Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, Patrick Oboi Amuriat while campaigning in Teso region last week told far too many lies against National Resistance Movement presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni, and government in the desperate hope to make Teso his political block merely because he is a homeboy, which should not go unchallenged.
Among many of the lies were that President Museveni has deliberately impoverished, stole cattle, inflicted war, not built infrastructure and denied lucrative jobs and businesses to the people of Teso.
Amuriat also claimed that the ‘few’ people from Teso who are on government jobs were only feeding on crumbs, and majority are serving their selfish ends.
These lies, especially on cattle rustling and war are what the Opposition has used in previous elections of 1996, 2001 and 2006 to capture votes in Teso.
But these deliberate falsehoods have been falling like a pack of cards over the years, the consequence of which is that electoral ground shifted against FDC in favour of the NRM and President Museveni.
Since 2011, once the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion and cattle rustling were defeated, and Teso embarked on the road to development, FDC and the Opposition generally got routed from Teso, the consequence of which was Amuriat’s own defeat in Kumi County.
FDC party that had 16 MPs in 2006 to 2011 (8th Parliament) today only has the trio Elijah Okupa (Kasilo), Angelina Osege (Soroti Woman), and Robert Ariko (Soroti Municipality) who have all abandoned FDC and now running as Independents, courtesy of Amuriat’s toxic leadership.
Ms Alice Alaso, the premier FDC secretary general and Serere Woman MP for 15 years, too was defeated and, recently abandoned Amuriat, and is now with Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).
Even with these white lies and attempts to whip up an ethnic and sectarian narrative in 2011 and 2016 elections, FDC was vanquished in Serere, Kumi, Ngora, Katakwi, Kaberamaido, Amuria and Kapelebyong.
FDC doesn’t even have a district local government chairperson or control any council.
It appears that in this diatribe, Amuriat falsely believes that the people of Teso don’t have their own eyes to see NRM accomplishments in the last three decades.
To begin with, the war in Teso wasn’t started by Museveni but by a rogue outfit of defeated UNLA soldiers who formed the Uganda People’s Army (UPA) who staged a rearguard action in 1987.
They brutalised, ransacked homesteads and killed many ordinary people in the region until they were defeated in 1989 through a combination of force and dialogue.
Musa Ecweru, ambassador Grace Akello and the late Ateker Ejalu are just a few of the products of that process.
Teso cattle were mostly rustled by UPA rebels and Karimajong warriors who had acquired guns when Idi Amin’s regime fell in 1979. In fact during UPC Obote II, the Special Forces were permanently stationed in Teso to deal with Karimajong rustlers.
Since the disarmament of the Karimojong started in 2001, which Amuriat and FDC opposed in Parliament, Teso regained peace and development is in an unstoppable and upward trajectory.
It’s also a fact that the NRM government has over the years restocked Teso with livestock which continues to-date.
Amuriat should be challenged to disclose if there are any of businesses he invested in Teso that have been removed from him.
Contrary, Amuriat and other Opposition MPs from Teso spent their earnings from Parliament to invest mostly in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono, and very little in Teso.
There is ample evidence that old towns like Soroti and Kumi are expanding exponentially while new ones have come up during NRM administration.
Equally, NRM under Museveni has built the 100km tarmac road from Soroti to Lira, and 115km tarmac road from Soroti to Moroto via Katakwi and Napak that never existed only two decades ago.
The writer is the Spokes Person of the government of the Republic of Uganda- Ofwono Opondo
