Amuriat braves over 40 days of non-stop teargas

In the current campaign, Mr Patrick Amuriat Oboi, the Forum for Democratic Change presidential flag bearer, first tasted a dose of teargas on November 3, the day of his nomination. 

Since then, it has been a daily dose for him and his team, with police backed by the army and other security agencies unleashing a torrid of teargas and bullets at him and his supporters at nearly every point of the campaign trail.

Of the about 111 districts he has covered so far, Mr Amuriat has not been  teargassed only in less than 10 districts.

 Among the districts where he has faced the wrath of police and army include Busia, Butaleja, Sironko, Manafwa, Mbale City, Bududa, and Jinja City in eastern Uganda. He has also received heavy doses of teargas and live bullets in Pallisa where a 14-year-old girl was seriously injured by an exploding canister; Buikwe, Kumi and Soroti where he launched his campaigns.

Mr Amuriat received some reprieve in West Nile Sub-region, but in western Uganda, he was teargassed in Rukungiri, Mbarara City, Kanungu, Kabale, Kisoro, Kabarole and a number of other districts.
In central region, Nakawa Division in Kampala City was painted white and pink with both teargas and coloured water from police for much of the day as the security forces battled Mr Amuriat and his supporters.
In all the places where he has been teargassed, Mr Amuriat has also been blocked from campaigning, with police chasing him out of  the districts.

In Mubende District where he was supposed to campaign on December 20, police teargassed him out of Mubende Town. This went on as the NRM party held processions across the town with security forces looking on. 

At the same time, NRM played loud music throughout  that night, flouting the Covid-19 guidelines, which police have persistently accused the Opposition candidates of.

Asked how this has affected his campaign programme and whether he will have time to compensate for the time lost, the FDC presidential candidate said he may not be able to go back to the places where he was blocked. He said even if he tried to go back, he would still be blocked.

“You know the programme is so stringent. Even if we had the time to go, we would still be blocked. We are not going to go to areas Museveni doesn’t want us to go to,” Mr Amuriat said.

He also said despite the constant harassment, he will continue with his defiance campaign to the end. He said the battle is not about him, but all the leaders contesting on FDC ticket.

“That by itself doesn’t mean that the campaign is over. The FDC prides in a network of leaders who we are going to use to send our messages. The campaign is not only about me, but the entire team contesting on the FDC ticket. So we shall continue with the campaigns,” Mr Amuriat said.

He said the constant teargassing of his team is intended to create fear among the population and discourage them from freely participating in choosing who should govern them in the next five years.

Mr Amuriat said the Electoral Commission (EC) that should have managed the campaign process has become a spectator as security forces brutalise Opposition politicians and their supporters. He said he will not even meet the commission on Christmas Day as he had earlier indicated.

“In fact I have changed my mind and I will not meet them. Meeting them does not serve any purpose because, for example, Robert Kyagulanyi [NUP presidential candidate] has met them twice and what has he achieved in that? Nothing. So I will not meet them. Meeting them is like meeting a group of men employed by Museveni to do his dirty work,” he said.

The EC has always insisted it is in charge of the electoral process and are doing its best to ensure free and fair elections. Last month, the EC wrote to police asking them to respond to accusations of blocking some presidential candidates on the campaign trail, especially NUP party candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, and Mr Amuriat.