No Museveni no debate, says Besigye

Moroto.

Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate Kizza Besigye said yesterday he will not participate in the presidential candidates debate if President Museveni is out of it.

The Inter-Religious Council, the organisers of the debate slated for January 15, had said the first-ever joint presidential candidates debate in Uganda would proceed even without Mr Museveni.

This was after Mr Ofwono Opondo, the director of the government Media Centre and deputy spokesperson of the ruling NRM party, said on the Capital Gang show on Capital Radio at the weekend Mr Museveni would continue with his campaigns and skip the debate.

“If Mr Museveni declines to have a debate we cannot have a debate alone,” Dr Besigye said in Moroto yesterday. He added that even if there are eight people vying for the presidency, “the contest is between two sides; the dictatorship and those seeking democracy.”
Dr Besigye insists that Uganda is not a multiparty democracy but a military dictatorship. “It is the military dictatorship that we intended to interrogate and examine in the debate,” Dr Besigye said, adding: “Mr Museveni has been campaigning for 30 years and it is us who treasure every minute of the campaign.

So if Mr Museveni is not coming, it would be madness for me to take a day or two off my campaign to go to debate with my colleagues (other candidates).”

Dr Besigye said he was “surprised” when Mr Museveni initially responded to his challenge to a debate by saying he moves with his mouth everywhere and that he had no problem participating in the debate.

He claimed he knew in advance that Mr Museveni would not attend the debate because “he has taken untenable positions over the last 30 years”.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr Joshua Kitakule, the secretary general of the IRCU, acknowledged that they have heard talk that Mr Museveni may not show up for the debate-prompting Dr Besigye to also withdraw- but insisted that they will only determine their next course of action after receiving official communication from the duo.

“We will weigh options after receiving official communication from the two. We will see whether if either of them withdraws, does it give us the same value addition to go ahead with the debate,”Mr Kitakule said.

The debate is the latest of several attempts to have a presidential candidates debate during Mr Museveni’s time, the first having been in 1996.