Kenneth Paul Kakande a seasoned opposition politician and city lawyer has revealed that National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu’s protest vote which they allege is aimed at empowering the public to change the leadership of the country has changed President Museveni’s design on controlling power until his death.
Kakande explained that like other African presidents, the likes of the late Muammar Gaddafi of Libya who were very sure that a piece of paper cannot remove them from power, they heavily invest in purchasing powerful weapons knowing that only guns can be used to remove them from power.
He alleged that because Museveni knows that a gun is the only opponent he fears, on several occasions, his people have tried to drag Bobi Wine’s supporters into an armed planned struggle against his government through a number of people who have been approaching Bobi’s youthful supporters to be recruited to join the armed struggle but he has always advised them never to take that route because it is a trap.
One of the NUP foot soldiers who is currently detained in Upper Prison Luzira on political related offences told Ono Bwino that between 2019 and 2023, a number of foot soldiers were approached by men and women claiming to be agents of Dr Aggrey Kiyingi asking them to join his armed a struggle against Museveni government.
“Tell those boys out there to be careful with some people they talk to, I saw someone who approached us to join Dr Kiyingi debating on NTV as one of the presidential candidates. I was just told that he is a state agent who they are using to infiltrate a peaceful struggle with armed resistance plans,” a foot soldier warned.
The development comes at a time when presidential elections campaigns that were initially peaceful have recently turned violent and one person was killed in Iganga when Bobi Wine was campaigning.
David Lewis Rubongoya one of the Bobi Wine official agents said that nothing was agreed upon in the Wednesday meeting with officials from the Electoral Commission (EC), security and other presidential candidates’ agents on avoiding violence in the ongoing presidential campaigns.
He was responding to Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama the EC chairperson and AIGP Frank Mwesigwa the police chief of operations who said that in the meeting, they agreed to stop processions made by presidential candidates especially Bobi Wine on his way to his campaign venues.
They insist that the act of having processions is illegal and violates the presidential elections guidelines.
“This meeting was not for making new laws, but discussing what is going on. We have made our issues very clear to both the police and Electoral Commission. We raised concerns about police’s behaviour, unequal grounds, selective application of the law and asked the commission to take charge of the campaigns,” Rubongoya said.
Highly placed sources in the corridors of power have told Ono Bwino that security high command and other stakeholders assessed the campaign situation and fear that Bobi Wine might be using his campaigns to provoke security to act in a violent way so that there is a repeat of what happened in 2020 in Luuka district when he was arrested on charges of violating the presidential directives on Covid-19 which resulted into riots and violence in parts of the country and hundreds of people died.
John Kakande a veteran political journalist said that the way security has turned violent during Bobi Wine’s campaigns is a sign that they are planning something deadly against him. He predicted that Ugandans should not be surprised if he is removed from the race on the allegations of violating electoral rules and regulations.
Responding to how the commission is going to respond to errant presidential candidates, Justice Byabakama confirmed that sanctions will be placed on the said candidates.
Placed on the wall on what he was going to do, he answered, “That is my secret but when we apply them, they will feel the pinch”.
He added that, “If this trend continues, the commission will be left with no option but to sanction that individual candidate who continues to flout the guidelines. We cannot allow democracy that is soiled in the blood of citizen of this country.”
Sources close to Bobi Wine said that the principal was briefed about the ongoing discussions and the tension he has created within security and EC circles over his campaigning style.
Sources divulged that Bobi Wine was told that top commanders are bitter with him especially the inciting language he is using.
There is another scare that a third party might exploit the situation and he is killed on a campaign rally.
“That is why he decided to start moving dressed in a bullet proof jacket and helmet on his head,” the source said.
Sources added that Norbert Mao the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister is also in the centre of discussions as one of the people failing their campaign design when he declared that the campaigns were going to be peaceful.
They allege that it seems Bobi Wine is fighting to prove him wrong.
“Bobi Wine wants to prove security commanders that he is a head of them because he got information that his civilian security team and other core members of his campaign team are in prison because of security’s design of a peaceful campaign. So, there is fear that he wants to make sure that he is exposes them by provoking them to commit a mistake like the Tanzanian authorities did,” a source close to Bobi Wine said.
He added that Justice Byabakama is already exposed and is currently firefighting after declaring that NUP supporters are going to be arrested like grasshoppers if they insist on staying at voting grounds on voting day as Bobi Wine advised them.
Bobi Wine has been rallying his supporters to remain at the polling station to observer the entire election and make sure that they properly record the results on each particular polling station.
Justice Byabakama clarified that even though the law allows voters to stand 20 metres from the polling station, because of the huge number of voters, their stay at the polling station can result into violence and breach of the electoral laws and regulations.
However, Ivan Bwowe a seasoned politician and lawyer lectured Bobi Wine and his team to know that elections are not stolen at the polling station. He advised them to change strategy by being vigilant at the district tallying centres.
However, Kyeyune Ssenyonjo, a political analyst and former supporter of Dr Milton Obote’s Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) warned Bobi Wine that the State will not look on as he tries to test its capacity and capability in protecting Ugandans from violence that may result from elections like it happened in Tanzania.
