By Our Reporter

14^th Nov 2011:

Forest Gate – London:  The typical dark cloud of winter is hanging over London town.  Here, in East London’s Forest Gate, an area that hosts both a pub nicknamed ‘Kitgum House’ and a road Ugandans call ‘Kampala Road’, a forest of Ugandans from all walks of life and corners of the United Kingdom have turned up in full force.

The two hundred capacity hall is overflowing with over three hundred people.  At approximately 4pm, with Harriet Kisakye’s song “doctor” playing, Dr. Kizza Besigye matched into the conference hall accompanied by Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] Secretary General Hon. Alice Alaso and FDC-UK Chapter Chairman Dr. Chris Kamugisha.

On this day however, the eve of ‘Remembrance Sunday’ in the United Kingdom, a day when the British remember ‘The Glorious Dead’ who sacrificed their lives in previous wars to bring peace, stability, and democracy to their country, a sizeable number of visibly angry Ugandans who turned up to listen to Dr. Kizza Besigye ironically put the FDC leader to task to declare war against President Yoweri Museveni.

From their fiercely passionate contributions to the plenary session of the well attended and oversubscribed ‘Grand Public Debate’ in London, it was crystal clear that a cross section of Ugandans, women included, were now absolutely convinced that the ‘Walk-to-Work’ protests were not delivering the desired results.

Like the Inspector General of Police Major General Kale Kayihura, some participants at the London debate seemed to think that the objective of the ‘Walk-to-Work’ protests is to force President Yoweri Museveni out of power, something that Activists for Change, the pressure group behind the protests vehemently denies.

“…You have been harassed and severely beaten by the government.  When are you going to draw the line?   Museveni went to the bush with only 27 guns.  Can’t you start with a few bullets and liberate us from Museveni’s tyranny”, a lady in audience asked Dr. Besigye.

Speaking in Luganda, a downtrodden-looking man wearing a white turban-like head gear took to the floor and narrated to Dr. Besigye how his father died and was buried in London 1969.  Since then, he told Dr. Besigye, he has been suffering in the United Kingdom with no hope of ever going back to Uganda.

The man then approached the pensive looking FDC leader, looked straight into his red flu stricken eyes, and said:  “…Ssebo nkusaba olwanise omutemu Museveni.  Tukoye”, literally meaning, “…Sir, I beg you to fight Museveni the killer.  We are tired”.

Nearly all those who put questions to Dr. Kizza Besigye expressed deep frustration with the opposition’s inability to unite and respond with commensurate violence to government’s violent crackdown on the anti-government ‘Walk-to-Work’ protests against high commodity prices.  The FDC leader however resisted calls to take up arms.

“…Overthrowing Museveni with guns is possible.  But it will not solve our problem.  Our current problems are because of having too much power in the hands of army Generals like Museveni who think they are next to God.  And we know that the armies they rely on operate on orders from above.  So we could overthrow one dictator but we shall only replace him with another dictator”, Besigye counselled.

Still advising against any rushed decisions to go to war, Dr. Besigye further warned that during war, civil society becomes weakened by guns and that is bad for democracy.  He said Ugandans can, and should in the first instance concentrate all their efforts on pushing Museveni out through peaceful civil resistance.

The FDC leader however qualified his non-hawkish statement by saying that only if peaceful means fail should violence be considered.  “…I have never ruled out violence.  But it should only come as backup, not the principle force to achieve change”, Besigye said. END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.