{UAH} Museveni hired foreigners to torture Ugandans, says Amuriat

Folks;

Presidential candidate for FDC, Mr. Patrick Oboi Amuriat, is alleging here that President Museveni has hired foreigners in his crackdown on opposition rallies. 

Mr. Amuriat is not an easily excitable man; he's measured in tone and erudite in manner, which make his allegation all the more disturbing, for he's not the type from whom we would expect such sensational charges.

But there's a precedent on the general claim: During the 2006 general elections, I heard similar allegations, and came close to proving it myself. 

One afternoon, as I was meeting with friends at a cafe in Tororo town, a relative came running to us, with the news that a friend of mine, had just been shot. The friend happened to be John Augustine Emojong, (RIP), then Tororo-based correspondent for the Daily Monitor. 

With a speed that would make Usain Bolt proud, I dashed out, heading to the scene of incident. I found John down on the street curb, bleeding and in a daze. He said that he had been confronted and mercilessly assaulted by some "foreign" soldiers, at the instructions of Odoi Fox. 

Odoi Fox was then a legal assistant to President Museveni, and a candidate for my home Parliamentary seat. He had reportedly hunted down John Augustine Emojong on the grounds that John was importing "Itesots" from "elsewhere" to influence elections in Tororo Town!

When I asked John about the identity of the soldiers, he reiterated that they were not Ugandans: They had distinct accent and facial appearances of South Sudanese. 

He wasn't done; John went on to say he and other journalists had documented incidents after incidents where Museveni had "imported" mercenaries to disguise as UPDF or Uganda Police, when he wanted to unleash terror on wanainchi. Their grasp of Kiswahili gave them away!

But the part of John's story that bothers me up to now is that Fox Odoi had the audacity to bring violence to my home town, in the first place. I still do not know how I would have handled Odoi Fox that day, if I had encountered him.

Pojim

Museveni hired foreigners to torture Ugandans, says Amuriat 

TUESDAY DECEMBER 29 2020

    

This photo taken on December 29, 2020 shows FDC party presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat campaigning in Kumi district while a supporter gestures the party's symbol. PHOTO/RACHEL MABALA.

Summary

• Amuriat today had a relatively calm rally as opposed to recent ones that have been dominated by thick-white clouds of teargas, bullets, physical and verbal confrontation and violence in some places in the face of security forces.  Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, on Tuesday accused President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of hiring foreigners to exert torture on Ugandans. 

"President Museveni hired people to come and torture us Ugandans," Amuriat said.  
Amuriat's remarks come after similar statements he made in recent days especially in the Eastern region where he has been campaigning ahead of the January 14 presidential elections.   

"They have hired foreigners to kill Ugandans," he alleged before being pepper sprayed and later being hospitalised at First Line Medical Centre in Bugiri Town, on Monday. 

FDC officials and eye witnesses said Eastern Regional Field Force Unit [FFU] police commander Abraham Asiimwe was responsible for the pepper spraying incident.

Asiimwe has reportedly been trailing Amuriat on his campaign trail in Eastern Uganda including in districts of Sironko, Bulambuli and Budadiri prompting FDC national chairperson and Amuriat's campaign manager Mr Wasswa Birigwa to state: "If anything happens to our candidate, Asiimwe will personally be held responsible." 

'Change coming' 
Addressing his last rally on Tuesday in his home town at Wigins Secondary School grounds, Kumi Municipality, Amuriat also stated that Mr Museveni's government would soon collapse. 

"The regime is in panic mode but I want to tell Mr Museveni that change is inevitably coming," Amuriat added.  

Amuriat today had a relatively calm rally as opposed to recent ones that have been dominated by thick-white clouds of teargas, bullets, physical and verbal confrontation and violence in some places in the face of security forces.  

He concluded by asking the people of Kumi to "Vote for change in big numbers" while also emphasizing that, "We shall not fear and we shall not give up on this struggle."