Uganda’s opposition leader silenced ahead of ruling on Museveni’s eligibility to extend presidency
Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - Uganda's leading opposition politician, Dr Kizza Besigye, has been forced off a local radio station for the fourth time in a month.
Besigye, who is on a countrywide tour drumming up support against President Yoweri Museveni’s rule, had early Thursday visited Mubende, 150km northwest of the capital, Kampala.
He has dubbed 2019 the “year of action”, calling on Ugandans to rise up and remove Museveni from power even before the scheduled 2021 election. Besigye argues that Museveni rigged the 2016 election, of which he was declared winner with 60.6 % of the vote against Besigye’s 35.6%.
Ahead of Besigye’s visit to Mubende, the police and other security forces deployed in the area with the view of blocking his activities, which included a radio talk show and a string of rallies.
It was not clear how Besigye sneaked into the studios of local radio station, Mubende FM, but 10 minutes into the show, the radio’s signal was switched off.
Besigye’s assistants had set up a live link on Facebook which relayed the show to his followers outside the radio’s transmission range.
During the ten minutes for which Besigye was on air, he spoke about what he calls the capture of people’s power by those who have guns, reiterating his message of non-violent struggle against “the dictatorship”.
Security forces then forced their way into the studios and dragged Besigye out of the building, forcing him into a police vehicle and speeding off to a destination yet to be identified. On such occasions, they usually drive him back to his home near Kampala.
A crowd had gathered outside the station and the police dispersed it in what has now become a routine of sorts.
By the time Besigye was forced off the radio station, the country’s Supreme Court was due to deliver a judgment in an appeal that had been pending before it for months, on whether parliament legally removed the age limits for presidential candidates which the 1995 constitution had set at 75 years.
The ruling will determine whether Museveni, who has been in power since 1986 and now 75, will be eligible to run again in 2021.
-0- PANA EM/AR 18Apr2019
