Dr Besigye "fires up" Mbale, reiterates defiance message

Mbale.

Dr Kizza Besigye yesterday sought to pump up his supporters in Mbale District by inviting them to join his “defiance” campaign despite a declaration by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda that the campaign is illegal.

Speaking to a mammoth crowd at Mbale Cricket Grounds, the Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate explained his campaign and invited his supporters to embrace it.

“Defiance means disobeying whatever wrong orders they (government authorities) issue,” Dr Besigye said.
He said he had defied what he called unlawful orders issued by Mr Gerald Twishime, the regional police commander of Sipi region, who on Wednesday blocked him from visiting a camp for internally displaced persons at Teriet in Bukwo District.

Mr Twishime, Dr Besigye said, “broke the law and beat up people and he should be prosecuted or else our government will handle him”.
In the fracas that ensued, at least four FDC officials sustained minor injuries and two of the local people who had invited Dr Besigye to visit the camp were injured and taken to Bukwo Hospital.

Mr Twishime, speaking after the incident, said Dr Besigye was operating outside his campaign programme by seeking to visit the camp.

Dr Rugunda, speaking at the Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday, accused “sections” of the Opposition of “promoting sectarianism”, threatening to cause the issue to be investigated and possibly prosecuted.

“As part of this dangerous plan, there is also persistent talk of “defiance” mainly at campaign rallies by some candidates,” he said.
The Prime Minister singled out Dr Besigye’s Power 10 (P10), among others, as groups “being prepared to incite provocation and violent confrontations, starting on polling day until the swearing in ceremony in case they lose”.

Yesterday, however, Dr Besigye called on his audience to join P10, which, he said is aimed at mobilising people to vote him, protect their votes and to ensure that should President Museveni lose the February 18 election, he hands over power.

Besigye’s message
P10 involves Dr Besigye’s supporters forming groups of 10 per parish under a coordinator who links them to the FDC headquarters. Before addressing the rally in Mbale Town, the FDC candidate addressed seven other gatherings across the district.

He looked to pump up the determination of his supporters to defy President Museveni, who he referred to as a dictator, uses intimidation, bribery, divide and rule and propaganda to keep himself in power.

All these tools, Dr Besigye claimed, can no longer be applied effectively to keep Mr Museveni in power.
To drive his point on what he called propaganda, he referred to the results of an opinion poll commissioned by Daily Monitor, which showed that had the election been held early December, Mr Museveni would have won with 60 per cent of the vote, with Dr Besigye coming second with 21 per cent and former prime minister Amama Mbabazi coming third with six per cent.

The poll, Dr Besigye referred to, however, was fully sponsored by Monitor Publications Ltd, the publisher of Daily Monitor, and conducted by Kenyan research firm Infotrac.

Before he spoke, Dr Besigye cut a cake draped in FDC’s blue colours. Ms Joyce Sebugwawo, the FDC deputy president for Buganda, explained that the cake was cut into equal parts to denote equal share of the “national cake” should Dr Besigye become president.

At the rally, Dr Besigye received a cake from supporters and cash donations of different denominations along with what looked like NRM party cards. He stuffed all these in a black polythene bag.

It was a festive atmosphere as thousands of supporters blew vuvuzelas, whistles and other objects. Various musicians entertained the crowd.

The 2011 voting pattern

In 2011, Dr Besigye polled 40,827 votes, accounting for about 36 per cent of the 119, 928 votes cast. President Museveni polled almost 63 per cent of the votes.

But the total votes cast in the district accounted for only 55 per cent of the registered voters, which was three percentage points lower than the national voter turnout average. This implies that candidates have a job to do to motivate voters to turn out in bigger numbers.

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