New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
June 11, 2005
Posted to the web June 13, 2005
By Nathan Etengu
Kampala
THE Kampala Central Police Station is holding 55 T-shirts belonging to the Forum for democratic Change (FDC).
FDC national promoter Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu on Thursday said the Presidential guard brigade (PGB) confiscated the T-shirts from the secretary general of the FDC national youth league, Sam Mugumya, as he delivered the consignment to the MP for Busongora South, Christopher Kibazanga.
Muntu said Mugumya was arrested with the T-shirts and detained for allegedly being idle and disorderly at the Parliamentary Buildings.
He said Mugumya was detained overnight before he was granted a sh50,000 bond. Muntu said Kibazanga, who stood as surety, was also granted a sh50,000 bond.
He said Mugumya was accused of carrying illegal materials and trying to embarrass President Yoweri Museveni who had earlier attended the national budget presentation at Parliament.
PGB spokesperson Lt. Edison Kwesiga said Mugumya was arrested after he failed to identify himself.
"He was abusive and like anybody else, he was asked to identify himself," he said.
Muntu told an FDC rally in Mbale on Thursday that a country where people shed blood to gain freedom should not be thrown into anarchy by the state.
"President Museveni should remember an incident in 1980 when he was held with his family at a roadblock by the soldiers in a government he was serving as a minister," Muntu said.
Mugumya said the PGB accused him of taking illegal materials to Parliament.
"I told them the materials belonged to a registered political party," he said, adding that his explanation angered the PGB, who called the police to arrest him.
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Question:
Did the T-shirts pose a danger to the security of the President for the PGB to become involved in their confiscation?
Is the PGB now the Police?
Other than stupidity, what makes a political T-shirt illegal?
Is this how Mu7 plans on campaigning for the return of political parties?
Uganda: I'll Lobby for Multiparty Politics, Says Museveni
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS
June 10, 2005
Posted to the web June 10, 2005
Kampala
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni changed his stand on Wednesday and said he would campaign for the country's return to multiparty politics during a referendum scheduled for 28 July.
"We cannot continue to deny people their right to belong where they want to belong," he said. "Some people were in the [ruling National Resistance] Movement, but were not happy with the movement."
For the past two decades, Museveni has strongly opposed party politics and claimed they were the source of Uganda's political upheaval during its post-independence era.
Critics, including Uganda's donors and NGOs, have expressed concern about Museveni's commitment to opening up Uganda's political space. Britain has withheld US $9.6 million in aid to the East African country because of the slow pace of the political transition.
However, Museveni told parliament that the introduction of multiparty democracy would counter allegations that his government was violating people's right to associate.
"We want to end the era of lies that we are oppressing the opposition," he said.
He added that he would campaign for a "yes" vote in the referendum.
During the July referendum, Ugandans are due to vote whether or not the country should revert to multiparty politics, banned in 1986 when Museveni came to power, or to maintain the current "no-party" political system, where the ruling Movement is the only political group permitted to operate.
Uganda's Electoral Commission announced on Thursday the question to be put to a vote: "Do you agree to open up the political space to allow those who wish to join different organisations/parties to do so to compete for political power?"
Major opposition parties have threatened to boycott the referendum. They said the government was holding the vote expecting the public would vote against the proposal, enabling the Movement to tighten its grip on power.
Museveni's National Resistance Movement has ruled Uganda for close to two decades, during which time the country's poverty levels reduced from over 60 percent to below 30 percent.
However, during that time, northern Uganda has been ravaged by a bloody insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians, displaced more than 1.4 million people and completely destroyed the region's economy.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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