Besigye criticises celebrating National Resistance Movement day

Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate, Kizza Besigye lays a wreath on the mass grave in Makulubita sub county, Luwero District, Uganda where people who lost their lives during the liberation war were buried. PHOTO | ABUBAKER LUBOWA

What you need to know:

  • An estimated 500,000 people were killed in what is called Luwero Triangle as Mr Museveni’s forces battled the then government forces of Milton Obote.
  • FDC deputy president Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, who is the lead coordinator of the campaign in Buganda, apologised for what she called bad conditions in the former battlefield, pledging that the conditions would improve.

Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate Kizza Besigye on Sundday told the people of Luwero District that celebrating the day President Museveni captured power in 1986, is a mockery against the people who died in that war.

An estimated 500,000 people were killed in what is called Luwero Triangle as Mr Museveni’s forces battled the then government forces of Milton Obote, but a number of former key fighters now accuse Mr Museveni of diverting from what they fought for.

“The NRM that captured power was captured by Mr Museveni. National Resistance Movement (NRM) is now a personal property; it is Museveni and Family Ltd. What we fought for died a long time ago,” Dr Besigye told the first gathering he addressed at Kikunyu, Makulubita sub-county.

On celebrating the day Mr Museveni’s forces triumphed, January 6, Dr Besigye said: “This celebration is now dancing on the graves of those who died in the war. That is why I don’t care. Even if I died in this struggle I would have died fighting to achieve the cause our people died for.” He said Mr Museveni had wrongly claimed a title. “I hear Museveni calling himself Sabalwanyi (chief fighter). Which Sabalwanyi? The real sabalawanyis are here; those who protected us when we were here.”

FDC deputy president Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, who is the lead coordinator of the campaign in Buganda, apologised for what she called bad conditions in the former battlefield, pledging that the conditions would improve now that “your fellow fighter is here”.

Dr Besigye was Mr Museveni’s bushwar doctor. At Kikunyu, he pointed in the direction of the nearby of Kitemamasanda village, where the rebels camped for a long time. He said that is where he met the rebels when he joined from Nairobi.