[Ugnet] NRM Opens War On Muntu, Byanyima

The Movement has denied standing in the way of the registration of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

The NRMO interim spokesman, Mr Ofwono Opondo on Thursday dismissed the accusation as calculated distortions by the opponents and warned the Movement would reply mud with mud.

"The opposition and sections of the media are preparing for their cast in defeat," Opondo told a press conference at NRM-O headquarters at Plot 10, Kyadondo Rd in Kampala.

Bushenyi Woman MP, Mary Karooro Okurut, Opondo's deputy, also addressed the conference.

Opondo said the opposition is peddling deliberate lies and distortions, such that when they are defeated in 2006, they get a fall back position to allege that the exercise was not free and fair.

But FDC promoter, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu said they were already aware of plans by the Movement to stand in the way of his party's registration.

"We know they were planning to use extra-legal measures to keep us unregistered until Parliament votes on the constitutional amendments," he said.

"But the law is on our side and we shall try to use all the influence we can to register. Tell them (Movement) to shape up and be ready for competition," Muntu said on Friday.

At Thursday's press conference, Opondo denied that the now controversial Shs5 million dished out to Movement activists was a bribe to MPs. He attacked Muntu, MPs; Winnie Byanyima and Augustine Ruzindana.

"They go into parliamentary chambers and hurl insults because they are hiding under parliamentary immunity. Tell them they have no moral authority to question the Movement. They don't qualify to be democrats," he charged.

"Byanyima disappeared from Parliament since May without official leave from the speaker but has been taking money. She has got a job with the African Union and next month she is going for orientation but she is torn between the two," he said.

Opondo said the Mbarara Municipality legislator who has since turned into the biggest critic for the Movement was in 1994 CA elections given Shs4 million by then NPC, Mr Eriya Kategaya, so she has no locus to criticise the hand from where she once fed.

Opondo said alleged that Muntu presided over an institution that created ghost soldiers, failed to end the northern rebellion by LRA rebels led by Joseph Kony and introduced katebe in the army.

"Who was the NRA director of military intelligence when 39 people were burnt in a train wagon in Mukula? People should take collective responsibility," he said.

Muntu was army commander between 1989 and 1998. He was the first director of military intelligence for the NRA.

Opondo did not spare Ruzindana.

"He was IGG for 10 years. How many reports did he present to Parliament or how many people did he prosecute for corruption?" Opondo asked.

The Monitor could not reach Byanyima and Ruzindana but Muntu defended his colleagues. " Byanyima and Ruzindana have been consistent," he said. "They (Movement) shouldn't talk as if we have changed position because these are the same issues we have been saying even when we were inside the system," Muntu said by telephone.

He said the government is engaging in disinformation as a sign of desperation because it's not ready for competition.

"But they will keep on recycling the same things they have been saying for the last six years and at the end of the day, the population will decide," Muntu said.

Muntu told the Monitor in a recent interview that the problem of katebe or any other accusation was not his.

"I left the army about six years ago. Katebe is still there. Really any person can see that these problems weren't mine. I don't even blame the commanders who followed me," he said.

The soft-spoken general seems to slow the mess back at his then, commander-in-chief, Gen. Yoweri Museveni.

Muntu, the opposition 2006 flag bearer, is a particular target of the mudsling game from NRMO.

[Ugnet] NRM Opens War On Muntu, Byanyima

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