on: Monday, 2nd December, 2002 |
