NRM is panicking over opposition strength – Kinkizi Bishop

The Bishop of Kinkizi diocese, Rt Rev Dan Zoreka, has said all Ugandans must be concerned about what is happening in the country.

Bishop Zoreka who blamed the incident in Arua on government’s failure to respect multi-party politics, said the ruling party (NRM) is starting to feel the strength of the opposition.

“All Ugandans are concerned about what we are seeing happening in the country mostly the violence that happened in Arua, as people are being witch-hunted by government. Most Ugandans are not happy but they are keeping quiet because of fear for their lives,’’ said Bishop Zoreka in a telephone interview with Daily Monitor on Sunday.

Bishop Zoreka who has always been outspoken and called out the government, said the NRM government is worried about the strength of the opposition, the reason they are failing to maintain best practices under the multi-party system.

“What they are doing shows that NRM government is panicking, thinking that other parties are overtaking them. Every person has a right to support a political party or individual he wants but when you see a candidate like Kassiano Wadri and team being arrested just because they have a different political view, then we are not in multi-party system,” said Bishop Zoreka.

He added that Ugandans must love one another and learn to accommodate each person’s ideas or ideologies, “because at the end we must all fight for peace and tranquillity in our country.”
Bishop Zoreka condemned the arrest of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi and others over what he termed as a fabricated story.

“We must all be concerned about what happened in Arua especially the arrest of MPs like Francis Zaake, Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), Kassiano Wadri, among others. It is something that must be condemned because it should not be happening in this era. If it is true that some people threw stones at the presidential convoy we also condemn it, but if it is a fabricated story, we must condemn it very strongly because when people are falsely accused, it is not democracy,” he said.

Bishop Zoreka said the government is mandated to protect its citizens but not kill them, urging that those torturing suspects should as well face the law.

The state minister for lands, housing and urban development, Dr Chris Baryomunsi also condemned the acts of torture on suspects, but blamed Arua by-election violence on indiscipline by opposition supporters.

“What I condemn is torture of individuals, but whoever is found on the wrong side of the law should be punished accordingly whether an MP or a minister,” said Dr Baryomunsi.
He added: “All we need is decent politics, we opened up multi-party dispensation where political parties compete for political power and we would want to exercise maximum discipline while canvassing for votes. It was very unfortunate that some of the players in Arua engaged in acts of indiscipline.”