Mbabazi is a coward, says Besigye

Former FDC president Kizza Besigye. He says those who believe they can cause change from within the ruling party are daydreamers. Photo by Joseph Kiggundu

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Dr Besigye says those who think they can cause change within the NRM are daydreaming, adding that the only option open to them is to join forces advocating change outside NRM.

KAMPALA- Former FDC party leader Kizza Besigye has said Prime Minister Amama Mbabzi lacks the stamina to take on President Museveni in any contest because he fears him [Museveni].

In an exclusive interview with Sunday Monitor yesterday, Dr Besigye said those trying to believe that they can cause change within the NRM are daydreaming and that the only option open to them is to join forces advocating change outside NRM.
“So those who don’t have the courage, let them be decent about it and be obedient servants of their king the ‘Ssabagabe’. Let them not posture because I saw some NRM youth saying for us we are still following [Mbabazi] but to where? He is not going anywhere and so they would be creating false hope by posturing as if they can cause some change which is not going to happen,” said Dr Besigye, who is a three-time presidential candidate.

Taking a further dig at the Prime Minister, who in 2001 admonished him for jumping the proverbial “presidential queue”, Dr Besigye said it was useless for Mr Mbabazi to have presidential ambitions which he cannot pursue.

“If you are the one saying the delegates conference will decide and you are the same one saying Museveni is still the best leader, that wonderful leaders are hard to come by and so if you have one you can’t let him go, then you cannot be the same one who is working on change in the delegates conference because what message are the delegates supposed to have? That aside, even if he was courageous and came out and said I am going to challenge Mr Museveni – because some have done so like Maguru who is in prison – he too will go to prison,” he said.

Dr Besigye instead advised Mr Mbabazi to be honest to himself, like others have done before him, to join opposition forces.
He said in 2001 when he challenged Mr Museveni, he was rebuked by those who thought that indeed the President was honest and would serve one last chance. He added that instead, Mr Museveni went on to entrench himself and thereafter some of those who rebuked him have followed him in opposition.

“Those who are still there [in NRM] and think that may be they could massage Museveni out of his views should have realised that it is not going to happen and so the choice is to join the front which is determined to cause change not through the will of Museveni but against the will of Museveni,” Dr Besigye said.

He welcomed Mr Mbabazi to join the front for change against Museveni, saying it is futile to try from within the NRM party as they are doing.

Commenting further on the Kyankwanzi retreat that saw MPs sign a petition declaring President Museveni as the sole candidate for the party in the 2016 general elections with Prime Minister signing as No. 202, Dr Besigye said the sole purpose of the retreat was to re-assure the likes of Mr Mbabazi who had developed presidential ambitions that Mr Museveni was still around and therefore those bickering over his seat should know that power is gotten through the gun.

“There was also a bit of [debate on homosexuality] but all those were just sprinklings; the central message of Kyakwanzi was simply the reassertion of the power structures in this country for all to know and not only those who were in Kyakwanzi but also to use it to send the message to the other people who may misunderstand their role as leaders within NRM and that their role is simply to support him and not to cause any confusion,” Dr Besigye concluded.