Tthe presidential candidate on Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC)/Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) ticket Retired Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye has written a letter to the Chief of Defense Forces Gen. Aronda Nyakairima asking him not to involve the army in the elections.
Dr. Kizza Besigye at a press conference
Speaking to Journalists in Kampala today, Besigye said that army officers’ utterances that army will be involved in the elections has created fear in the supporters of the opposition parties.
Besigye added that army involvement in elections will let people fear to go to polling stations. He said that those who will risk going to the polling stations will not wait until the end of elections process which will jeopardize the electoral exercise.
He warned against the army getting directly involved in the election process saying that they intimidate people and cause the public not to trust the election results.
Besigye said that the army’s work is to protect the citizens and their property and protect the country from foreign attacks but not to create phobia in elections.
He also warned that if elections are not free and fair, his supporters will take to the streets in massive protests as has been seen in Tunisia and Egypt.
Besigye who has lost the last two previous elections to former ally President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement has said he will this time not go to court to challenge the election results.
After the 2001 and 2006 elections, in which he scored 27% and 39% respectively, Besigye challenged the election results in the Supreme Court and on both occasions, judges ruled by a 75% majority that while the elections were not free or fair, the irregularities did not substantially affect the result.
Besigye now says he will appeal to the highest court of “the public” and the onus is on the government and the electoral commissions to ensure the elections are free and fair.
Security forces in Uganda have however warned against any attempts by losers to protest, with warnings that such people will be arrested and “strongly dealt with”.