I will win western vote - Muntu

SOROTI.

The Forum for Democratic Change leader, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, has pledged to win voters from western Uganda for the party.

The region from where Maj Gen Muntu and his competitor for the FDC presidential flag-, Col Kizza Besigye, hail, has overwhelmingly voted President Museveni in the past elections. Maj Gen Muntu comes from Ntungamo while Dr Besigye is from the neighbouring Rukungiri District.

Speaking at Soroti Independence Square on Wednesday, Maj Gen Muntu said he has had dialogue with religious leaders, elders, the youth and women in the region and the trend is changing.
Maj Gen Muntu was responding to remarks by Kaberamaido Woman MP Florence Ibi Ekwau, who asked people in Teso sub-region to vote the former army commander, but raising a concern of the west block vote for the incumbent.

“If FDC leaders don’t tackle the western question to break President Museveni’s (block) vote, then it would be a continuous story of lamentation in the country without change,” Ms Ekwau said.

Maj Gen Muntu asked FDC leaders to embark on massive recruitment of people from the grassroot so that the party gets stable other than pursuing activism. “My approach in the electoral process is different and I am not for civil activism. I can only go for activism when the struggle requires us to be there,” Gen. Muntu said.

He added that with his military background, he will only embrace confrontational politics after assurance of winning the battle. He asked supporters to build the strength of the leading Opposition party “other than dying for individuals.” “Our campaign is not about Dr Besigye or Maj Gen Muntu, it is all about a struggle to cause change in our country facing challenges of no democracy, no drugs in the hospitals, a country dented with corruption,” Gen Muntu said.