Opposition ‘courting Besigye’ to give presidential race another trial

Dr Kizza Besigye addresses the media in Kampala on February 13, 2016. FILE PHOTO | AFP

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By  Monitor

What you need to know:

  • A source at the FDC headquarters, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Daily Monitor that there were still high-level negotiations by both the internal and external leaders in the party to have Dr Besigye hold the party flag in the 2021 elections.

KAMPALA

Uganda’s opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leaders and founding members are courting Dr Kizza Besigye to be the party’s presidential flag bearer in the 2021 presidential elections, the Daily Monitor reports.

However, high placed sources in FDC said the party had not formally approached Dr Besigye on the matter, but its top hierarchy has been contacting him to contest against President Yoweri Museveni, the likely NRM flag bearer, for the fifth time.

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A source at the FDC headquarters, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Daily Monitor that there were still high-level negotiations by both the internal and external leaders in the party to have Dr Besigye hold the party flag in the 2021 elections.

The source said although Dr Besigye had not given them his final decision on his candidature, he expressed reluctance to contest in 2021, alleging that the vote would be rigged like in the previous elections.

The founder members and the current leadership have all reportedly been requesting him to stand against President Museveni.

"Even our local supporters have been reaching out to him,” the source revealed.

“Dr Besigye, however, has a lot of reservations on elections because he still looks at it as a ceremonial ritual that cannot yield anything big,” the source added.

FDC President Patrick Amuriat, on Monday said the party had not yet met Dr Besigye officially, but they were slated to meet him any time soon over the matter.

“We are looking for the party presidential candidate at the moment. If there are some people who have met Dr Besigye to ask him to be the party flag bearer, we do not have any problem with that,” Mr Amuriat said.

“Since Dr Besigye is our big fish, we are also going to meet him to tell us if he is going to hold our flag or not,” he added

Mr Amuriat further said that a number of people had approached him to hold the FDC party flag in 2021 and he was still considering the proposal .

The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Ms Betty Aol Ocan, said she was among the people who had been contacting Dr Besigye to contest as the party’s presidential candidate, because she thinks he was the right person.

She, however, said Dr Besigye had not yet given them a positive response.

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