Byanyima buried as Winnie warns NRM
MBARARA.
Mzee Byanyima’s daughter and Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, has told President Museveni not to tamper with the Constitution to change the presidential age limit, which would bar the incumbent from standing for next elections.
She was speaking at the burial of her father Boniface Byanyima at their home in Ruti, Mbarara yesterday. Mzee Byanyima aged 97, died of stroke at Nakasero Hospital on Tuesday.
“In the next four years we are going into elections, time for Museveni has ended; if he was here (he would have heard this).
There is a clause in the Constitution (about age limit for President). I want to ask NRM not dare change the Constitution (to allow Mr Museveni run again),” said Ms Byanyima.
Change of government in Uganda, Winnie said, has always come through bloodshed and former president Milton Obote used his UPC party’s numerical strength in Parliament to manipulate the Constitution.
Ms Byanyima praised her father, who was MP for Nkore North in the 1960s, for standing for justice but added that speaking the truth was costly for him. “You wouldn’t know if he would come back home because of the circumstances at the time.”
Mzee Byanyima was in DP, a Catholic-founded political party yet he was Anglican. Winnie Byanyima emphasised that even under NRM government freedom of speech and assembly are not enjoyed by all.
Ms Byanyima said her father helped women to report their cases to police and land offices, and would help many to access health services.
“I challenge politicians on all sides; care for people and fight for social justice. When an ordinary person goes to hospital, if they get a chance, they sleep on floor yet I see government officials get millions of shillings to go for treatment abroad. That’s injustice; my father did not believe in that. Let those millions buy drugs for ordinary people; religious people speak for the common man. You accept stolen money and gifts of pajeros (state donations],” she said.
President Museveni was represented at the burial by Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kuteesa.
Mr Museveni said Byanyima is remembered for pioneering education and modern farming in Ankole. “At a personal level, Mzee Byanyima helped me on two occasions: at the beginning of 1960, my father delayed to raise school fees. I found Mzee Byanyima in the staff room and told him about the issue. He walked me to the headmaster, stood surety for me and I started studying. After a few weeks my father brought the fees.”
Museveni said his family was arrested and taken to Mbarara Barracks and when they were released, Byanyima accommodated “my mother until she was smuggled out of the country.”
Former presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, praised Mzee Byanyima for his outstanding contribution in the struggle for independence from colonialists who had used the gun to subdue the people. He said it’s regrettable he died when the struggle to remove power from the oppressive natives is not yet complete.
The DP president, Mr Norbert Mao, also praised Byanyima for joining the party to give a voice to those who were being shut out of politics.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame in a message read for him by High Commissioner Frank Mugambagye praised Byanyima as “an excellent parent and leader who stood for human values...”
Ankole Diocese presided over the funeral service under Bishop Sheldon Mwesigwa.
