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http://www.redpepper.ug/details.php?item=8
The Orange March ![]()
By Red Pepper ReporterIntelligence sources said when Besigye and some elements in the FDC heard of the planned lecturers strike at Makerere, they mobilised their agents to recruit students to join in the strike.
The plan was to get the students to riot. Then their Kyambogo colleagues, would also join in solidarity. Then thousands of students mixed with legions of hooligans would paralyse the city with a massive demonstration through town to State House and scare or even force the President to flee his official residence, said the source.
Several countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, including the Philippines and Georgia have managed to cause regime change through such revolutions which have acquired colour names like yellow, orange or even red revolutions. The strength of such mega demos lies in the fact that security forces cannot shoot down such multitudes of riotous but determined people.
Kyambogo University in eastern Kampala has just ended a week-long staff strike which also saw students joining in. They only returned to class after President Museveni met them and ordered them back to work. Kyambogo teachers were grumbling over the slow process of absorbing staff from the former constituent colleges and grading their academic qualifications. A ministerial committee is sorting out their problems.
Intelligence sources said the FDC has basically abandoned dreams of launching an armed struggle against the government. But then Besigye and some elements in his party still believe they must bring down the government of President Yoweri Museveni by some other means before 2011. An Orange Revolution is such an option.
Besigye this year said he would lead the country into acts of civil disobedience and that he would even cause the cancellation of next years Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He has since denied planning to disrupt the Commonwealth conference.
The Makerere striking students were supposed to be mobilised into a huge demo to State House to scare President Museveni who had just returned from China.
Meanwhile, Walakira Nyanzi adds that President Museveni yesterday summoned striking Makerere University lecturers for a meeting at Hotel Africana in the heart of Kampala. A press release from the Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Namirembe Bitamazire, confirmed that the meeting with the President was to take place today at 11 oclock prompt at Hotel Africana.
Museveni was expected to discuss the stalemate between MUASA (Makerere University Academic Staff Association) and the government over the delayed salary increment for academic staff promised by the government last April. Mondays meeting with the Chancellor, who is also the Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, ended in deadlock.
The Kampala Extra Regional Police Commander, Grace Turyagumanawe, who visited the university during the strike, told journalists that the arrested students were suspected to have been part of a larger group that raided and looted the Guild Canteen and other big shops in Wandegeya and Kikoni.
He identified three of the students arrested as Ronald Kyobe, a first-year student and two second-year students as Andrew Mubiru and Alex Kagoro. Out of the 30 students arrested, seven were female.
Eyewitnesses said the rioting students broke into Makerere University Guild Canteen and stole many crates of beer, soda, milk and sugar. They proceeded to Wandegeya and Kikoni, burnt shops and set tyres ablaze in the middle of the road and demanded money from passengers in taxis.
A combination of military police and anti-riot police were deployed at the university and all traffic in and out of the campus was blocked. The major access roads to Kampala from Makerere University like Bombo Road, Sir Apolo Kaggwa Road and Makerere Hill Road were closed for almost five hours as the angry students sang songs criticising President Museveni.
Because of the strike, MUASA called off a general meeting which was scheduled for yesterday in which the stalemate over the salary increments was to be discussed. The MUASA chairperson Augustus Nuwagaba says the meeting could not be held under the heavy police presence at Makerere.
The Dean of Students, Mr John Ekudu, told the striking students not to involve themselves in strikes and advised them to concentrate on their books and coursework. The lecturers went on strike on Friday protesting governments failure to increase their salaries despite its promising the rise in 2004.
The lecturers are also protesting the alleged preferential treatment given to science subject lecturers receiving substantially higher salaries than their colleagues.
The lecturers want the salaries to be based on qualifications and regularised across the board, regardless of whether one belongs to sciences or the humanities. MUASA said staff were not ready to continue teaching unless a comprehensive agreement was reached on the issues at hand.
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