Officers of the Uganda Police Force (UPF) have arrested opposition leader and activist Dr Kizza Besigye as he tried to leave his home in Wakiso District’s Kasangati area to protest the rising commodity prices and the rumored succession plan from President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni to his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Besigye was detained in a police van after being arrested and blocked from leaving his home to rally Ugandans to protest.
Also arrested was Soroti District Woman MP Anna Adeke Ebaju and four others as they attempted to make their way to Besigye’s home. Adeke, who is also the FDC Vice President for Northern Uganda said she was one of the lawyers of the political kingpin and had come to find out what charges had been preferred against him.
But police swung in action, arrested Adeke and her colleagues and bundled them onto a police van before driving them off. It was not readily clear where the youthful MP and her colleagues had been detained.
In the past two weeks, Besigye attempted to leave his home in Kasangati to resurrect what security intelligence believe could be walk-to-work protests over rising prices of commodities.
Last week, Besigye managed to leave his home and address the people of Kasangati Trading Centre. But he was later held in his vehicle for hours. He had planned to drive to town to rally Ugandans to unite and call for swift government solutions and to also oppose the Museveni-Muhoozi succession plan.
RISING COMMODITY PRICES
Like was the case in 2011, commodity prices have shot up across the country, with government largely blaming external factors and not offering tangible solutions for citizens surviving in an economy battered by the effects of the Covid19 pandemic.
President Museveni recently spoke about the rising commodity prices. But the most prominent statement most Ugandans got from his speech was his Marie Antoinette-like piece of advice that if they cannot afford bread, they should eat muwogo/cassava.
RUMORED MUSEVENI-MUHOOZI SUCCESSION
Besigye was also protesting a rumored move by President Museveni to help his son Muhoozi, currently serving as the Commander of UPDF Land Forces and his father’s senior advisor on special operations, to succeed him.
Muhoozi’s recently concluded 48th birthday celebrations which included a State House dinner hosted by Museveni and parties across the country, seemed to be bolster the possibility of a ‘Muhoozi Project,’ a concept first broached by former coordinator of intelligence services Gen David Tinyefuuza (now Sejusa) in 2013.
Speaking at Justice Forum (Jeema) offices in Mengo, Kampala two weeks ago, during an event hosted by his People’s Front for Transition (PFT), Besigye made it clear that him and other change-seeking Ugandans were interested in a succession from Museveni to his son Muhoozi, but rather in a meaningful transition of power from those with guns to civilians.
Besigye made it clear that he would never salute Muhoozi even if he became president, becoming the second former bush war fighter to openly say so. (Read Story Here).
Erias Lukwago, Besigye’s deputy at the PFT, described Muhoozi as ‘a very reckless general with nothing but the gun and a birth certificate indicating that Gen Museveni is his father. (Read Story Here).
FULL SPEECH: Here’s What Museveni Said About Commodity Prices, State of the Economy
UPDATE: Besigye Arrested in Downtown Kampala; Detained at CPS
 have arrested opposition leader and activist Dr Kizza Besigye as he tried to leave his home in Wakiso District's Kasangati area to protest the rising commodity prices and the rumored succession plan from President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni to his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.){kind=link}