En tidligere officer, pensioneret generalmajor Gregory Mugisha Muntu, er valgt til præsident for Ugandas største oppositionsparti, “Forum for Demokratisk Forandring” (FDC).
Det skriver avisen Daily Monitor, der udgives i Ugandas hovedstad, Kampala.
Gen Muntu’s win marked the end of a tense 90 days that saw the three candidates traverse the country to canvass for votes in a campaign which has tested the FDC’s ability to stay united, the paper writes Thursday.
The party rules provide that a winner would be decided if one candidate gathered 50 per cent plus one vote.
The election marks a transition from founding president, Dr Kizza Besigye, who has thrice (tre gange) run against President Museveni in bitterly fought national polls.
Dr Besigye has consistently rejected the outcome of his contests with Mr Museveni in 2001, 2006 and 2011 as having been rigged in favour of the incumbent (siddende præsident).
“Once I have handed over the party leadership today, I will concentrate on the struggle to liberate Uganda,” he said.
This was yet the first hint Dr Besigye was giving that he will again offer himself for election when the country goes to the polls in 2016. The FDC constitution allows any party member, popularly elected, to stand as party flag bearer in national elections.
“I will be available to the new party leadership and to the party if called upon to do so. I am not going to the tall grasses (falde i glemsel),” Dr Besigye added.
Om den nye partileder
Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu was born on January 1, 1958. He studied Political Science at Makerere University and later served as the Army Commander from 1989 until 1998.
Muntu served in the army at a time when, according to him, many “excited army officers” would keep sacks full of money in their offices.
There was “no” accounting system. He is credited for putting a stop to this and for not having abused his office to amass wealth.
A commendation would have been forthcoming (han stod foran forfremmelse), but for the 1995 Atiak massacre of 200 Ugandans allegedly by the Lord’s Resistance Army and for the 1998 killing of 80 students of Kichwamba Technical Institute by the Allied Democratic Force(s).
So President Museveni allegedly sacked him in 1998 when he (Muntu) was on leave.
Muntu later joined the opposition after falling out with the governing NRM over corruption and other forms of misrule.
He also said that Ugandans were now more divided by tribe and region than they have ever been – a consequence of President Museveni’s alleged politics of cronyism (favorisering).
