Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) flag-bearer, presidential candidate Col. Kizza Besigye has promised to institute a commission of inquiry to investigate the perpetrators of the atrocities committed during the insurgency in northern Uganda.
Besigye made the promise on Monday while campaigning in Alebtong and Otuke districts.
In Alebtong, where he arrived in the afternoon, after holding rallies in Otuke, Besigye visited Abia memorial for the 139 people massacred by the Lord’s Resistance Army on February 4, 2004.
During the attack, scores of internally displaced people (IDPs) were burned alive when the rebels set their huts ablaze. Those who tried to flee were shot, bludgeoned or hacked to death.
Besigye and his team also made an impromptu visit to Alaka Memorial Community School, which has makeshift grass-thatched structures for classrooms. Commenting on the school located in Akora sub-county, Alebtong, after sitting in one of the classes with Gen. Muntu, Besigye said: “This is completely unacceptable. This is why we need change.”
Kenneth Wane, one of the parents in the school, said: “The Government has forgotten us. Our school has 720 pupils. We have no schools in the area. We have no secondary school here.”
New Vision could not establish whether Alaka Memorial Community School is under the universal education programme. However, the school was included in the Alebtong district administration’s budget paper for 2014/15 as a beneficiary of desks.
Another presidential candidate, Venansius Baryamureeba, also recently expressed shock at the condition of the school.
Earlier campaigning in Otuke, Besigye told residents that next year’s presidential race is the final contest that will bring the change they had voted for in the past.
“Even with rigging, I defeated Museveni in Otuke in 2006. So, I know the people of Otuke want change. But I know some of you have been losing hope for change because of what happened during the previous elections. Wherever we have gone, it is clear the nation wants change,” he said.
Besigye conceded that ousting the NRM government.
“Removing the regime is like pushing down a big deep-rooted tree. For all these years, we have been shaking it, but its roots have now come out. Join me so that we make the final push and the tree will, this time, fall down,” he argued.
Promising never to betray Ugandans, Besigye said his government would end corruption, which hinders services from reaching ordinary citizens. He appealed to voters across the country to fight corruption by refusing to vote corrupt leaders.
Besigye promised to cut unnecessary expenditures in the Office of the President and State House and, instead, spend the money on poor Ugandans. He reaffirmed his promise for free personal computers to secondary students, saying: “This is a computer age. Uganda has been left behind. In Rwanda, computer lessons are taught in primary schools.”
On his education sector promises, Besigye added on the provision of lunch to Universal Primary Education pupils and investment in frequent supervision of schools to ensure quality education is availed.
FDC president Gen. Mugisha Muntu urged Otuke residents and the rest of Ugandans to force Museveni to retire.
He said 30 years is too long in the Office of the President. Before Otuke, Besigye on Sunday held rallies in Amolatar, where he promised to provide every sub-county with tractors to boost agriculture. He again attacked President Museveni for promising to supply free hoes, saying the use of hoes is an outdated method of farming.
“In the 1960s, the first Uganda People’s Congress government provided tractors for farmers at every sub-county. Fifty years later, Museveni is promising hoes. Can you imagine,” he wondered.
Besigye drove to Amolatar in a convoy from Dokolo town, a journey that took him about two hours. As he entered the various towns, a vehicle carrying a public address system went ahead of the convoy, playing the Toka kwa Barabara, Besigye Anaingia song, prompting crowds to follow him.
He held his first rally at Lake Kyoga’s Kayago landing site, where he used Luganda as someone translated in Langi because of the cosmopolitan nature of the area.
Besigye repeated the assertion he made at the same place in 2011 that Museveni has sold off state resources, including natural resources. He promised to stop what he described as the persecution and exploitation of fishermen by fisheries officers, including taxes they pay.
Besigye criticised the Government for failing to avail clean water to the area. He promised to construct the road from Dokolo to Amolatar.
“I should have reached here earlier, but I have been delayed on the way because of the bad state of your roads. President Museveni uses a chopper because he knows his roads are bad,” Besigye said.
Arguing that the NRM party has caused so many problems to Uganda, including stealing money meant for the ordinary citizens, FDC secretary general Nathan Mafabi urged the people to vote for FDC fl ag-bearers so as to bring about change.
Kumi county MP Patrick Amuriat urged voters not to leave polling stations on the voting day, until votes have been counted.
Jimmy Obura, one of the voters in Amolatar, said: “Besigye has mentioned our concerns, such as the bad roads, poor health services and scarcity of clean water. I am excited about his promise for free computers to secondary school students.”
Stella Achayo said she was also impressed by Besigye’s promise to tackle the problems of poverty, bad roads, unemployment and poor quality education.
