By George Murumba

22^nd Nov 2010

Opondo on attack

The opposition’s attacks on both President Museveni and his record are a calculated effort that will end in futility, the government has said.

Reacting to Uganda Correspondent’s story “Tears roll as Besigye’s campaign message sinks in” last week, the ruling NRM Deputy Spokesperson Mr. Ofwono Opondo said the opposition’s attacks on Museveni is a “…calculated syndicated effort that will end in futility because most of the crucial local constituencies know the facts including the causes of poverty and jiggers in many areas”.

Ofwono Opondo singled out Dr Kizza Besigye, Norbert Mao, Olara Otunnu, Beti Olive Namissango Kamya, and Dr Abed Bwanika; saying they have spent the last two weeks ferociously attacking the person and public of record of the NRM candidate Yoweri Museveni.

Attacking Museveni’s record, Opondo said, “…is welcome because he has been president for 24years now.  Some of the problems can rightly be attributed to the policies Museveni has perused or perhaps personal style of leadership”.

The government also tried to apportion part of the blame for its failures on FDC President Dr. Kizza Besigye, arguing that he had served in Museveni’s government for fifteen of the 24yr NRM rule.

The government also warned that “…when opposition candidates descend to gutter politics of lies, deliberate falsehoods, and concoctions, the NRM will be right to respond in equal measure”.

Besigye in particular, Opondo said, has chosen a very untenable style of picking up people his team has identified as the poorest in Mubende, Mityana, and Wakiso districts, and presenting to the public and media as “…symbols of Museveni’s maladministration”.

The says Dr. Besigye is doing all this in the hope that “…those watching the TV screens will unquestionably agree and buy into his simplistic diagnosis and prescriptions to many of Uganda’s entrenched and widespread problems of abject poverty, water, sanitation, diseases, malnutrition, and sometimes hopelessness”.

The government also said any honest analyst or even casual observer of Uganda politics will see that Uganda has turned the pages over the past two decades Museveni has been in charge.

“…No amount of calculated distortion from Besigye, Otunnu and Mao can deflect us.  It is what they have specialized in for long. Some of those poor people being paraded by Besigye are publicly known lazy-borne, drunkards, and wasteful who squander earned opportunities and their local folks don’t have an iota of respect for them and command no public opinion”, Opondo charged.

Turning to Dr. Besigye’s promise to increase teachers’ pay to 400,000 per month and also provide free lunch to UPE pupils, the NRM spokesperson said “…in world history, no government has been able to do such a thing except by printing paper money [which] causes debilitating inflation”.

For these reasons, the government says, “…the criticisms about poor or lack of education amenities are misplaced because it is precisely why Museveni is implementing UPE, USE and now promising free advanced level education to children who would otherwise stay home”.

Ofwono Opondo also defended the government’s public sector pay rates, saying it is “…fair pay within national kitty.  I challenge these opposition candidates to tell the public which private primary school [except the few in Kampala] which pay their teachers above government pay”, Opondo added.

He issued the same challenge with regard to salaries paid by private clinics, adding that the government is providing public health, water, roads, energy and security.  END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.