KAMPALA
THE Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) chief mobiliser, Maj. Gen.
Mughisha Muntu has said President Yoweri Museveni betrayed them though
he does not regret being part of the National Resistance Army liberation
struggle. "We have been betrayed but still it was worth it fighting
because we believed in the objectives that made us fight, Muntu said.
We have moved some distance, there is no doubt about it but we
would like to make sure that we do not degenerate. That is why we have
taken a position. We want to make sure that all that we fought for and
the people who died in the bush war did not die for nothing.
He
was speaking on Voice of America's 'Straight Talk Africa" programme
hosted by Mr Shaka Ssali on Wednesday night. Challenged by a caller
that they would not be any different from Museveni who came in as a
saviour and now he is clinging to power like African leaders do, Muntu
said there was need to put in place a system that people can
trust.
He said, "We need to work together to put in place a
process that we can all trust and then the population can choose its
leaders. If the leaders abuse that trust then they can be voted out.
When that does not happen it creates scepticism. We should invest in
creating a credible process."
Muntu said FDC was mobilising the
population to ensure a smooth election in 2006. He said, "We are trying
to put pressure on the government to ensure that we get a credible
electoral process. Nevertheless if the government keeps on manipulating
the process, the situation might not be as credible as we would want.
Violence is one thing we want to avoid in FDC. The country has gone
through a lot of violence in the last 40 years."
Muntu said FDC
was "building pressure" by carrying out mobilisation at the grass root
levels and "creating a critical mass so as to tilt the balance." "It is
possible, it can be done we have already seen indications," he
said.
Muntu, who along with several FDC officials are in the USA
to attend the Uganda North America conference, said the party had opened
branches in all the 56 districts in the country and was looking forward
to opening branches in 220 constituencies. "We see the ground
shifting and the moment we create confidence in the population, it may
deter the government from trying to do anything to manipulate the
electoral process," he said.
Muntu said the party was on a
mission to liberate people from fear so that they"can stand and resist
oppression." "We have seen fear receding and we shall keep on
intensifying our mobilisation efforts in all areas.
Muntu said
six main opposition parties were looking at the possibility of fielding
a single candidate. He said if they found that running separately as
parties would overstretch the President, then they would consider that
strategy also.
"We shall assess the situation on the ground that
will lead us to the strategy but generally we agree on creating an
alliance and cooperating fully to contest in the 2006 elections.On the
northern conflict, Muntu said unlike Museveni, he personally takes
responsibility for whatever went wrong during the time when he was army
commander. Muntu criticised Museveni for doing nothing about the
rampant corruption in the government yet there is overwhelming evidence
from commissions of inquiry.
He said if the President had the
political will take action basing on the evidence and recommendations of
the probes the culprits would have been tried in the courts of law.
He also blamed the government for doing nothing to bolster the
criminal investigations department of the Police, yet at the same time
the institution of the Inspector General of government was
"systematically being weakened."
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