Muntu faces revolt in FDC

Latigo comments on crisis

“While Besigye’s fate is a tragedy,” Latigo said, “people should know that he is just one actor in FDC and the party as a whole was established with many objectives and has to continue pursuing themwhile also defending the rights of individual actors like Besigye.”

“For nowMuntu is the president of the FDC and Besigye a symbol of our party and of the struggle, and that there is no contradiction,” Latigo said.

Latigo said, however, the divisions as a result of the Nandala-Muntu contest are a reality that the party must deal with.

Even party strong woman, Ingrid Turinawe, sought to downplay the disagreement with Muntu. Turinawe is one of those that felt the party should not have appointed cabinet while Besigye was still under incarceration but she denied that the party is being split. She told The Independent that “the beauty with FDC is that there is freedom of speech and nobody blames people like Otto for expressing themselves”.

“What has happened is that we have disagreed but disagreements are healthy, they help us re-strategise and build ourselves,” she said, “We have disagreed on many issues.”

She added: “If I was of the view that the shadow cabinet waits and I was defeated, it doesn’t mean that the struggle ends there, if the shadow cabinet doesn’t participate in the struggle, still we shall continue.”

Besigye’s many cases

Besigye’s current war manifests in the multiple charges in multiple cases, which observers say are intended to break his spine and bring an end to his decade and a half challenge to Museveni’s hold on power.

Critics see the multiple charges, delaying tactics by the state prosecutors in prosecuting him, and his continued detention as a change in strategy in dealing with him and the entire opposition. Rwakafuzi estimates that Besigye has since the 2011 Walk-to- Work protests faced some 70 cases. Currently, Besigye moves from one court to another almost twice a week, sometimes on a daily basis as he battles these cases.

For instance, on June 22, there was a hearing in the Kasangati court, State Vs Kizza Besigye for disobeying police orders. The next day June 23, there was a hearing in the Court of Appeal over the defiance campaign case. As we went to press, Besigye was slated to appear in the Nakawa court on June 29 over the treason case mention and also on July 6 before the High court Kampala for application of bail.

That is when his lawyer Rwakafuzi and Turinawe expect him to walk out of Luzira.

But apart from these cases, Besigye also faces a case in Kabale, which has been on for almost five years, then another case where he is charged with Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago at Makindye court and other cases that have died out at Buganda Road Court and others that are no longer being pursued.

Until recently, the state machinery would arrest Besigye and release him that very day only for him to appear on the streets and be arrested and released again.

This approach seems not to have given the security establishment a lot of assurances immediately after the February election, whichMuseveni won and Besigye sought to challenge with the defiance campaign.

With the cost of chasing him around appearing unmanageable and wearing down the police, Police Chief, Kale Kayihura first kept him detained at his own home for an entire month, attracting condemnation from human rights activists, the diplomatic corps and the international community.

At the time Kayihura appeared to be buying time until the post-election tension ended. It was feared, Besigye could exploit this tension to inspire wide-spread demonstrations like he did after the 2011 elections with the Walk-to-Work demonstrations.

Just as Kayihura was coming under immense pressure to end the detention of Besigye at home, for the state, an opportunity presented itself in an online video that shows Besigye taking part in what has been described as a “fake” swearing-in ceremony onMay11, the day before President Museveni was sworn in.

Besigye has narrated his ordeal in a letter to Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, in which he decries abuse of his rights by police and the judiciary.

“I have not been allowed to have lawyers in court,” Besigye’s letter reads in part, “It seems that while others enjoy the presumption of innocence, in my case I enjoy a presumption of guilt.”