Col Besigye calls for interim government in 2016

KASANGATI- Former Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Kizza Besigye has said Uganda must have a transitional government to set the rules for the future after President Museveni leaves power.

Speaking to Sunday Monitor at his home in Kasangati, Wakiso District, on Friday, Dr Besigye reiterated his earlier position that should the electoral and political reforms proposed by the Opposition and civil society organisations not be accepted by the government, the Opposition should wait for Mr Museveni’s term to expire on May 12, 2016 and form a transitional government.

Challenged on how the Opposition would succeed in forming a transitional government, yet such an arrangement is not provided for under the current laws, Dr Besigye said: “You will not transit from military rule to a democratic dispensation using the rules of the military dictatorship; apartheid was not ended by apartheid law.”

“What this country needs is a transition; and by whatever way the NRM junta ends; in whatever form it ends, even if it is voted out, there will have to be a transitional period in which to restructure the state,” he added, saying “it is unavoidable.”

Dr Besigye said restructuring is required to reform the governance of Uganda because it “cannot be undertaken by the dictatorship in its current form.

If the dictatorship conceded to having electoral reforms, it would be possible to have a transition following an election. If that does not happen, then we must have a situation where the dictatorship is forced to get out.”

Dr Besigye said this a day after he was released from police custody, following a confrontation with the police in the city centre on Thursday.

He said he had terrible pain in the stomach, as a result of the teargas police fired at him and the crowd that had gathered when police besieged his car. He also complained of pain in his right shoulder as a result of the police “manhandling” him.

Having tried to tow away his car from Shoprite on Entebbe Road failed, police smashed the back window of his vehicle, dragged him and his driver, Fred Kato out, and and later took them to Jinja Road Police Station for detention. Teargas was fired to disperse the huge crowd which had gathered.

Dr Besigye was later released at night on police bond but his driver was transferred to Central Police Station. He too was released the next day on police bond.

Dr Besigye said there was an opportunity to construct that transition government in 1995 during the Constitution making process, but was missed because of Mr Museveni’s determination to perpetuate his “endless stay in power.”

“So the country has to understand there has to be some transition when the NRM ends whether it is through a revolution or election, so that you have independent institutions of the state rebuilt, including political parties and civil society organisations, which are functional,” Besigye said.

Crispy Kaheru of the Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) said notwithstanding the status quo, the process of political reforms should be given some benefit of doubt.

“The only challenge I foresee is hinged on implementation. Some reforms can be processed easily but others require large administrative functions that would definitely mean giving the process time, yet we don’t have much time,” Mr Kaheru observed.

“As of now, without undermining the opinions of Ugandans, what is prudent is that government starts working on those reforms that are achievable like introducing the necessary bills in Parliament.
Should that fail or happen, I think Ugandans have the right and space to pronounce themselves on what the next conversation should be,” he concluded.

What they say

‘There is no need for a transitional government because we have an Electoral Commission which is operational under a legal framework. The EC has the mandate to organise free and open elections, as it has always done, so why would we then need a transitional government,’
Kasule Lumumba, NRM secretary general

‘As the Opposition, we would love to see a transition but does he see the NRM stepping aside to let that happen? What we can demand is an independent Electoral Commission to ensure a clean election that can allow the NRM voted out and then you talk of a transitional government,’
Mathias Nsubuga, DP secretary general

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