FDC presidential candidate Kizza Besigye addresses supporters at Boma grounds in Arua Municipality, Arua District, yesterday. Inset is Mr Bernard Atiku. PHOTO BY ERIASA MUKIIBI SSERUNJOGI.
In Summary
Focus. The FDC presidential candidate held eleven mini-rallies across the district before his main rally in Arua Town.
Arua. Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate Kizza Besigye yesterday held a procession through the streets of Arua Town with people stretching as far as the eye could see before addressing supporters at Boma grounds.
Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, Dr Besigye worked to whip up his support here, addressing eleven mini-rallies across the district before the main rally in Arua Town.
Arua is made up of seven constituences of Vurra, East and West Terego, Lower and Upper Madi Okollo, Ayivu and Arua Municipality.
Arua’s voting record
Both President Museveni and Mr Amama Mbabazi, Dr Besigye’s opponents, held rallies in Arua for one day each, but Dr Besigye committed two days to the district he won in when he first stood for presidency in 2001 but which went to Mr Museveni in the 2011 general election.
In the 2011 election, Arua contributed 163,588 of the 511,061 votes in West Nile, with the remaining seven districts contributing the remaining votes. This partly explains Dr Besigye’s emphasis on Arua.
While campaigning in Ayivu earlier yesterday, Dr Besigye took issue with Mr Bernard Atiku, the Ayivu County MP who is in Parliament on the FDC ticket but is now running as an independent and is campaigning for President Museveni.
“I am shocked and traumatised that my brother Atiku is joining Museveni at a time when everyone is running away from him,” Dr Besigye said.
Mr Atiku’s response
Mr Atiku told Daily Monitor that his problem is not with Dr Besigye but with some of the FDC leaders in Arua, who he accused of not being consistent.
He singled out Terego County’s Member of Parliament Kassiano Wadri and Ms Christine Abia Bako, the Arua Woman MP, who he accused of sometimes working against Dr Besigye and then turning around to support him when it suits them.
Both Mr Wadri and Ms Abia favoured FDC president Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu over Dr Besigye for the FDC flag bearer in the presidential race.
Mr Wadri was recently named on Mr Mbabazi’s campaign team but he denied having been consulted on the appointment, saying that he would support Dr Kizza Besigye, his party’s flag bearer.
Mr Atiku did not say, however, how his disagreements with some FDC leaders in Arua forced him to leave the party. In the past, a quarrel between Mr Wadri and Mr Alex Onzima, now state minister for Local Government, over carving a new district out of Arua to include both Maracha and Terego counties led to the latter leaving FDC and embracing the ruling party. Mr Onzima’s Maracha constituency as a result became an independent district while Terego remained part of Arua.
Accompanied
For the Arua rally, which was still going on by the time of filing this report, Dr Besigye was accompanied by Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, MPs Wadri, Abia and Elijah Okupa of Kasilo County, among others.
emukiibi@ug.nationmedia.com
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