Dr Kizza Besigye has castigated senior presidential press secretary Don Wanyama for manipulating a video to make it appear like the veteran opposition leader endorsed incumbent head-of-state Yoweri Tibuhaburwa Museveni.
In a campaign video shared online October 29, the president’s media team cut statements from a video in which Besigye, Museveni’s former personal physician in the bush war that catapulted the ex-rebel leader into power in 1986, talked about his former boss’ strength.
The press secretary posted ‘Dr has spoken, we must listen!’ along the video.
In the video, Besigye makes it clear that Museveni is a strategic thinker who persistently pursues his goals, largely for his selfish gain.
But the campaign clip only focuses on part of Besigye’s submission.
“Mr Museveni thinks through an issue in a long term and strategic sense and not in short term. He is a strategic thinker and this is an area of weakness in most of our leaders,” Besigye says in the campaign video.
Besigye’s camp has now dismissed the video as taken out of contest especially since its editor clipped out a few lines to make it seem like the four-time presidential candidate endorsed Museveni.
He said the video showed how Museveni was “DESPERATE FOR VALIDATION!!”
The former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president has now invited Wanyama and other Ugandans to “listen to me all the way.”
“Mr Museveni’s strategic thinking is NEVER for the common/public good, but for personal benefit and evil intentions,” he said.
He was also disappointed that “a part of the taxes I painfully pay is used to pay Don Wanyama to criminally “promote” Museveni and his Junta!”
Other members of Besigye’s camp have also been criticizing Wanyama over the campaign video.
Besigye’s aide Ronald Muhinda explained that the few lines were taken out of interview the People’s President had in January 2017 in the run-up to the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) day celebration.
“He was interviewed about his relationship with Dictator Museveni and he indicated that one of Museveni’s attributes is being a strategic thinker even if HIS STRATEGY IS DISASTROUS,” wrote Muhinda.
“Now NRM and their social media supporters have totally distorted the video for their BLACKMAIL. It shouldn’t be Don Wanyama a former journalist and senior editor [at Daily Monitor] distorting someone’s message.”
