Former presidential candidate Prof Venansius Baryamureeba says that Dr Kizza Besigye’s protests over the rising prices of commodities and an alleged Museveni-Muhoozi succession plan are meant to help the former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President take back his space in Uganda’s opposition from National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
Besigye was on Tuesday arrested from Downtown Kampala, whisked to the Central Police Station, before being driven to Naggalama Police Station. He is expected in court today, according to officials from the People’s Front for Transition (PFT Red Card Front).
The four-time presidential candidate says he is awakening Ugandans to wake up and save themselves from the current regime’s failure to prioritize their welfare as well as an alleged plan that could see President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni hand over power to his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
But Prof Baryamureeba says that Besigye is simply ‘rejuvenating his political career.’
“I repeat Dr Kizza Besigye attempts to demonstrate aren’t about rising commodity prices but rejuvenating his political career. Lord Mayor Lukwago cannot be seen supporting Besigye in Kampala to weaken Bobi Wine. Key figures in FDC want Beisgye to retire and so he is lonely,” wrote Baryamureeba.
BESIGYE’S MAIN CONCERNS
RISING COMMODITY PRICES
Prices of goods have risen across the country. The Museveni Government has attributed the skyrocketing prices on external factors. Besigye and his colleagues in the PFT Red Card Front say the president has failed to offer any tangible solutions for citizens surviving in an economy battered by the effects of the Covid19 pandemic.
In one of President Museveni’s recent speeches, he told Ugandans to eat cassava if they cannot find or afford bread, a piece of advice akin to what Marie Antoinette gave peasants complaining of the prices of bread before the French Revolution. (Read Story Here).
Besigye has also told Museveni to reduce the size of his government and to fire Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and their deputies so that they can go home and grow more cassava for the Cassava Republic. (Read Story Here).
At the weekend, Museveni used over one hour to explain to Ugandans why the prices of commodities had increased. He also attempted to justify the state of the economy. His advice, generally, was that Ugandans should increase production and shun imported goods. (Read Full Speech Here).
MUHOOZI-MUSEVENI SUCCESSION
In power since 1986, Museveni is currently aged 77 and will have ruled Uganda for four decades by the end of his current five-year term in 2026. Using his recently concluded — or rather unending — 48th birthday parties across the country, Lt Gen Kainerugaba, who is also the Commander of UPDF Land Forces, to hint on a possible presidential bid.
Besigye has called on Ugandans to rise up and oppose the Museveni-Muhoozi Succession, a project that former spymaster Gen David Sejusa (Tinyefuuza) hinted on in 2013. The opposition leader says citizens must rise up and demand a meaningful transition from military to civilian rule.
A retired colonel, Besigye has since made it clear that he would never salute Muhoozi even if he became president, becoming the second former bush war fighter to openly say so. (Read Story Here).
Erias Lukwago, Besigye’s deputy at the PFT, described Muhoozi as ‘a very reckless general with nothing but the gun and a birth certificate indicating that Gen Museveni is his father. (Read Story Here).
