The government has denied that there are steps being taken to establish dialogue between President Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kizza Besigye, his erstwhile challenger in the 2016 elections, brokered by the Swedish government.
Reports of dialogue between Mr. Museveni and Dr. Besigye have been doing the rounds, with the media quoting the Swedish Foreign Ministry as saying it was involved in the process to reconcile the two bitter political nemeses who clearly have contempt for each other.
“Sweden has been asked to facilitate a possible dialogue in Uganda,”…“discussions are still at an early stage and when there is concrete progress to communicate, we will do so”, the Daily Monitor quoted Swedish Foreign ministry spokeswoman Katarina Byrenius Roslund as saying.
But in a two-page missive, Government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo urged the Swedish government to provide proof of any such undertaking, before adding said that the reported claims of dialogue were being orchestrated by Dr. Besigye for purposes of political grandstanding.
‘The dialogue between Dr. Besigye and Museveni is a total lie and I believe that Dr. Kizza Besigye is doing all this for political brand standing and humor,’ Ofwono Opondo wrote.
The government mouthpiece, however, ‘advised’ Dr. Besigye to ‘concentrate on mobilizing political support and prepare for the 2021 general elections.’
He added that those who were dissatisfied with the results of the 2016 went to the Supreme Court, which Dr. Besigye and his party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), did not do.
But Dr. Besigye has persistently challenged the government over the issue, saying he was denied a platform to challenge the results of the elections through detention well over the prescribed timeframe of 30 days for petitioning the Supreme Court.
The FDC also says police raided its offices in Najjanankumbi and took away several things including the declaration forms which the party had received from different agents’ throughout the country.
