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Muntu: Signs of a regime crumbling |
| By Robert Muhereza & Jossy Muhangi |
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KABALE — The increasing detention of political opponents is a sign of a regime about to crumble, former Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, has said. Muntu, also the chief of mobilisation of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), stressed in Runyankore that “buri gavumenti ku eza kugwa etandika kukwata abakugihakanisa (when a government is about to fall, it persecutes its opponents).” Nagenda said if the legislators arrested were implicated in the murder, it is up to the courts to decide their guilt or innocence. He said unless Muntu had evidence that the accused were innocent, it was not possible for him to comment on a case before court. Muntu’s statement follows the arrest and detention of two opposition Members of Parliament, Mr Reagan Okumu and Mr Michael Nyeko Ocula last Thursday. The two are accused of murdering Mr Alfred Bongomin, an LC3 chairman of Pabbo camp in Gulu district on February 12, 2002. “We thought the NRA bush war in Luweero would be the last but our friends seem to have forgotten so fast,” Muntu said to wild cheers. He added: “We shall not allow anyone to be above the law. If they want to be above the law, we shall bring them down so that we are all equal before the law.” Muntu said, “We shall kneel before Museveni and ask him to desist from indulging into unconstitutional acts that could incite more wars.” He said MPs were joining Maj. Kakooza Mutale’s Kalangala Action Plan (KAP) because they feared that if they did not, they might lose support from the NRM come the 2006 elections. “If these MPs joined Kalangala Action Plan with intentions of intimidating and terrorising Ugandans during campaigns and elections, they have misfired,” he said. “We are ready to defend FDC supporters countrywide without fear or favour.” Muntu advised the people not to penalise their MPs who have joined the Kap, saying they have been threatened that if they refuse, government would identify political opponents to challenge them during the 2006 parliamentary elections. The FDC’s Mr. Musinguzi Garuga revealed at the same meeting in Kabale that 17 lawyers had been hired by the party to defend the rights of their colleagues being persecuted and jailed unjustly. Several FDC supporters have been linked to the rebel People’s Redemption Army and have been arrested and charged with treason. Musinguzi said although the RDC represented the President he could best be employed as a gate-keeper, given his academic qualifications. He warned that if the RDC continued to harass the opposition, “he should count me among those who will fight and defeat him.” The FDC top leadership vowed to secure the release of their two supporters and MPs Reagan Okumu and Nyeko Ocula from jail in two weeks’ time. Party vice chairman Prof. Ogeng Latigo, who is also MP for Agago, said the government was persecuting the legislators because they were political opponents. The government investigated and knows who killed Bongomin but wants to slam the murder charges on the opposition MPs deliberately, he said. |
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