Kiggundu returns to attack Museveni By Isaac Mufumba July 19, 2004 JINJA â Former Greenland Bank Managing Director, Dr Sulaiman Kiggundu, has said President Museveni is tired and should retire. "Form a broad coalition of all political forces to compel President Museveni not to use the army to cling to power," he said.
Kiggundu was on Saturday addressing a gathering at St. Jude Social Centre in Jinja town. They were celebrating the Democratic Party court victory against the government. On June 25, DP won a petition in which the Constitutional Court nullified the 2000 Referendum Act and the referendum held under that law in the same year. Kiggundu, who said he was making his maiden public political speech, told the gathering that a coalition is the only way to stop Museveni from getting another term in office. He urged the opposition to form the coalition quickly and said he would team up with them. "We must not lose even a minute. Let us do so now," he said. Kiggundu said the Movement government had lost direction and it was incumbent upon all patriotic Ugandans to speak and act boldly. He said the widespread poverty appears a government policy to impoverish the populace. He warned government against manipulating Parliament to amend the Constitution to give Museveni another term in office in 2006. He said shortly before the 1980 general elections, he and a few others unsuccessfully persuaded DP and Uganda Patriotic Movement to form an alliance that would give DP an armed wing. He said although the scenario is different today, the need for a coalition still exists the same way it did in 1980. Kiggundu was imprisoned shortly after Bank of Uganda closed down Greenland Bank in 1998. The BoU audit revealed the bank was being run contrary to the Financial Institutions Statute provisions. The alleged purchase of 49 percent shareholding of UCBL by Greenland Bank and the substantial and irregular extension of credit by UCBL to Greenland Bank Limited and the Greenland Group of Companies, caused part of the bankâs woes. Kiggundu was later charged with causing financial loss to the bank. The case has dragged on since. The DP leader Dr Paul Ssemogerere told the gathering in Jinja that negotiations the party held with President Museveni in 1980 collapsed because of disagreements with UPM. He said recently DP tried to negotiate with Museveni, but failed to reach a consensus because the President does not believe in political pluralism. On forming an alliance, Ssemogerere said he was optimistic the opposition would work out a principled alliance. Â 2004 The Monitor Publications -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
