Letter to my President Dr. Col Kiiza Besigye: Fire all your advisors!

Your excellence, my name is Ekoot Richard, I became a member of the reform agenda in 2003 but I also happen to have aggressively campaigned for you in 2001 as a young man in high school. By the time I reached university, I was already part of your agenda and I happen to have been part of the youth transitional council of FDC under the leadership of Odongo Otto and Samuel Makokha. Mr. President my first police statement I ever wrote was because of supporting you and my first suspension from university was also mainly because I supported you and the only reason I am not in the trenches with you is because I am in another country trying to make ends meet but I was able to fly in and vote for you and even campaign for you.

In 2005, Mr. President, I happen to have been one of the leaders of those that were all over the streets protesting the lifting of time term limits under the guidance of Betty Olive Kamya with my then colleagues in Makerere under the guidance of Gerald Karuhanga and Okuku in Kyambogo university. Mr. President I am giving you this background just to let you know I have been part of you and FDC and always will be but I have a few issues I need to put forward as a concerned member of FDC and recommend that some of your advisors be fired.

Mr. president, let me take this opportunity to congratulate you upon your victory in the just concluded elections and also wish you good health through the struggle. Majority of us believe you won the 2006 and 2016 elections and we all agree that your victories were denied by the dictatorship and in all those victories you have had varying reactions to the thief and the way forward but I believe this time you are going around it the wrong way.

Mr. president I have read that you have requested us to boycott work on Thursdays, to boycott musicians in the tubonge nawe and to boycott goods and services of those that support NRM and this is where I disagree with you mr. President. Mr. president, I am a believer of civil disobedience where there is injustice and there is no doubt that there is visible injustice both to you and the people of Uganda including the many people locked up in safe houses and police cells whose only crime was supporting you but the above boycotts also have a level of injustice and or are not in the spirit of democracy. The injustice in this case is being committed by the police, army, M7, EC and all those individuals and companies that helped him rig the elections but not those that supported him since they were exercising there right which is the democracy you and me are fighting for.

Mr. president, I did walk to work in 2011 because I knew my employer then had no right to stop me but telling your supporters to avoid work in an economy where 83% of the youth that love you are unemployed is suicide for us who support you with an economy where labour is readily available. We shall be fired because let’s face it, M7 and his cronies care less whether we work or not as long as we pay tax to sustain him. Mr. president I propose you get to influence unions and professional bodies to strike so that we can join but not as individuals boycotting work because we shall be fired and some of us support families.

Mr. president I agree that our musicians might not have acted in the interest of their supporters but being that they are Ugandans, I believe they have the right to chose who they support and considering its democracy, we should let them be, however if we can prove that they were paid using tax payers money to praise a dictatorship or were bribed, then they are part of those causing the injustices and as such we are justified in our effort to fight for justice and rule of law in which case I am onboard with boycotting their rallies but we shouldn’t do it just bse they voted for a different candidate because that is democracy that we are fighting for.

Mr. president, I believe we need to show a high level of tolerance for Ugandans to look at us as a government of the people and not for its members the way NRM has been doing it and as such, we should not begin to boycott goods and services of those who supported a different candidate. We should instead show them love and convince them that they made a mistake in choosing otherwise. Mr. President please remember you won the election so the problem isn’t supporters but those that stole it and therefore I propose that you come out with a list of all companies and individuals that you are aware helped in the rigging of elections so that we boycott those for causing the injustice and putting us 50 yrs back but we shouldn’t boycott just because somebody supported a different candidate unless there is a criminal act or an injustice committed by them.

Mr. president I was also disappointed that the party didn’t do all it can to ensure we petition the election so that we can prove to Ugandans and the international community that we have exhausted all avenues and I do understand that you have been under house arrest but one thing I didn’t see are all the Mp elect and other party members doing what’s humanly possible to ensure that we petition but I pray we coordinate with JPAM to put to shame the NRM.

Mr.President I still believe you are the most consistent Ugandan I know and you mean well for this country and its people but some of our supporters are tarnishing our brand with abuses everywhere to whoever they think doesn’t support us. In fact one stranger yesterday reduced me to a brainless individual who doesn’t understand how banks or issues of money laundering and dubious bank deals happen just because I disagreed with his assertion that banks are financing this ‘injustice’. What that so called supporter of ours didn’t know is that I have worked in banking sector internationally for sometime and I had a better understanding of what I was talking about. Mr. President one word of guidance to many of us who support you is enough considering the truth is on our side.

As I bid farewell to you my president, I just want to register my disappointment at our leaders in FDC who seem to be silent amidst the injustices being bestowed on you yet they were struggling to be next to you for votes since you are a brand and I hope that you revisit your advisors and come up with a better way forward that won’t leave all your supporters jobless because imagine 65% of voters in Kampala being fired for not working on Thursdays. I await your command my president. For God and my Country.