Kampala-Opposition stalwart Dr Kizza Besigye might have his Christmas come early, if the excitement and number of people who thronged the Forum for Democratic Change offices in support of his candidature for party flag bearer carry on with their plans.
This morning about 400 people carrying placards and chanting slogans in support of Besigye stormed Najjanankumbi, the FDC headquarters, causing a traffic snarl along Entebbe Road and leaving the about 50 policemen deployed, dumbfounded.
Two days ago Besigye picked nomination forms to contest for the post of FDC flag bearer and is widely expected to give party leader and fellow contender Maj Gen (rtd) John Greg Mugisha Muntu a run for his money.
Both General Muntu and Colonel Besigye worked with Museveni but were later to fall out with the latter, accusing him of reneging on some of the ideals agreed upon while the National Resistance Movement/Army carried out a 5-year bush war that resulted in the capture of power on January 26, 1986.
According to sources, Besigye is currently out of the country but that he will be accorded a ‘hero’s welcome’ on his return. The source further said that Besigye had himself declared victory ‘because of the support’ he has.
The developments come in the wake of the formation of alliance, The Democratic Alliance, a loose coalition that the opposition wants to use as a vehicle to oust President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) government in the 2016 Presidential elections.
Although NRM says its flag bearer will be elected at the Delegates Conference, most people aver that Museveni, the NRM Chairman will emerge victorious and lead his party in the 2016 elections. As if to reinforce that assertion about 200 NRM Members of Parliament attending a party retreat at the Kyankwanzi-based National Leadership Institute (NALI) in February 2014 endorsed Museveni as the ‘sole candidate’ for party leadership.
But the endorsement seemed to rub then NRM Secretary General John Patrick Amama Mbabazi the wrong way, setting the two men on a collision course that eventually saw Mbabazi lose both his posts as Prime Minister and SG.
The Kinkiizi West MP has since declared that he will seek the post of NRM Chairman and later also gun for the Uganda presidency under the NRM.
Meanwhile, by the time of filing police had shot and seriously injured a youthful man only identified as Geoffrey Bbale,
