UGANDA: LOCAL LEADER CALLS ON NRM HISTORICALS TO REIGN ON MUSEVENI OVER TRANSITION

Mapenduzi

Mr. Ojara Martin Mapenduzi, the Gulu local government chairman

“It is not late to start immediate process of National Dialogue. What kind of leadership shall we have tomorrow after General Museveni? I call upon the NRM historical members to salvage the situation by initiating transitional talks with other Ugandans. We should not get back to the bad days. This level of insensitivity must stop. I don’t want to see any part of Uganda suffer again because of vengeances”,

“It is important that General Museveni and the rest of those in government to pick a clear message on what is going on in the country. Many of them are living in denials. People are becoming more and more desperate. Why should young people come out in big numbers to welcome Bobi Wine. There is some level of insensitivity here. The way the police and other security agencies react is not going to help”,

“It is absurd to note that our elders have painfully waited for this compensation for too long and many of them are dying simply because they cannot meet basic needs. That is how we have ended up losing so many of our elders”,

GULU-UGANDA: The chairman of Gulu District local government, Mr.Ojara Martin Mapenduzi, has made a passionate call to National Resistance Movement (NRM) Historical members to salvage the current political impasse in Uganda by initiating transitional dialogue with other Ugandans.

NRM historical members are the original members of the National Resistance Army (NRA) who joined General Yoweri Museveni in launching his protracted five-year long rebellion against the Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) government of President Dr. Milton Obote on February 6, 1981.

Most of these historical members are Generals on the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and wield lots of power over General Museveni who has ruled this East African country for 32 years and still counting.

He recently engineered a constitutional amendment of article 102(b) which allows him to rule beyond age limit of 75 years put in the constitution of 1995.

This is the second time Mr. Museveni amended the constitution to suit his interest. In 2005, he engineered an amendment article which allowed him to stand again as president in 2006, when his two-term limit in the constitution would have barred him from standing for the third time.

“It is not late to start immediate process of National Dialogue. What kind of leadership shall we have tomorrow after General Museveni? I call upon the NRM historical members to salvage the situation by initiating transitional talks with other Ugandans. We should not get back to the bad days. This level of insensitivity must stop. I don’t want to see any part of Uganda suffer again because of vengeances”, says the local leader.

Mr. Mapenduzi, which means change in Kiswahili, made this remark recently from the Northern Uganda Media Club (NUMEC) during a press briefing over the current political impasse in Uganda.

He advised NRM leaders to read carefully the current political environment caused by the ‘People Power’ the new pressure group initiated by Kyadondo East Member of Parliament, Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi, also known by his musical stage name-Bobi Wine.

“It is important that General Museveni and the rest of those in government to pick a clear message on what is going on in the country. Many of them are living in denials. People are becoming more and more desperate. Why should young people come out in big numbers to welcome Bobi Wine. There is some level of insensitivity here. The way the police and other security agencies react is not going to help”, says Mr. Mapenduzi.

Mr. Mapenduzi, who was in The Hague recently to witness the trail of former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Dominic Ongwen, called on General Museveni to ‘publicly acknowledge and apologize to the people of the north, and to demonstrate his commitment by taking steps to bring to book perpetrators of crimes committed by his troops in northern Uganda’.

This follows a video recording played before court in The Hague by defense team where three top NRA commanders; Gen. David Sejusa, formerly known as Gen. Tinyefuza, Gen. Pecos Kuteesa and Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye narrated and confirmed with full knowledge that indeed they (NRA) committed serious crimes against the people of the north.

“The three senior leaders show good example and take lead, and in the spirit of national reconciliation, make public apology to the people of northern Uganda for either playing direct roles or for refusing to denounce such acts at the time they were being committed. These testimonies should kick start the process of truth telling and national reconciliation for the good of the country”, says Mapenduzi.

He appealed to General Museveni and his government to expedite the compensation of war debts claims, saying elders are dying before receiving their money for lost cattle.

“It is absurd to note that our elders have painfully waited for this compensation for too long and many of them are dying simply because they cannot meet basic needs. That is how we have ended up losing so many of our elders”, says Mapenduzi.

 

 

 

 

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