US legislator hits out at Museveni

The chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Congress, Mr Eliot L Engel, has castigated President Museveni over the arrest of presidential candidates Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, and Patrick Amuriat Oboi, and condemned government’s handling of the protests that broke out thereafter.
In a statement last Thursday, Mr Eliot said the arrest of the two followed a pattern that Mr Museveni has been following for the last 20 years.

“For almost two decades, President Museveni has shown he is incapable of conducting an election without jailing his opponents and brutalising Ugandan citizens expressing their desire for a more inclusive democracy. This week, he has continued this trend with the arrest of presidential candidates MP Robert Kyagulanyi and Patrick Amuriat,” the statement reads in part.

Mr Kyagulanyi’s arrest last week was greeted with violent protests in and outside the capital Kampala that ran into Thursday and parts of Friday.
Security forces responded by firing teargas and live bullets to disperse protesters on the streets. The government spokesperson, Mr Ofwono Opondo, was quoted by sections of the international media as blaming the protestors for not seeking more “peaceful methods” to raise and “resolve” their concerns.

Mr Eliot, however, argues that the response was “exceedingly violent to those protesting their detention”.
“This type of conduct on the part of Mr Museveni and state security forces is completely incompatible with holding free, fair, and credible elections, which are scheduled for January 2021. I condemn these state-sanctioned attacks against the Ugandan people,” Mr Engel wrote.

In 2005, FDC president and presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye was arrested and charged with rape and treason. The High Court later acquitted him for lack of evidence, but after he had spent majority of the campaign period attending trial in court.

In December 2005, the then Attorney General, Prof Kiddu Makubuya, wrote to the Electoral Commission, advising it against nominating Dr Besigye for presidency. 
Dr Besigye was in prison and Prof Makubuya also insisted that a candidate could not be nominated in absentia. Prof Makubuya’s advice was ignored by the EC which went on to nominate Dr Besigye on December 15.