Dr Kizza Besigye arrives for a rally in Arua Town recently. Photo by Felix Warom
By ERIASA MUKIIBI SSERUNJOGI & FELIX WAROM
Posted
Friday, January 1
2016 at
02:00
Arua- To open his speech at his rally in Arua on Wednesday, FDC presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye thanked the people of the town for “demonstrating that you are tired of Mr Museveni and NRM”.
He said this because the Boma grounds was overflowing with people. Before getting to the grounds, Dr Besigye had held a procession through Arua Town that lasted about 45 minutes.
In 2001 when he first campaigned in Arua, Dr Besigye claimed at the rally that: “the government was forced to postpone the election for one week (due to the big turn up)”. It is hard to verify the veracity of this statement since the Electoral Commission then cited logistical challenges as the reason for the postponement.
What is true, however, is that Arua has in the past been a potential Opposition stronghold. In 1996, for instance, Dr Paul Ssemogerere, who was Mr Museveni’s strongest challenger, pulled what he says was “one of the biggest crowds I have ever seen”.
Dr Besigye, therefore, was under some sort of pressure, especially since both President Museveni and Mr Amama Mbabazi, his key challengers in the election, had already held what had been described as massive rallies in Arua Town.
Mr Jonathan Musinguzi, the Arua District police commander, probably added to the pressure by warning ahead of time that Dr Besigye’s rally would be blocked if he got to Arua Town after the 6pm deadline for addressing campaign rallies.
Dr Besigye took issue with a poll recently commissioned and published by Daily Monitor, which showed that had the election been held between December 6-9, Mr Museveni would win by 60 per cent, Dr Besigye would poll 21 per cent and Mr Mbabazi would come a distant third with 6 per cent. “It is not a matter of publishing in a newspaper that you will win with 60 per cent,” Dr Besigye said, “You will this time have to show us where those people are.”
He, however, did not say whether his team has commissioned a poll and what he estimates to be his actual support.
His address was highly conversational, drawing in the largely worked up crowd on most of the points. “How many of you have no jobs,” he asked, for instance. A big number of those present put up their hands.
He put another question regarding the poll commissioned by Daily Monitor: “Where are the 60 out of every 100 people who they say support Mr Museveni?” The chorus answer came: “Nowhere.”
Both Mr Museveni and Mr Mbabazi had already promised to grant Arua a city status. Dr Besigye, apart from promising to lift Arua to city status, said he will prioritise planning the city to ensure it is modern.
He also promised to connect Arua to the national power grid, saying that Nyagak Dam, which currently supplies the town provides power that produces light comparable to “the light produced by a candle”.
Dr Besigye said when Mr Museveni took power in 1986, one would move from Mombasa to Pakwach by train, “but where the train used to pass is now a bush”.
Promise
He promised to revamp rail and air transport, referring to the days of Uganda Airlines when there were daily flights between Kampala and Arua. “Even before Museveni came to power, there has been Uganda Airlines that used to fly daily from Entebbe to Arua but this is no more and Mr Museveni calls it steady progress. Besides we have most terrible roads in the country and Museveni dodges the bad roads by using the air at our expense,” he said amidst ululation from the crowd.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
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