Yoweri Museveni versus The Ugandan Opposition

[Askari Kanzu]

Sasa muziki unaanza kuwa mutamu!

"We shall not accept Museveni's inauguration," says Besigye

By David Ochami
The Standard Online Edition
11 May 2011

Uganda opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, addressing journalists at Kenya's Demoratic Party offices in Nairobi.


Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye has urged Kenya to promote democracy in Uganda as he warned that East African integration should not be turned into "the integration of dictators." Besigye, who was stopped from flying to Uganda on Wednesday, described Museveni's National Resistance Movement NRM government as a regime in panic and added that "there is no giving up" of the struggle against policies behind Uganda's rising poverty.

The opposition leader said he supports a simultaneous democratisation of East African nations based on common values to achieve sustainable integration.

On Wednesday morning Members of parliament protested Besigye's mistreatment by Ugandan and Kenyan authorities as reports spread that Uganda had threatened to block any flight to Entebbe International Airport with the opposition leader on board.

"The Kenya government will be better served by a stable Uganda, a democratic Uganda," according to Besigye who disclosed that he has "no illusions" that "the struggle" against Museveni "will take sometime" and might come at "high cost". Besigye said an unstable Uganda will unleash a refugee and economic burden if the country collapses and added that the interest of any government in Nairobi should be to promote justice and stability in Uganda.

He said Uganda's parliament is pliant and also argued that Museveni's credentials cannot promote sustainable integration in East Africa. "The East Africa region will not be integrated by dictators. It is a contradiction in arms for Museveni to claim he is working for integration. Integration is not integration of dictators. It should be an integration of the people. We need values as the building blocks for integrating the East Africa region," he said.

He denounced President Yoweri Museveni inauguration slated for Thursday and vowed to return to Uganda to join protests against the regime and policies of the Ugandan strongman whom he described as an extravagant and illegitimate despot.

"I will, as a person continue to participate in all protests that will be called, provided they are peaceful until desired goals are achieved," he told pressmen in Nairobi and added that challenging the Museveni regime is "costly and risky" and can lead to death.

Besigye said the opposition movement in Uganda will not accept Museveni's inauguration and will attend a protest prayer in the Ugandan capital instead.

He disclosed that during his recuperation at Nairobi hospital he discussed the crisis in Uganda with Prime minister Raila Odinga adding that although his leadership at the opposition Forum for Democratic Change FDC is coming to and end the party can still "decide to elect me as its presidential candidate".

With his right hand in a cast the Ugandan leader visited the offices of the Democratic Party outside Nairobi riding in a UN vehicle on Tuesday.

DP Officials led by former MP Joseph Munyao, who received Besigye condemned "the cruelty and brutality" meted on Besigye ad other protestors in Uganda.

 

[Askari Kanzu]

Besigye supporters throng Entebbe Road but in vain

Opposition supporters yesterday lined Entebbe Road in anticipation of Besigye’s return. PHOTO JOSEPH KIGGUNDU

By Philippa Croome

Posted Thursday, May 12 2011 at 00:00

The road to Entebbe Airport was yesterday lined with security forces, taking no chances on containing the throngs of journalists and eager supporters awaiting the touted return of Dr Kizza Besigye.

By the end of day, their vast efforts to control any exposure to the former presidential candidate would be in vain. The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party leader never made the drive down his pre-designated route. He and his family were barred from taking their morning flight from Nairobi after Kenya Airways officials refused Dr Besigye to board the plane on grounds that they had got intelligence that the government would not allow them to land at Entebbe Airport. Dr Besigye had been undergoing specialised treatment after his brutal arrest by the police less than two weeks ago.

Journalists blocked
Both local and foreign press were refused access to the airport – contrary to agreed terms established by government in the days before Dr Besigye’s expected arrival.

At 7:30am, Daily Monitor reporters arrived at the first of many checkpoints in Kitooro, more than a kilometre away from Entebbe Airport.

Upon identifying themselves as journalists, they were abruptly told to turn back by security forces, who offered no explanation. Other vehicles traveling to the airport were permitted to pass.

-Full Story

 

[AshaDii]

As much as Museveni ana ka u dictator ndani yake sidhani hata kama Besigye angeweza kua a good president, ndio yuko popular among the people but naona popularity yake is more because ya ubishi wake dhidi ya the government kuliko hata uwezo wake wa kuweza ongoza....anauza saana sura for a person whose interest is for the people... Akifanya kitu hata kama ni minor mpaka media ihusishwe... mara wanasema alikua na sababu binafsi, Mara Uganda waseme si kweli, mara Besegye anasema kesho anaenda inchini kwao..... Propaganda kibao....

 

[AshaDii]

Besigye said the opposition movement in Uganda will not accept Museveni's inauguration and will attend a protest prayer in the Ugandan capital instead.


Sijui kwanini huwa wanaongea vitu ambavyo hata wenyewe hawaamini tena mbele ya mashahidi... Besigye bado uko Kenya na the inauguration ndo leo... maybe utawahi kupinga... All the best....

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

A Ugandan security officer swings his baton the crowd who had gathered hoping to welcome opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, scheduled to arrive from Kenya, on May 11, 2011. Besigye's flight from Nairobi had been blocked, Kenyan Airlines confirmed, saying it had received information that the "aircraft would not be allowed to land at the Entebbe International Airport if he [Besigye] was on board." Besigye was in Nairobi where he had sought medial treatment after an assault by police who broke his protest in Uganda against rising living costs. The incident came on the eve of the swearing-in ceremony for President Yoweri Museveni. AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA

Ugandan security officers secure a street on May 11, 2011 in Kampala, where opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, had been scheduled to arrive from Kenya, though never appeared because his flight was blocked. Besigye was in Nairobi, where he had sought medial treatment after an assault by police who broke his protest in Uganda against rising living costs. The incident came on the eve of the swearing-in ceremony for President Yoweri Museveni, who won re-election after February polls in which Besigye mounted the strongest challenge yet to his 25-year rule.


​

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye and his wife Winnie at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on May 11,2011.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

​

 

[Askari Kanzu]

UPDATE: Kiiza Besigye's Procession Snakes to Kampala

Machrine Birungi on behalf of George Matovu

Kiiza Besigye, President of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, is now heading to Kampala, two hours after he arrived at Entebbe international airport this morning.

Read more: Uganda Radio Network

 

[Askari Kanzu]

Update: Museveni 4th term swearing

By admin on May 12, 2011

Almost all the guests are accompanied by presumably their spouses according to Journalist, Tabu Butagir. Nigeria's president Jonathan Goodluck was first to arrive at 10:30am. Gambia's president, his Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Jammeh arrived at 10:45am shortly followed by former Kenya's Daniel arap Moi who came in at 10:46am

President Museveni accompanied by his wife arrives at Kololo Airstrip at exactly 11:00am in a precession of many cars.

Source

 

[Askari Kanzu]

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (L) is welcomed by a Ugandan official on May 11, 2011, at Entebbe airport. Mugabe is in Uganda for tomorrow's swearing-in ceremony for President Yoweri Museveni, who won re-election in February and has been in power for 25 years.

 

[Askari Kanzu]

Hii picha inaonyesha Museveni atakuwa na kazi kubwa kutawala Uganda. Yaani anakagua gwaride siku ya kuapishwa chini ya ulinzi mkali namna hii?

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Museveni first speech as a 4th term president
​

President Yoweri Museveni Kaguta welcomes President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania during his swearing in for the fourth time as the president of the Republic of Uganda at Kololo Airstrip in Kampala on 12th-05-2011. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA​

Posted Thursday, May 12 2011 at 16:16

President Museveni’s inaugural speech, delivered hours after he was sworn in for another five year term in office ended minutes before 3pm on Thursday at Kololo Independence Grounds.

The speech dwelt on strides made by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party over the last 25 years on Uganda’s economy, education, road networks and the delivery of social services.

President Museveni spoke against what he described as reactionary ideology (in reference to the opposition) and echoed his stated commitment to progressive ideas. He said the development of electricity, roads and the railways had been poorly handled in Uganda and most African countries, a problem he said the 6th Parliament should be blamed for.

FULL STORY

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Kibaki naye pia katia gozigozi....

​

President Kibaki congratulates Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during the swearing-in ceremony at Kololo Ceremonial grounds in Kampala, Uganda May 12, 2011. PPS​

 

[Ole]

Museveni first speech as a 4th term president​

Wezi wamekutana​

Angalia hata koti alilovaa wamemtapeli kwa bei aliyonunulia
halitakiwa kujikunjakunja kama kaniki.​

 

[kagamba kadogo]

msanii amekwenda kumpa big up msanii mwenzie

 

[Gad ONEYA]

Aibu,acha tu NATO wawatwange kwani ishaonekana watawala wa kiafrica kwenye AU hawana aibu halafu wanaalikana kupongezana jinsi wanvyoongoza majuha!

 

[AshaDii]

Ab-T sorry mimi habari hata siioni.... Am just interested na koti la muheshiwa, hivi katika ndege zao hawaweki koti la akiba... walau hata pasi...

 

[Dingswayo]

Police in Uganda have fired teargas at stone-throwing protesters as two contrasting political dramas played out in the capital, Kampala.

A 21-gun salute rang out as Yoweri Museveni was sworn in for a fourth term as president, watched by fellow African leaders including Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. Outside the city, his rival Kizza Besigye waved to crowds of supporters who formed a raucous procession following the opposition leader's return from Kenya.

Besigye was Museveni's personal doctor during the bush war that saw the rebel leader seize power 25 years ago, but the two are now political foes.
He landed in Uganda a day after being prevented from flying home on a Kenya Airways flight. He had been receiving treatment in Nairobi after a brutal arrest left him temporarily blinded.

Standing through the sunroof of a car, Besigye and his wife, Winnie, waved to several thousand cheering and ululating supporters amid a heavy security presence along the road from Entebbe airport to Kampala. People fled as police used water cannon to scatter them and military police used heavy sticks to beat them, but they later regrouped and continued their march to the capital where Museveni was being inaugurated.

Anne Mugisha, the deputy foreign secretary of Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change, told Reuters: "They have teargassed them and they are beating them up, people are being whipped. If this can be done in front of visiting heads of state and dignitaries, it is obvious that they don't care even about international opinion any more."

Besigye's drive along the 25-mile route took several hours. Police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said the authorities had wanted him to use a different route, but he refused. "They have inconvenienced many people, including those supposed to catch their flights," she told the Associated Press.

Besigye, who Museveni defeated in an election in February, has staged a series of "walk to work" protests against rising food and fuel prices in recent weeks.

There was a more sombre mood at the inauguration, where a crowd watched Uganda's chief justice minister swear an oath to Museveni. Leaders from Kenya, Tanzania, Southern Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe attended.
Museveni appeared to make reference to Besigye in a speech, saying opponents wanted to cause chaos but their "disruptive schemes" would be defeated. He added: "I thank the Ugandans for overwhelmingly voting for me with 68.3%."

Attention will switch to parliament, where MPs are due to debate the proposed anti-homosexuality legislation that has earned opprobrium around the world on Friday. . But it is not the only item on the agenda. Campaigners have warned that another bill, obliging those who test positive for HIV to tell their partner or face jail, would lead to an increase in violence against women. Women are at risk because they usually learn they have HIV before their male partner, activists say. Testing is part of antenatal checks in pregnancy.

According to the International Community of Women Living With HIV in east Africa, women would be scapegoated and the consequences could be dire.

Lillian Mworeko, the regional co-ordinator for the group, who is based in Uganda, said: "The first culprit for criminalisation may be women. It is women who know their status first. It becomes an entry point for men to take women to court."

Mworeko said there is also a danger that women could be subjected to violent assault if they tell their partners, and be sued by them if they do not.
ICW Eastern Africa says women are already being blamed for HIV transmission. "We have discovered last year that in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, women living with HIV are coerced into sterilisation because they are HIV positive," Corinne Miele, of the organisation, said.

The bill is being debated alongside the bill on homosexuality. But, Mworeko said, "this one is going to impact negatively on more Ugandans than the other one is".

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

A Ugandan military UPDF officer (L) disperses supporters of opposition leader Kizza Besigye who gathered to welcome him back to Kampala from Nairobi on May 12, 2011. Dr Besigye was in the Kenyan capital to seek medical treatment for injuries sustained after he was attacked by state security personnel during an opposition demonstration in his home town. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni vowed to stamp out "disrupting schemes" as he was sworn in for a fourth term.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Ugandan military UPDF officers confront a man who was among supporters who gathered to welcome Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye in Kampala on May 12, 2011​