[Ugnet] FDC’s Musumba fears for her life

[Matek Opoko]

FDC’s Musumba fears for her life

ISAAC MUFUMBA & ISAIAH KITIMBO

JINJA THE Interim Chairman of the Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] Salaamu Musumba has said she fears for her life. She told people in Jinja that she expects to be killed because of her role in the opposition. Musumba was addressing a rally at Jinja Main Street Primary School soon after FDC opened its office in the town on Saturday. She, however, said that threats to her life would not force her to return to the Movement. "Every time I stop at the gate to my home, I expect gunfire. I expect to be killed, but that will not deter me from my work. I decided to sacrifice myself for the sake of Uganda and Busoga," she said. "Even if they put me six feet down I will never return to the Movement." Musumba said Busoga will be a political battleground in the 2006 elections and it is for that reason that senior military brass currently undergoing a course at the Senior Staff and Command College in Kimaka are conducting military drills in the area. The intention of the drills, she said, is to track her and other members of the opposition down to avert possible conversion of the region from the Movement. The family element She said while FDC believes in building the nation on the basis of intellectualism, people like President Yoweri Museveni trust in the army and believe in the rule of the gun. Musumba said the divergent political views in her family manifested by her presence in FDC while her husband, State Minister for Economic Planning, Isaac Musumba, supports NRM is not a political gimmick. "People think that I and my husband are playing out some sort of drama here, but that is not true. I wouldn't have involved so many big people in such a drama," she said. Police spokesman Asuman Mugyenyi neither Musumba nor any official of FDC had reported death threats. "I would know under normal circumstances, but there has been no report that I know of," Mugyenyi said by telephone. Musumba said threats to her personal safety do not bother her very much, adding that she is focused on fighting for equitable national development. In a separate interview yesterday, Musumba said since last year when violence was unleashed on members of the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (Pafo), members of the opposition have been worried about their safety. The party spokesman, Mr Wafula Oguttu, recently told journalists that their (FDC) phones were being tapped. Changing tactics Musumba said tactics had since been changed and that the government had in recent times tried to use their drivers and house helpers to either link them to rebel activity or have them poisoned. As a result, she said, most members of the opposition had changed drivers and maids. At the time FDC activists travelled to South Africa, she said, there were attempts to plant drugs like marijuana into their cargo, to have them arrested by the South African authorities. Musumba, however, said information leaked prompting FDC to advise its supporters to travel with light luggage and not to go through the VIP lounge. She said the government was so desperate that it would resort to any means to retain power. The National Resistance Movement has also accused FDC members of intimidating pro- Movement legislators who voted overwhelmingly to support lifting presidential term limits. "Some of us are considering taking legal action against FDC. Many members have been intimidated and defamed. How can you say that we have been bribed? Isn't this defamation," the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ms Hope Mwesigye told the House a week ago. She said FDC appeared to be perfecting intimidation.

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