Staff
A lot has said about the just concluded General Elections, much of which has come from opposition figures who did not just disagree with the election results declared by the Uganda Electoral Commission on January 16th.
While appearing on NBS Television’s Morning Breeze, former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president and four-time presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye believes the elections only proved that Ugandans are not the same before the law.
According to the retired colonel, the most important lesson that Ugandans can draw from the just concluded elections is the confirmation that we are all captives of the state, and have no rights as citizens nor free institutions of the state.
“The most important lesson this election can give us is confirmation that we are a captive State. We have no rights as citizens, have no free institutions of the State.”
Dr Kizza Besigye, Former FDC president
Dr Besigye added that, it should be critical that all citizens have equal rights and are all equal before the law, a phenomenon that the election disproved completely.
“One of the critical things for being a citizen is that every citizen must have equal rights. That is not the situation here. This election demonstrated that we are not the same before the law.”
Dr Kizza Besigye, Former FDC president
On that basis therefore, Dr Besigye believes it was justified for the National Unity Platform (NUP) to withdraw the petition that they had filed in the Supreme Court challenging the election results.
Besigye believes that Hon Kyagulanyi did not go so far with the petition because he hit turbulence right at the entrance because the courts of law have degenerated over time.
Accroding to Besigye, the courts that handled his election petitions are much different from courts today as courts then still had a few judges not appointed by President and were thus less compromised.
“Hon. Kyagulanyi went and didn’t go far because he hit turbulence at the entrance. These courts have degenerated over time. The courts I subjected my petitions to are not the ones of today. The earlier courts had some judges not appointed by Museveni. There is a lot to learn from what they (NUP) did. It wasn’t an effort in vain. If they hadn’t gone to court, our country wouldn’t have known that our courts are politically compromised”
Dr Kizza Besigye, Former FDC president
