By Ronald Nahabwe
Mubende: As the country was busy waiting for presidential age limit Supreme Court ruling today, former presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye was busy running battles with the police.
While talking to residents of Mubende on Hope Radio, policemen armed with guns and teargas canisters stormed the radio station and switched it off in attempt to block Besigye from addressing listeners during a live talk-show. Besigye has been on a countrywide tour, aimed at building grass root structures for his Forum for Democratic Party (FDC) as the country gears up for the 2021 general elections. Working on the orders of Mubende Resident District Commissioner Mary Nyakwela and DPC Martin Okoyo, the policemen switched the radio mast as Besigye was still talking to his supporters during the live political talk-show.
Later police forced their way into the station premises and arrested Besigye from the studios. The talk-show host Yusuf Kibalama, who had locked himself in the studio with Besigye was also given slaps when the cops managed to access the facility. Besigye was later whisked off to Mityana police station for safe custody because his supporters in Mubende had started protesting his arrest. Later RDC Nyakwela told the media that Besigye was not expected to hold any rallies or political talk shows in the area because he had not got any police clearance.
But Besigye and FDC party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat told journalists that they had planned to talk to party members through the radio station and also hold two rallies; one at Mubende Mayor’s Gardens and another at Kiganda Sub-county grounds. “We really don’t know police’s intention to block us from speaking to our supporters. Is it a crime to do so?” Amuriat asked while addressing reporters in Mubende. However, this is the fourth time Besigye’s radio talk-shows are being foiled by police. The same thing has happened in Jinja, Mbarara, Kabale and Mbale districts in the past few weeks, where he has been brutally arrested from radio stations as he tried to address his supporters.
