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Dr K. Kizza Besigy
Dr K. Kizza Besigy

Real development must benefit people - Dr Besigye

Leader of the main opposition party in Uganda, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Dr K. Kizza Besigye, has said real development is the one that benefits all the people but not limited few.

He said development in an atmosphere of repression and oppression could not be genuine democratic development. 

This is because it is not backed by good governance and values such as freedom of speech and free association, as well as human rights which the people cherish.

Dr Besigye, who is also the current chairman of Democratic Union of Africa (DUA), was speaking on the sidelines of the International Democratic Union (IDU) meeting in Accra.

According to Dr Besigye, “Good governance is critical for accelerated and sustainable democratic development.”

31 years in government

On the state of affairs in Uganda, he said President Yoweri Museveni, after 31 years in government, was still interested in entrenching himself in power which did not bode well for the development of the country.

He explained that the constitution of Uganda bars people who are 75 years old from contesting elections, yet President Museveni, who is hitting 75 years, was bent on changing the constitution for him to contest the elections for life.

Dr Besigye said his party, Forum for Democratic Change, won last year’s election in Uganda with 52 per cent of the votes.

He said President Museveni after losing the elections prepared trump-up charges against him so as to have him jailed so that he could not challenge the election results in the law courts.

He further said President Museveni of Uganda was a dictator who had managed to change the constitution to allow him to contest the elections for life.

Dr Besigye disagreed with the assertion that President Museveni was a kind man that was why he did not seize his passport and allowed him to travel to Ghana for the IDU meeting.

He explained that the government of Museveni released him from prison because the treason charges were trumped-up charges and nothing was found against him hence his release from prison.

The Ugandan opposition leader said that was not the first time the government of President Museveni had sent him to prison on treason charges only to release him because they could not find any evidence to prosecute him.

Development in peace

Dr Besigye said clearly every citizen would have preferred development in peace instead of development that violated the inalienable human rights of its people just for the sake of development.

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