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Besigye vows to outfox RDCs, set up grassroots radio stations
New. Former FDC party president Kizza Besigye addresses party members during the opening of a multimillion party office block in Kitgum Municipality on Friday. PHOTO BY JULIUS OCUNGI.
What you need to know:
- Dr Besigye also noted that despite people saying he has fought enough and ought to leave the fight to oust Museveni to other leaders, he won’t back down until the fight is over.
- The Kitgum Resident District Commissioner, Mr Christopher Omara, however said the leaders had deviated from their original plans and wanted to cause mayhem within the town after failing to attract people at their new office.
Opposition politician Kizza Besigye has said he will find a way of communicating to the people despite being blocked from holding radio talk shows. He told the people of Kitgum on Friday that he would come up with a way of establishing “grassroots radios”.
Dr Besigye made the statement after the Kitgum Resident District Commissioner, Mr Christopher Omara, reportedly ordered that a planned radio show on Mighty Fire FM in Kitgum Municipality on which the Opposition activist was to be hosted on Friday evening be cancelled.
Dr Besigye has in recent weeks had his radio shows blocked in different towns, including Kabale, Jinja and Mubende. He is on a countrywide mobilisation drive asking people to join in what he has called the “year of action”.
On Thursday evening, Tembo FM, one of the radio stations in Kitgum Municipality, was also switched off by security personnel at a time when Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party leaders from the area were hosted to talk about Friday’s event, which involved opening a new office for the party in the area. The office was constructed by the Chua West County Member of Parliament, Mr Philip Okin Ojara.
“We are now going to create our own radio stations within the community,” Dr Besigye said. “This is through networking with the locals and leaders at the grassroots. This grassroots radios will help us to pass information from bottom to top and vice versa; it is what the People’s Government is intending to do.”
Dr Besigye was accompanied by the FDC party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat and FDC national Mobiliser Ingrid Turinawe.
He said the actions of police officers and RDCs to block him from appearing at radio stations and delivering his messages to Ugandans will be defeated with the establishment of strong coordination at the grassroots.
“We need to establish our leaders’ network so that we don’t only rely on the radio stations. We cannot cause change if we don’t have coordination, we should have leaders from top to bottom, we need to stand up and rise against this government because power is in our hands,” he said.
He said the uprising that happened in Sudan that saw the downfall of one of the longest serving African presidents Omar al-Bahsir early this month is possible in Uganda.
“Museveni is cornered, he is actually defeated, he no longer has the support of the army. That is the reason why you saw him moving in all the barracks around the country trying to convince soldiers by promising them better housing facilities, improved salaries. You cannot keep promising people for more than 30 years,” he said.
Dr Besigye also noted that despite people saying he has fought enough and ought to leave the fight to oust Museveni to other leaders, he won’t back down until the fight is over.
“Some people have been saying I have fought for long, but I say everybody should be in the fight. When you are going into war, you need all fighters, others should not be left out because those who have been fighting for long know the route and all the dangerous spots,” he said.
The Kitgum Resident District Commissioner, Mr Christopher Omara, however said the leaders had deviated from their original plans and wanted to cause mayhem within the town after failing to attract people at their new office.
He also refuted claims that he authored letters and gave orders to Mighty Fire Radio station not to host Dr Besigye.
“I think the station management didn’t want to host the FDC leaders because of reason they best know, I didn’t give them any directives,” he told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday.
Cowardly? The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, also Gulu Woman Member Parliament, Ms Betty Aol Ocan, told FDC supporters that the government is acting in a cowardly manner by switching off radio stations and blocking Dr Besigye’s radio talk shows.
