{UAH} Is Dr. Kizza Besigye Uganda's President-elect?
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Is Dr. Kizza Besigye Uganda's President-elect?
Submitted by Ann Garrison on Sun, 02/28/2016 - 23:26
Transcript:
KPFA Weekend News, broadcast, 02.28.2016KPFA News Anchor Anthony Fest: Two candidates claimed victory in Uganda's presidential election after February 18th polls: Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, who has already entered his 30th year in power, and Dr. Kizza Besigye, a medical doctor by training, who has been either in jail or under house arrest since election day. KPFA's Ann Garrison has the story.
KPFA/Ann Garrison: There's not much point in reporting how many times presidential challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye has been arrested or placed under house arrest because the number climbs daily. In a recent interview, he said that he had been in police custody 45 times since the 2011 election, and the number is no doubt well past 50 by now.
The Ugandan Constitution allows him 10 days after the election to file a petition disputing the results announced by an Election Commission handpicked by incumbent President Yoweri Museveni. However, Besigye has been under either arrest, in custody, or under house arrest on his farm since the election. On Saturday his lawyer reported that a team including another candidate, his party's officials, and Kampala's lord mayor-elect Erias Lukwago, all met roadblocks that kept him from meeting with them to prepare the petition due on Tuesday.
The Ugandan Constitution allows him 10 days after the election to file a petition disputing the results announced by an Election Commission handpicked by incumbent President Yoweri Museveni. However, Besigye has been under either arrest, in custody, or under house arrest on his farm since the election. On Saturday his lawyer reported that a team including another candidate, his party's officials, and Kampala's lord mayor-elect Erias Lukwago, all met roadblocks that kept him from meeting with them to prepare the petition due on Tuesday.
Besigye appears to be leading a nascent, nonviolent, resistance movement. In a recent press conference he stated that Ugandan citizens are not armed, and are not even like Americans where "everybody has guns in their homes."
Dr. Kizza Besigye: We have a besieged regime. The regime is besieged and it's all over with guns and armored vehicles and all kinds of things, as if there is a war situation in the country. They are the only ones with arms. Citizens of Uganda are not armed. We are not even like the Americans, where everybody has guns in their homes. Nobody here has a gun except for the military and the police. So why they should be so scared of their citizens, unarmed citizens, tells the story that this is not a regime with people's will.
KPFA: In the same press conference, he explained the urgency of his "defiance campaign."
KB: We cannot continue to live in our country where our resources are stolen with impunity, while our people die of lack of medicine, lack of clean water, and are dying on the terrible roads that are all over the country. This we must stop. We are not going to relent. We are not turning back.
KPFA: Adopting the rhetoric of the American Civil Rights movement, he said that Ugandans shall overcome.
KB: We have rejected the outcome of this election. We shall not cooperate with the military regime. The regime cannot survive without our cooperation. Be strong. We, by the grace of God, shall overcome.
KPFA: And that was Dr. Kizza Besigye, whom many Ugandans believe to be their new President-elect, though he remains under arrest or under house arrest on his farm. The U.S. is the number one bilateral donor to Uganda, and on Friday, US and EU envoys called on President Museveni to free Dr. Besigye.
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H.OGWAPITI
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt
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