Nothing to fight for in Parliament, says Besigye

KAMPALA- Former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, has urged the Opposition MPs to refrain from scrambling for appointments in the Opposition’s shadow cabinet because there is nothing to fight for since Parliament cannot change anything on the NRM government status quo.

“I do not think MPs should be reduced to fighting for small positions in Parliament. What we need to be fighting for is different. We need to struggle to strengthen our position on the ground and form structures like the Power 10 we used in elections to develop capacity to take on the regime that we know has lost credibility. In Parliament, they are just there to make numbers they can’t change anything President Museveni wants whether in Opposition or not,” Dr Besigye said from Luzira prison on Thursday.

A delegation from Ntungamo District had visited Dr Besigye at the prison where he is on remand on treason charges.

Talking to Saturday Monitor in an interview at the sidelines of the visitation in the prison, Dr Besigye said the Opposition in Parliament is just there to make numbers but they cannot change anything against President Museveni’s wishes.

Following the appointment of the Opposition shadow cabinet last week, some senior FDC party officials, including Mr Odonga Otto, said the positions were given as a special reward for supporting the FDC president, Gen Mugisha Muntu, in the past party primary elections.
Several other analysts described it as a development that could cause major rifts in the biggest Opposition party.
“We can’t allow positions in Parliament that mean nothing to cause rifts yet we have much to do,” Dr Besigye said.

He added that fears for his life in prison will not setback his agenda and he shall keep fighting until the regime is removed from power.

“I have spent much of my youthful age in the struggle, now I am over 60 years, I am not growing younger. What is remaining is that we must fight to the end whoever dies, others will continue. We can’t hold on any more until we get peace, justice, freedom and equality before the law,” he said.

Dressed in a yellow trouser and short-sleeved yellow shirt of the prison uniform, blue Umoja sandals, a smiling Dr Besigye said he had not been badly treated in prison, only that he still has a lot of fear about his life, especially on what he experienced while in Moroto prison.

Dr Besigye said he is not yet sure whether a poisonous material was not sprayed in his cell to cause him slow death since he was left there alone and the cell was left open.

He said deep in the night he saw a policeman with something resembling a poison mask standing at the cell door but the policeman fled when he flashed a torch light on him.
Dr Besigye said since he has not received specialised medication he still fears his life might be in undetected danger.

He added that the growing connivance between prisons authorities, police and other security agencies makes him feel more unsafe even inside the cells in Luzira Upper Prison.

His visitors are subjected to various checks, including biometrics registration, scanning of individual identity cards, with only national IDs and passports acceptable.

Five officers, four cadet and one Assistant Inspector of Police sit in the room where Dr Besigye meets his guests in front of the office of the officer in charge of the maximum security prison.

Commenting on the recent insurgency and arrests of key individuals for suspected treason, Dr Besigye said the attacks could have been self-made to frame Opposition individuals and ruled out rebellion.

“President Museveni should also know that there are some people who think like him. When he lost an election he never went to court he just went directly to the bush. There are people who also believe that they can acquire power that way and do not want to sit on their dissatisfaction. But also they (NRM) can stage-manage something,” Dr Besigye said.

He further added that he was ready to discuss with the NRM provided there is an agreed agenda together which would include an international audit into the February presidential elections.

Dr Besigye said while he has nothing he can do about his imprisonment and what he called malicious prosecution, Ugandans must remain strong and resist all forces that would lead to complete captivity of institutions and rule of law.

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