NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi is dealing with rage and contempt from two long standing opposition members Besigye and Muntu over inviting them to the Uganda Human Rights Accountability Conference in Nairobi, where they were going to use people’s misery for dirty politics.
Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye and Rtd. Gen Mugisha Muntu have expressed dismay over the manner in which their colleague paraded alleged Ugandan torture victims with intention to win empathy from donors.
Besigye and Muntu claim that they did not have knowledge of the ploy to parade Ugandans in Kenya saying they were simply invited to the conference. They have expressed sympathies with families of members who were used in the conference saying that it’s one of the mistakes that they did not have input.
Besigye and Muntu who had been invited to attend the Conference that was organized by the NUP Kenyan Chapter questioned the move by Bobi wine to victimize people who are in already bad health condition to win favor from possible funding.
“We are opposition who are pro people, you do not use methods that exploit people and claim you are fighting for them. I think Mr. Kyagulanyi was misadvised on this,” Besigye said.
His comment was as a result of discovery that some of the alleged torture victims confessed to have got injuries from natural causes and misfortunes such as accidents and sickness.
In the conference, after parading alleged torture victims, Bobi Wine took to the podium and encouraged Buganda and Busoga opposition activists to start riots in those regions before end November 2022 in commemoration of the November 2020 violent riots. He said that this year’s November riots will be the only solution to the woes and oppression of the Uganda.
Sources from the people that attended the conference in Kenya said that Gen. Muntu was disappointed in the approach that NUP leadership took.
“What Uganda do we want to inherit? We cannot condone violence lest we inherit it,” Muntu said.
The two opposition fathers said that they advocate for change but not at the cost of the common person’s life.
Victims account of the journey to Kenya
Upon being interviewed by the Kenyan migration officials, a one Richard Ssebuganda revealed shocking details about the trip to Kenya where he and his counterparts were role playing.
Richard revealed that each member that was on the bus to Kenya had been facilitated with Two Hundred Thousand Shillings and promised more on return from Kenya. He said that the trip was fully facilitated and an exciting offer.
“I got in an accident in February 2022 and lost three fingers, I was operated on and the fingers were amputated. When NUP officials reached out to me, it was an opportunity for me to make some money but the exciting part was the trip to Kenya where I had never been before,” Richard said.
However, this publication has established that Richard Ssebuganda is the medicine student at Makerere University who lost his fingers during a student’s strike while he tried to throw a tear gas canister at the Police. Ssebuganda appeared on NTV in February 2022, while at Mulago Hospital for a hand surgery following the sustained injuries during the Makerere demonstrations as he tried to throw back a tear gas canister that left his hand shuttered. Richard however, has been cited among the people NUP paraded as a victim of torture.
Narrating the journey to Kenya, Richard said that the bus that picked them from Kamwokya got an accident at Kibimba Rice scheme and they had a stop over where he interacted with the rest of the members on the bus. He discovered that most of the members had been contacted and paid money depending on each persons’ negotiating strength.
Among the victims was Hassan Kirigwajjo who said that he had almost lost his life from G-nut machine injury and consented to have received money to join the team.
Others included Okidi Peter who was involved in an accident in Juba in 2009 when his motor vehicle overturned while on a business trip and Buga Ismail who was involved in a Boda Boda accident in Wandegya.
Where is the balance?
A true Human rights activist must take into account all the sides being affected by a situation he or she claiming to be the cause of human rights abuse.
In the November 2020 riots, several NRM supporters were publicly undressed and some beaten to death, cars burned, Police women beaten with hammers, Police cars burnt, NUP supporters were even seen staging roadblocks and robbing shops among other nasty things. This has therefore posed several questions amongst the public especially on social media with some people wondering why Bobi Wine has to exploit such people in these scenarios.
A section of the public is making mockery of the episodes in Kenya yesterday 17th November 2022, saying that if the real victims exist he wouldn’t have to use hired victims.
Media in Kenya has since distanced itself from covering and publishing images of the alleged Ugandan torture victims saying there is no establishment of facts in the Bobi Wine Story told about them in the conference.
