{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Besigye raps MPs who have ‘betrayed’ FDC

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/41560-besigye-raps-mps-who-have-betrayed-fdc

Besigye raps MPs who have 'betrayed' FDC

Written by Deo Walusimbi

Last Updated: 11 December 2015

FDC presidential candidate, Kizza Besigye, has stoked the flames of the internal fall-out within the opposition party, telling voters in Teso sub-region that MPs who don't  support his bid have betrayed their party and democracy.

Appearing on the Catholic Church's Kyoga Veritas radio in Soroti on Wednesday, Dr Besigye described the decision by some FDC legislators to shun his campaign as a failure to follow the party's principles.

"As a democracy advocate, I am fighting tooth and nail to see that everyone can get the liberty to support whoever he/she wants," Dr Besigye said, "but under the multiparty dispensation, if you are a member of a party, you ought to follow the party discipline which means that you agree to work in a particular way."

Dr Besigye praised FDC President Mugisha Muntu, who was sitting beside him in the studio, as a disciplined party member "with whom I contested but he is supporting and canvassing votes for my candidature."

"If you have a party candidate, you are expected to support the party candidate. Of course you [as a member] you are not forced to support a party, you can choose not to become part of the party but if you choose to follow us, our discipline of the party enjoins you to support a party candidate, and I haven't [heard] anybody, including [Kitgum Woman MP Beatrice] Anywar, suggesting that I am not the party candidate," he said.

The Observer reported last month that some FDC MPs allied to Gen Muntu did not turn up to campaign for their party flag bearer when he visited their constituencies or regions. (See:Pro-Muntu FDC MPs shun Besigye campaign).

They included the FDC vice chairperson for eastern Uganda Alice Alaso and Shadow Attorney General Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri). Alaso told The Observer late last month that she had decided to use her resources to save her own political skin, while Katuntu said he was busy with work in his constituency when Besigye toured Busoga.

Kizza Besigye in Soroti yesterday

Rukiga MP Jack Sabiiti was the other notable absentee when Besigye travelled to western Uganda, but he explained that he would be playing other less visible roles in this presidential campaign as head of fundraising at FDC.

The other MP who had decamped from FDC, Beatrice Atim Anywar (Kitgum Woman), who nominated former Prime minister Amama Mbabazi for president, eventually attempted to return to Besigye during his campaign tour of northern Uganda but the party gave her the cold shoulder.

At the height of the fall-out between pro-Besigye and pro-Muntu camps in the FDC, a number of FDC MPs had threatened to de-camp to Mbabazi's camp. However, some have since decided to remain in FDC but lie low.

On radio in Soroti, Dr Besigye insisted that while it was up to each MP to decide what they do, collective responsibility required of them as FDC members to support the presidential bid of the party's flag bearer.

"If they [FDC MPs]don't [support me], then quite obviously they are violating the principles of the party and principles of democracy," he said.
CAMPAIGN IN SOROTI

During his campaign tour of Soroti district, Dr Besigye was accompanied by several MPs, including party secretary general Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, Angelline Osegge (Soroti woman), Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo) and Patrick Amuriat (Kumi).

The four-time presidential candidate decried the filthy conditions many people are living in. He said the government was doing little to address the most pressing needs of ordinary Ugandans.

In Soroti, Besigye addressed five mini-rallies in the sub-counties of Asuret, Kamuda, Katine, Lubar, Gweri and a main rally at Soroti sports ground, then two stopovers.   

Dr Besigye also turned his attention to the breaking story that a nursing officer who showed him the deplorable conditions at Abim hospital in north-eastern Uganda had been threatened with a sack for allegedly engaging in partisan politics.

Addressing a mini-rally in Katine sub-county, Dr Besigye said government officials were burying their heads in the sand by attacking the nurse rather than addressing the issues that she had raised, such as lack of a doctor in the 200-bed facility for more than 12 months.

"After I talked about this [situation] to the people of Abim, I have heard that they have suspended the nurse I talked to and all the workers I talked to," he said

"That is the response by the government. Instead of attending to the poor hospital, they are suspending the nurses...but if it's true, fortunately these nurses will be suspended for only two months when our government will come to power."
 
SYMPATHY CARD

Contacted for comment on Dr Besigye's campaign statements, the spokesman of the Museveni task force, Mike Ssebalu, described them as "political gymnastics" aimed at attracting public sympathy.

"Besigye is fond of making situations in order to get public sympathy. So, he wants to play victim," he said, adding that Besigye is only interested in painting the picture that "people suffer for speaking to me."

Sebalu warned Dr Besigye to stop using civil servants to achieve his "desperate political ambitions." He said politicians should not force civil servants to go against the terms of their employment with government.                  

"Any hospital is a public facility and every Ugandan, including Besigye, is free to speak to its staff and NRM is above cheap politicking of firing a staff for speaking to a Ugandan," Ssebalu said. "So, let Besigye raise his issues without using innocent civil servants."          
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Besigye raps MPs who have 'betrayed' FDC

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/41560-besigye-raps-mps-who-have-betrayed-fdc

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