{UAH} BESIGYE REVEALS: SO, WAS HE THERE JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

Besigye: Opposition can't win elections

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TUESDAY, 07 JANUARY 2014 23:39

WRITTEN BY DEO WALUSIMBI

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Bye bye elections: Kizza Besigye says he's will never participate in elections again under Museveni's regime

Whether united or not, you cannot dislodge Museveni through an election he organises, supervises and controls.

Retired Colonel Kizza Besigye, who challenged President Mu- seveni three times in general elections, now says elections can't dislodge the incumbent.

In a revealing interview about his plans for 2014, the former FDC leader said he had lost faith in elections and now prefers civil disobedience as a strategy against Museveni. In the 2001 elections, Besigye got 27% of the total votes cast.

In 2006 it was 37%, while in 2011 he scored 26%. Besigye dis- puted all three results, the first two in court.

Asked in an interview last weekend whether he would offer himself in the 2016 general elec- tion, Besigye said: "My position has been very clear that it doesn't matter which year the elections are in, I said I cannot offer myself for an election under the condi- tions in which we have been hav- ing them. In other words, in an election which is organised by a military regime."

He added: "These are not Dr Besigye elections, it is a ritual which is performed    under    the    military , police, which always vandalise polling stations and stuff ballot boxes, etc... it's not an election."

Asked about the opposition's chances of winning in 2016, Besigye downplayed attempts to front a single opposition candi- date.

"What I have said in my own analysis, whether united or not united, you cannot dislodge Mu- seveni through an election he or- ganises, supervises and controls. The issue is not unity or disunity.

The question is the system under which an election is conducted," he said.

Commenting on his civil dis- obedience strategy, Besigye said the focus had shifted from elections to confronting the regime.

"I am not going to focus my energies on electoral processes under this regime," he said.

"Since the elections of 2011, our focus shifted from awakening the people to know the kind of regime they are dealing with, to confronting the regime, to bring it down, not through an election but through organizing defiance with the people of Uganda."

Since losing the last election in 2011, Besigye has resigned from FDC leadership and aligned him- self with activist groups such as the banned 4GC (For God and my Country) and Activists for Change (A4C), whose member- ship includes DP activists such as Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Luk- wago, MPs Mathias Mpuuga, Betty Nambooze and Muham- mad Muwanga Kivumbi.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower