Museveni should be in prison but we can forgive him if he leaves peacefully – Besigye

Veteran opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye says President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni should be in prison for the crimes he has committed but he could be pardoned if he agrees to step down peacefully.

Besigye fought alongside Museveni in a five-year bush war in which about half a million people died before he the man who is now the country’s longest serving president took over power in 1986.

On February 04, Besigye told NTV on the Spot that he regretted joining Museveni in the bush because the president deviated from the objectives of the bush war struggle.

“If we had known that the armed struggle would not bring change, I would not have participated in it,” he said.

“I truly believed that there were bad and good guns.”

He even argued that Museveni had committed worse crimes than the ones he had accused Apollo Milton Obote of.

Besigye further alleged that the recently concluded election was more fraudulent that the 1980 one whose results sparked off Museveni’s bush war.

The opposition kingpin said he would welcome any mediation that seeks to see Museveni out, start on a transition process, reconcile Ugandans and hold free and fair elections to return the country on track.

But he emphasized Museveni belongs to prison because of the “atrocities” he has committed.

“The right place that Museveni should be in is prison. He has committed a lot of atrocities.”

Emphasizing that Museveni’s preoccupation was to cling onto power despite waning support, Besigye further noted that in the dialogue that seeks to end gun rule, Museveni could be granted amnesty if he realizes that Uganda can move forward even without him — and leaves power without being to be pushed out.