Kabuleta: How suspending campaigns over Bobi Wine works for Museveni

Independent presidential candidate Joseph Kiiza Kabuleta has joined Patrick Oboi Amuriat of main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) in declining to call off campaigns over the arrest of Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.

The arrest, on November 18, of Bobi Wine, the National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate, sparked off protests.

Almost 30 people were killed in the protests.

The violence prompted candidates, including Maj Gen (Rtd) Gregg Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) and independent candidates John Katumba and Lt Gen Henry Kakurugu Tumukunde to suspend their campaigns in solidarity.

But Amuriat and Kabuleta have declined to halt their campaigns.

According to Kabuleta, suspending campaig is an act on futility, and would only help incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni.

KABULETA: WHY I WON’T SUSPEND CAMPAIGNS

Suspending campaigns as a form of protest over the brutal and mindless arrest of our colleagues Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Hon Kyagulanyi Robert can only serve the interests of one person — Museveni.

Boycott would be an effective strategy if Museveni was still capable of being shamed straight, but he isn’t. He can choose to rent crowds in their thousands to follow him on the campaign trail, and in the same twist arrest other candidates for gathering crowds of (genuine) supporters.

If there is one thing that Dr Besigye’s 20 years of defiance showed us, it is that the man we are dealing with is beyond any shame or embarrassment. He is beyond the pale. For him the end justifies the means. By suspending their campaigns over the various injustices and unleveled ground, our colleagues Mugisha Muntu, Henry Tumukunde and other boycotters prove that they entered this race under the illusion of fair play.

I am under no such illusions.

We are 11 candidates, which makes for a football team. If two of our players are temporarily and unjustly taken off the pitch, our best chances of victory lie in the remaining 9 players pulling up their socks and attacking the opponent ferociously. But if they walk off the pitch in protest, the match is easily won by the opponent. And remember, our opponent also happens to be the referee.

I know for certain that if I had been the one brutally arrested, I would have desired that POA and Bobi Wine carry on the fight in my absence. That is why I am not going to suspend my campaign to try and shame Museveni into levelling the ground, because I know he is incapable of shame.