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             Uganda Opposition Leader Presses for Political Reform

   by James Butty

   Uganda's main opposition leader and past presidential candidate said
   anyone who believes in democracy must work for reform aimed at a free
   and fair electoral process.

   Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change contested three
   consecutive presidential elections, in 2001, 2006, and 2011. Besigye
   said all three were marked by voting irregularities. He has announced
   his candidacy to contest the 2016 election.

   Last Thursday, police arrested him, along with former Prime Minister
   Amama Mbabazi who is seeking the ruling party's nomination, on what
   they called "preventive" measures.

   Besigye said he plans to resume his campaign Tuesday in spite of the
   threat of being re-arrested.  He said the police have no power under
   the Public Order Management Act, an old colonial law, to stop political
   parties from holding meetings.

   "My arrest is a clear, undoubted part of persecution of political
   opponents by [President Yoweri] Museveni and his regime.  It is done in
   complete violation of our laws; it is an act of impunity on the part of
   regime police, and this is part of the reason we are struggling to have
   a new system of political management in our country.  The struggle in
   Uganda is not just an electoral contest, it is a liberation struggle,"
   he said.

   Besigye said the law the police used to justify his arrest, and that of
   Mbabazi, is antiquated and does not apply to today's political parties.

   "That law, on which they based such action, is a law that was enacted
   in 1957 by the British colonial government.  And it's a law, therefore,
   that was meant to service the colonial regime and that is the dilemma
   that we have. We are supposed to be an independent nation, but being
   run by colonial institutions and colonial systems," he said.

   He said because the three presidential elections he contested were
   characterized by irregularities, it should be the mission of every
   Ugandan to demand reforms ahead of next year's vote.

   "And so, in the upcoming elections, we have made it clear that there
   has to be reforms to the political system that can engender a free and
   fair election, even it means that the election is not held the time
   when it is supposed to be held.  We are going to be fighting tooth and
   nail to make sure there are reforms ahead of next year," Besigye said.

   Besigye was arrested last Thursday along with former Ugandan Prime
   Minister Amama Mbabazi who is seeking the nomination of the ruling
   National Resistance Movement of Uganda.

   Mbabazi, who is seeking the nomination of the ruling National
   Resistance Movement (NRM), told VOA he has been holding discussions
   with members of the opposition because he doesn't consider himself an
   enemy of anyone, and likewise, the opposition should not see him as an
   enemy.

   "We are Ugandans who espouse maybe different ideas about how to run
   country.  It only means that we have different approaches.  And this
   should not really stop us from cooperating with each other," Mbabazi
   said.

   Besigye said the first task that all democratic forces in Uganda should
   be working on is to make sure that there is free and fair election.  As
   that process goes on, he said, there are discussions on having a common
   candidate of the democratic forces once a decision has been made to
   participate in the election.

   "Mr. Mbabazi is not yet a signatory of the protocol that established
   that mechanism, but he has declared support for it.  If he certainly
   appends to that process and becomes part and parcel of that process,
   then, quite obviously he will be in the pool through which a common
   candidate can emerge," Besigye said.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/uganda-opposition-presses-for-politic
   al-reform-before-2016-vote/2859261.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/uganda-opposition-presses-for-political-reform-before-2016-vote/2859261.html