{UAH} Pojim/WBK: I told you so!! Supporters beg Besigye to run in 2016
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Supporters beg Besigye to run in 2016
Former FDC president Dr Kizza Besigye has been receiving delegations of visitors beseeching him to stand for president in next year's elections, The Observer has learnt.
However, the agitation which has reached fever pitch this year, is threatening to split Uganda's largest opposition political party, with the incumbent FDC president Mugisha Muntu's supporters particularly upset.
According to information we have obtained from credible sources, some of the people urging Besigye to enter the race are individual supporters of the party while others have come in groups.
"They say without Besigye in the race, [President] Museveni is going to win easily because other opposition leaders are not as strong," said one party official familiar with the goings-on.
Some supporters, this official said, met Besigye at his home in Kasangati, near Kampala, while others found him at his country home in Rwakabengo, Rukungiri. During such meetings, our sources indicated, Besigye listens keenly to the concerns of his supporters, careful not to reveal whether or not he agrees with them.
Sticking to his public message, Besigye has continued to emphasize to his visitors the need for a level political playing field before elections can be considered. During the meetings, he has urged his supporters to join him in this campaign for electoral reforms.
Besigye has stood for president on three occasions, losing to NRM's President Museveni every time. However, on two of the three occasions, the Supreme Court declared that the elections had not been free and fair, although it fell short of annulling the exercise. Nevertheless retired Colonel Besigye remains the most popular opposition figure in the country.
Some of his critics within and outside FDC had hoped that Besigye's early retirement from the leadership of the party, following his poor showing in the 2011 elections, would clear the way for another credible opposition challenger to emerge, but this has not happened.
So far, Besigye has not given his supporters an indication as to whether he will seek to run a record fourth time. It is believed that he is weighing his options, aware that whatever decision he makes could have a big impact on the future of the party. Yet pressure is mounting on him to make up his mind because FDC is scheduled to hold a delegates' conference next month to elect a presidential flag bearer.
Last week, Besigye was elected as the party secretary for the elderly and pensioners in Rukungiri municipality, fulfilling a requirement that stipulates that for anyone to offer himself/herself for a top leadership position in FDC they must hold a position within the party structures.
Talking to The Observer yesterday, Besigye admitted that the pressure for him to stand was there although his main pre-occupation now is the fight for electoral reform.
"Whoever I have interacted with talking about being a candidate in whatever form, I guide them that the matter at hand is still reform. The whole process of getting candidates for a fake election diverts this struggle," Besigye told us at Katonga road, shortly after kicking off a campaign dubbed "EC=M7=Sole Candidate."
SPLITTING FDC
There are worries that Dr Besigye's staunch supporters, who view him as the only credible challenger to Museveni could lose interest in the electoral process if he does not contest. However, there's an even greater risk of sharp divisions emerging within the party if Besigye enters the race.
Reliable sources have told us that some senior party officials, among them Alice Alaso, the secretary general, Amanya Mushega, the party vice president for western Uganda, and Abdu Katuntu, the Bugweri county MP, want Maj Gen Muntu, the incumbent, to be given a chance to carry the FDC flag in the forthcoming elections.
Alaso and those who think like her want Besigye to use his popularity and following countrywide to campaign for Muntu, who declared early this year in Mbale that he would offer himself to be elected as the party's presidential flag bearer.
On Wednesday, Alaso said she did not feel comfortable commenting about Besigye's presidential ambitions but added that FDC as a party remained strong under Muntu's leadership.
"We are strong as a party. If you move around now you can realize that our structures are now more vibrant. They are doing mobilisation work," she said.
On the other hand, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, who lost to Muntu in the elections to succeed Besigye, Salaamu Musumba, the vice president for eastern Uganda, and Wafula Oguttu, the leader of opposition in parliament, are said to be favouring a Besigye candidature. Indeed Nandala said in an interview with Sunday Vision recently, that he remains a strong Besigye supporter.
Should Muntu and Besigye go head to head next month, some people fear that FDC could get seriously bruised in the process as different sets of party officials have a go at each other. The party is yet to recover from the last acrimonious elections that pitted Muntu against Nandala.
John Kikonyogo, the FDC spokesman, told The Observer on Tuesday that party supporters are free to court Besigye or any other person.
"According to our constitution, Besigye is still free to stand as a flag-bearer and those who want him to contest are free to lobby him," Kikonyogo said.
Since he stepped down as FDC leader in 2012, Besigye has concentrated on political activism, working hand in hand with other political figures from other parties.
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