Nambooze launches DP campaign 'reloaded' warns Kayihura

Nambooze launches DP campaign 'reloaded' warns Kayihura

Buganda region party president Nambooze Bakireke has promised to sue Kaihura as a person for all the police brutality done to DP members.

She said this as she launched “Make DP great Again Campaign reloaded” at Nsambya.

Here is the full Press statement Nambooze issued:

Good Morning and Thank you for coming

It has been quite a while since we last addressed members of the Press and today we return to brief you on the way forward for the Making DP Great Again Campaign.

As you are aware, there is a lot going on in the country and much so for worse. Under such circumstances, we would be required as an opposition political party to offer practical and sustainable alternatives and hold the NRM Government accountable.

We set out a few months ago with the cardinal goal of spearheading reforms that would lead DP back to a her position as a party of choice for all Ugandans who wish to contribute to the running of the affairs of Uganda. This was motivated by the confidence that DP is founded on sound principles which if properly adopted surely offer solutions to the governance challenges of the day. We hereby express our gratitude for the welcome we have received wherever we have been on this campaign.

However, DP as a party has fallen short of this mandate and we refuse to believe that we have failed. In these challenging times, we need to prove that we can deliver results in peoples’ everyday lives. It is therefore with renewed determination that we announce that beyond pushing for internal party reforms, we are available and therefore rise to the occasion to tackle matters of national significance as well because they cannot wait.

Of late, DP has been relegated to condemning, sometimes in the strongest terms, events as they continue to occur in Uganda. In essence, what the party’s chief executive is doing is to massage the Museveni dictatorship. Musveni would prefer to have such an opposition. The party leaders have also directed considerable efforts to representing us at funerals with flowery eulogies. Instead, we feel that as a party, we need to urgently apply our efforts to the governance challenges of the day by offering action based interventions to pertinent issues. We wish to emphasise that as the country is being mismanaged, human rights are being abused, priorities are left unfunded and vices such as corruption are growing by leaps and bounds, it is our noble duty to offer and act on alternatives that will restore hope for our people.

Issues Arising

We are here to announce renewed commitment and determination to push for reforms in the Democratic Party. There is undoubtable need to revisit the internal governance systems of the party inclusion, redefinition of the party ideology and reconstruction of the party structures among other urgent needs. The various changes in the country’s political and constitutional landscape at the moment call for proportionate relevance on the part of DP. If we are to regain public trust, significant reforms to our party constitution are a must. More than ever before, the situation urgently calls for a negotiated transition to a viably representative delegates’ conference to elect new and vibrant leadership for DP. We therefore invite every DP member to jump onto the CARAVAN.

In the preceding weeks, as DP Buganda, we had organized and been invited to a number of party events and activities across Buganda and beyond. Much as we were acting within the bounds of our mandate and had gone to lengths to comply and cooperate even beyond the requirements of the law, we were met with cruelty from the police. Much to our disappointment the Police Force chose apply lethal force against us. We have reliably learnt that Gen Kale Kaihura, the Inspector General of Police has personal interest in all this. We are therefore demand an explanation from him. In the meantime, we challenge police through their Police Standards Unit to investigate all these cases to the letter.  We also demand that the culprits be brought to book and punished. Otherwise we will seek compensation for all manner of damage done to us if thi fails, we will go to court and we will push for private prosecution of the perpetrators.

The moment has also presented a number of unconcluded and by-elections across the country. Unfortunately, DP as a party has not featured as it should by offering candidates in the affected areas. Where we have fielded candidates, the results have been despicable because of a number of internal failings prevalent in the party. As the by-elections come to Buganda where we insist we have the mandate, we will avail ourselves to align the collective efforts in the party membership and likeminded opposition players to ensure that we don’t lose out.

We also wish to see the party rise up deliberately against attempts by the NRM to rig these elections and not look on or cooperate as democracy is abused. The malpractices in the by-elections in Toroma, Kagoma and Kamuli among others not go unchallenged.

We expect by-elections in Kyaddondo East, Kalungu, Kyotera, Busiro South, Nansana Municipality, Mukono, Lugazi Municipality among others. We will participate actively in all these elections and we are in the process of restoring hope for all prospective DP candidates in the said areas.

A10-member commission of inquiry chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire was set up by President Yoweri Museveni in December last year to probe the land sector. The commission was tasked to among other things query into the efficiency of the laws, policies and the whole processes of land registration, acquisition, administration and management. It was also meant to investigate and inquire into the effectiveness of the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) in administering public land and relevant bodies in the reservation of wetlands, forests, road reserves, national parks among other gazetted spaces.

We have found a glaring lack of clarity in the commission’s terms of reference. We call for a revision of the same to cover in entirety all land and with particular focus to Buganda. The 350 square miles being referred rightfully belongs to the Kabaka so the Kingdom should not be victimized on this. If government is honest, they should address the controversial 9000 square miles which is meant to be land for Baganda as a people. Government has fraudulently been awarding leases and offering freehold titles on the 9000 square miles through the District land Boards.  These leases must stop if Mengo is being attacked on the Kyapa mu Ngalo. We are already consulting on this matter and we request whoever has any opinion or contribution to this matter to liaise with us to inform a report that we intend to present to the Commission very soon.

For Truth and Justice.