Bobi Wine’s torture

Then he blamed weak management by the police. The President reinforced his reaction with another statement the next day on Aug.16.  This time saying the Arua Municipality elections “were held peacefully” because “the organisers of violence and criminality had been arrested”.

He added: “Nevertheless, the violence of the previous days had had the most negative effect. Out of the 46,000 registered voters, only 16,000 turned out to vote. Only 34% of the electorate.”

The President said the opposition stole the election in Jinja East, Bugiri Municipality, and Arua Municipality using illegal voters.

He said investigations were ongoing – of allegations that some candidates had imported illegal voters from other areas to the municipality. He did not mention investigation into the cause of the election-eve violence, death of Bobi Wine’s driver, or the arrests and widely publicised torture of civilians and vandalizing of hotels in Arua by his Special Forces Command soldiers.

Instead he said: “The cases of terrorism, damaging property, manslaughter etc. against the Hons: Wadri, Bobi Wine, etc. will continue. Their actions led to the death of a Ugandan, injury of a number of others and damage to property, so the allegations go. “

“Why should a Ugandan be beaten, intimidated or have his property or life destroyed on account of politics? With uncontrolled violence in elections, many voters will fear to go for voting. This will mean the disenfranchisement of Ugandans.

“Why, then, did the Ugandans shed their blood? It was in order for them to run their country through fair and free elections. I will defend that right today and tomorrow as I did in the past,” he said.

The President issued a third statement on Aug.19, this time saying claims in the media that Bobi Wine was gravely ill and grievously damaged by what he called “rough handling by security forces during arrest” and he cannot talk were “fake news”.  He specifically mentioned Monitor and NTV. Museveni said army doctors examined Bobi Wine in Arua, Gulu and Kampala and found he has no head or chest injuries or bone fractures.

He says the opposition wins by using undisciplined groups to attack civilians, rape, and verbally threatening them out of voting for NRM.

“This is what is called terrorism in my opinion,” he said in a statement on Aug.19, “The evidence is overwhelming and it will be produced in court.”

Museveni said: “Anybody who is a friend of the young politicians like Bobi Wine should advise them that short cuts like cheating, importing voters, intimidating the voters of the other side, ballot stuffing etc. will lead them and Uganda to doom. That is what the young politicians of independence thought and did and it led to disaster”.

Museveni also oddly said Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zaake had escaped from police custody and the “police are looking for him.”

The President also criticized what he called “elements of the security forces” for focusing on the stoning of his car.

He wrote: “Please, that is not the most serious problem here. That President has the capacity, either alone or in company with his personal security, to defend himself, not only against stone throwers but against any attacker.

“I have done that for the last 48 years. I defended myself against Amin’s soldiers on the 22nd of January, 1973, in Mbale, against the Kenyan policeman Patrick Shaw in Nairobi in 1978, against Tabuley near Atiriri in 2003 etc. etc.”

From Museveni’s missives, it is clear another election related big case is looming as he insists the opposition wins in Jinja East, Bugiri Municipality, Arua Municipality should be challenged in courts. That could spark even more riots.