Former Internal Security Organisation (ISO) operative who is currently a political analyst Charles Rwomushana has revealed that in 2016, President Yoweri Museveni was scared of Dr Kizza Besigye’s next move after declaring that he was not going to contest for presidency again but will use other forums to overthrow his government.
Rwomushana said that a number of people in Civil Society, political spaces locally and internationally joined Besigye and they started strategizing on how to pressurize Museveni to accept electoral laws that Besigye was demanding because they didn’t want him to rally the masses to use other ‘unruly’ alternatives of changing government apart from democracy.
As they were strategizing, Museveni was briefed about the development and he immediately started playing his political cards on how to frustrate them their own people.
“Do you know the invisible hands behind the DP Block pressure group? Rwomushana joined them thinking that it will help to bring opposition together without asking who is funding the political project,” a source told this website.
More Read
However Democratic Party (DP) president who is also the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister in president Museveni’s government boasted that his party was funding the political project but other sources said that apart from donations, DP was surviving on money from Gen Salim Saleh and Sam Kutesa the former foreign affairs minister
According to credible sources, the DP Block was targeting Besigye as a person and wanted to replace him with another politician and build him as a strong opposition leader and this was the reason why the likes of Abed Bwanika, Mike Mabikke, Samuel Lubega Mukaku openly attacked Besigye mudslinging him as being a project deployed by Museveni to mislead Ugandans who fight for change in the country.
It should be remembered that recently, when Busiro East MP Medard Lubega Sseggona, a former DP Block bigwig fell out with NUP leadership, who denied him a party flag, he told the Media that he was the one who convinced Bobi Wine to take a shot at the presidency and if it was not for him, Bobi Wine would not be where he is now..
Rwomushana said that when he learnt that the project where he was even invited as a keynote speaker was not about bringing all opposition together but to weaken Besigye, he abandoned them and he looked at them as a force formed to fight Besigye.
“The day I saw Bobi Wine at Hotel Africana attacking Besigye because he mobilized Ugandans not to participate in Museveni’s silly elections after realising that they cannot remove him from power, and then Bobi Wine and friends contradicting Besigye’s statements that elections are the only democratic way to overthrow Museveni, I realised that our project of forcing Museveni to make electoral law changes had been infiltrated,” Rwomushana said.
Mubarak Munyagwa a strong supporter of Dr Besigye said that during that period, Butambala county legislator Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi nearly physically fought with Dr Besigye at his Kasangati home.
The battle was so fierce that Besigye openly warned Muwanga never to step in his home again because he was tired of his insults.
Munyagwa who is currently running for president as the Common Man’s party candidate said that Besigye lost his temper after Kivumbi accused him of being selfish by refusing to endorse Bobi Wine’s presidency since he had declared that he was not contesting again unless changes are made in the electoral laws.
Sources divulged that little did Kivumbi know that Besigye had already got a lot of information about the betrayal and the new kid on the block in Bobi Wine that the powers that rule this country were trying to build with the help of opposition moles.
Sources said that as Museveni disorganized the entire opposition, infiltrated Besigye’s political party the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and that’s why he was shocked when his confidants Nathan Nandala Mafabi, Patrick Amuriat Oboi started disobeying him and rubbishing his political plans to the extent that some even supported Bobi Wine’s presidency in 2021.
Sources said that being a senior in matters of Uganda’s political landscape, Besigye also learnt that Bobi Wine, a rookie in Uganda’s political playing field was now under the control of different forces both locally and internationally which were too powerful for him to fight.
Besigye decided to abandon him because of the scare he got after knowing their political plans.
Sources said that as Museveni now knew he had to put Bobi Wine in his grip.
He concentrated on weakening Bobi Wine through sending delegations of his henchmen and women to talk to his contacts in foreign countries and squeeze his diehards locally.
State House sources told this website during the course of investigating this story that surprisingly, while Museveni was concentrating on putting Bobi Wine in his grip, he learnt that the lion in Besigye was not sleeping, he was working clandestinely on something sinister.
Museveni was briefed that Besigye had become a big problem would soon rise from the ashes and become a thorn to his leadership.
“Let me tell you, Museveni was last seen scared for his life when he received an intelligence dossier that former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi was planning to kill him because of disagreement developed over uniting Africa and having one president. Gaddafi was also fighting for his survival after learning that whites wanted to kill him. So he thought that if Africa united, he could survive. But Museveni opposed his idea after he was later told that the man was planning to eliminate him,” a State House source said
The source added that since that time, the other time they have seen Museveni scared was recently when he was told that Besigye was working with foreigners with influence to finance his project of eliminating him.
And it was him personally who supervised his arrest with his political assistant Hajji Obed Lutale Kamulegeya from Nairobi Kenya when he was allegedly meeting his contacts.
Museveni was shocked to learn that Besigye had already sealed a deal with a certain community in Turkey who were looking for a base country to use to fight President Recep Erdoğan who chased them from their country and revoked their citizenship.
Sources said that a number of army officers apart from Capt Denis Oola have been arrested and are on the list on the cases going to be first handled by the newly reinstated military court martial and it is the reason why Besigye’s political allies like Kampala Lord Mayor Ssalongo Erias Lukwago and Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda are very scared.
Security sources said that Museveni has even directed the arrest of all individuals connected to the alleged assassination plan and last week, Samuel Makokha the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) International Affairs boss who was contesting for Busia Municipality Member of Parliament seat was charged and remanded to prison.
This was after he was intercepted at Entebbe International Airport from official party duties according to the PFF statement. Upon his arrest, Makokha was held incommunicado for weeks before being brought to Court and charged.
Sources said that Museveni is very bitter with Besigye and always shuts up top citizens including diplomats who approach him pleading for his release.
Museveni insists the state has overwhelming evidence pinning Besigye and they should allow the law to take its course.
“Museveni is not worried about seeing supporters of his political opponents roughed up by security because he wants to scare them but he makes sure that the opponent himself is not killed and it has been the game since Besigye started opposing him. I think he wonders why he wanted him dead,” a source said.
Sources added that Museveni is always briefed on Besigye’s life in prison and the ongoing proceedings in court and in the recent brief, he directed that the trial should start even though Besigye is challenging it citing bias of the presiding judge Emmanuel Baguma.
Besigye through his legal team even filed a Constitutional reference at the Constitutional Court.
