Former Katikkiros Join Opposition; Kiboko Squad and Police Beat Besigye
The Daily Monitor reported that the Kiboko Squad and police beat Dr. Besigye at a demonstration today against the Electoral Commission leadership. Daily Monitor.
Forum for Democratic Change president Dr. Kizza Besigye was beaten today at a rally near the Clock Tower Playground, the Daily Monitor reported.
The opposition had planned a demonstration initially at the Uganda Railway Grounds, but they said that the police cordoned the grounds. They planned to protest the leadership at the Electoral Commission (E.C.), calling for a new leader to replace the current E.C. head Badru Kiggundu. They shifted the protest to the Clock Tower Playground, where the press reported that Besigye was beaten.
Kampala’s Metropolitan police said that the demonstrators were not authorized to protest at the site they relocated to.
Donor countries like the U.S. have put increasing pressure on Uganda to have fair and transparent elections, triggering a backlash from President Museveni, who criticized donors in his recent State of the Union address, urging them to focus less on Uganda’s elections, and more on financing the countries’ infrastructure projects. Uganda receives significant funding from donors for both its electoral processes and infrastructure.
Yesterday, two former Buganda Kingdom prime ministers startled the country and signaled a new low in Mengo-government relations by joining the opposition coalition, called the Inter Party Cooperation (IPC), made up of five political parties working to overthrow President Museveni’s regime. Former Katikkiros Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere and Dan Muliika said they would join Besigye’s campaign to help Ugandans take control of their country. Since cultural leaders are not allowed to get involved in politics, Ssemwogerere resigned from his position as the Kabaka’s special advisor, which he said the Kabaka supported.
Ssemwogerere cited corruption, poverty, and the lack of drugs in Uganda’s hospitals as some of the reasons that led him to his decision. ”It’s not a decision that I have come to lightly or without massive soul-searching,” he said, according to reporting by the Daily Monitor.
Former Buganda Kingdom premiers Joseph Ssemwogerere and Dan Muliika have joined the opposition, signaling a new low in Mengo-government relations.
Dr. Besigye said he would grant a federal system of governance (federo) to all of Uganda’s regions, return the government’s Buganda property, and re-open CBS if the opposition won the election. CBS Radio has been switched off since the September riots in 2009, accused of inciting violence in Kampala, where more than 20 people were killed after the Kabaka was blocked by the government from visiting Kayunga.
The government’s chief whip was not discouraged by the news. ”The NRM will recruit more people in Buganda and we shall concentrate on grassroots mobilisation and service delivery to attend to issues that ordinary people consider important,” said Daudi Migereko, according to reporting by New Vision.
The announcement was made at Pope Paul IV Memorial Center in Kampala, where Dr. Besigye launched the opposition’s mobilization campaign for the Buganda region.
It has been a difficult past year for the cultural kingdom. In March, the Buganda suffered the loss of Unesco world heritage site Kasubi Tombs in a mysterious fire, a 128-year-old mausoleum for its late kings.
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