Without Besigye, opposition fails to ‘walk to work’

Besigye (L) faces off police officers on the first day of the walk-to-work demos Rattled by the inhumane treatment of FDC leader, Dr Kizza Besigye and the subsequent demonstrations that rocked Uganda last week, opposition members are torn between pushing on with the ‘walk to work’ campaign and scrapping it altogether. On Monday, the campaign – initiated last month to draw government’s attention to the rising fuel and commodity prices – largely flopped because most of the opposition politicians decided to keep away. A day earlier, the leaders of Activists for Change (A4C), the pressure group behind the campaign, had decided during a morning meeting at their Katonga Road office that they would go ahead with the demo on Monday. However, only Kampala Woman MP, Nabilah Naggayi, who has been out of the country for the past couple of weeks, tried to walk, but she was met with immediate arrest by the police. Our sources within the A4C told us this week that the Monday failure was shocking, but not surprising. It appears, the source said, that the opposition members developed cold feet, probably in anticipation of a showdown with the security agencies. “Many came up with all sorts of reasons. Some MPs said they had other engagements, some said they were sick, while others blamed the morning rain,” said the source, who is also a participant. But Muwanga Kivumbi, one of the architects of A4C, said Monday was dedicated to getting DP President General, Norbert Mao and other officials out of jail. On Tuesday, some A4C leaders met again at Katonga Road to review the whole idea of walking to work. There are those that are calling for the campaign to be stopped, even if temporarily, to prevent further bloodshed that could result from the clashes between the police and demonstrators. Others believe that halting the campaign now could be misconstrued as cowardice on the part of A4C, gifting the government a psychological victory. Sources told us that the Tuesday meeting did not resolve anything, deciding to buy more time as they assess the situation. After the meeting, Mathias Mpuuga, coordinator of A4C, told journalists they will now concentrate on a campaign to donate blood to those who were injured during last week’s riots, without giving up the first cause. “We have decided to save the lives of Ugandans, which [role] this government does not treat with respect,” Mpuuga said. Besigye factor The brutal manner in which Besigye was arrested last week appears to have put the AC4 leaders in a fix, complicated further by his absence as he receives treatment in Nairobi hospital. While he was not the brains behind it, Besigye’s participation gave the campaign prominence and widespread publicity, home and abroad. On Mondays and Thursdays – the days of the campaign – his home had become an assembly point for local and international media, eager to capture his every move. Security operatives too always deployed heavily around the FDC leader’s home, stoking up the tension further. Some members of the opposition were inspired to join in the campaign because of Besigye’s presence.  His strong determination to surmount any challenge gave them hope. “Besigye’s strategy differs from that of [UPC President Olara] Otunnu or Mao. He prefers to keep the government on its toes,” said Dr Fredrick Golooba Mutebi, a senior research fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR). Others, particularly the MPs, participated due to pressure from their constituents who wanted them to confront government over the high prices. Still, others were encouraged to join in because the repercussions did not appear severe. All that police did was to arrest them, take them to court and they were bailed out. The turning point appears to have been the arrest and subsequent remand to Luzira of Mao and his group, and, later, of Besigye and Ssemujju Nganda, the newly elected MP for Kyadondo East. This scared some politicians who did not want to even imagine the prospect of spending a night behind bars. “It’s like when you’re in a battlefield and the commander is shot. You lose morale,” one of the opposition activists told us on Tuesday. Even before Besigye’s brutal arrest last week, some members of the opposition who participated in the initial days of the ‘walk to work’ campaign had started to gradually withdraw. These include Kampala Lord Mayor-elect, Erias Lukwago, Betty Nambooze (Mukono North MP), Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri MP), Wafula Oguttu (Bukooli Central MP-elect), Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman MP), Elijah Okupa (Kasilo MP), Odonga Otto (Aruu MP). Others are Salaamu Musumba, FDC Vice President for Eastern Uganda; Ingrid Turinawe, leader of the FDC Women League; Moses Kasibante, whose recent victory as Rubaga North MP-elect was overturned by a controversial court recount; and Sarah Eperu, an FDC activist. Others like Sam Njuba, the FDC national chairman; Alice Alaso, the FDC secretary general; Mukasa Mbidde, the DP legal advisor; and Reagan Okumu, the MP for Aswa county, did not participate at all. Some of these opted to appear at police stations or the courts of law after their colleagues got into trouble. Some used the campaign as a platform for drama, like Rubaga South MP-elect, Ken Lukyamuzi, who on two occasions engaged the police in a hide-and-seek game. Muwanga Kivumbi admitted that  Besigye’s absence had taken a whimper out of the campaign, adding, however, that they are still determined to go on with the campaign even today. “Besigye is a major player; so, the absence of a leader of such magnitude has a big impact [on our activities]. But we shall soldier on,” Kivumbi said. ekiggundu@observer.ugThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it