A ferocious war of words has ratcheted up, as National Unity Platform (NUP) and Forum for Democratic change (FDC) engage in dangerous rhetoric, blaming one another for the loss of a life, during the recent Makerere University guild campaigns.
This comes against the backdrop of Betungura Bewatte’s demise, a 2nd year UCU law student who was gruesomely stabbed in the scuffle that ensued between FDC and NUP supporters at the University rugby grounds last week.
Vicious accusations and counter accusations continue to trickle in at an unprecedented pace, pitting FDC stalwarts against NUP followers.
FDC supporters have relentlessly raised a pointing finger against NUP, terming its followers as “goons” and “trouble makers”, in addition to blaming them for causing the untimely death of Bewatte, who had gone to Makerere to campaign for his FDC colleague and former classmate at Mbarara high school.
It should of course be remembered that immediately after Bewatte’s death, FDC was quick to accuse the NUP camp, of setting the centre stage for the deadly chaos, that climaxed into the untimely passing on of their own.
Head of students in the FDC camp at Makerere University Mulindwa Lubega, alleged that NUP supporters orchestrated the chaos against FDC fans, by ring-fencing the campaigning ground, and making it out of their reach.
“What we know are the facts, not a mere allegation, and this can be proven by those who were present at the scene, as FDC supporters and their candidate were walking to the rugby grounds, they encountered stiff hostility from NUP supporters, who sought to block their access to the grounds, because the NUP candidate had camped at the rugby grounds, before anyone. As FDC supporters reached the venue, NUP fans sealed off the place and this sparked off a sharp exchange of words, leading to a dengerous scuffle,” narrated Mulindwa.
Reacting to these allegations, NUP principal Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine released a Facebook statement, in which he wondered how people could come to a quick conclusion on who is to blame for the cause of Bewatte’s death, even as police investigations are yet to be completed.
“One of the most disappointing thing about this incident was seeing some people who claim to be fighting for the same objective as us, trying to blame the murder on the NUP camp, even before investigations could start. Well, I was not surprised by this, given that the regime uses every opportunity to divide those who oppose it,” Bobi Wine said in a statement.
He alleged deeper collusion, and said many questions abound on what informed the death of Mr. Bewatte, claiming that there might be some forces behind his death, intended smear NUP with “political mud” and sow a mixture of hatred and disunity among Uganda’s opposition political parties.
For his part, NUP spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi urged his FDC counterparts to abandon what he called ” senseless” allegations and groundless public accusations.
“They arrested Hon Kabuye and some of our colleagues because they had gone to campaign for our candidate, but that is not to say, they are the ones who killed the deceased. We therefore urge police to leave politics out of their investigations, which point to the fact that because someone was killed, it’s the opponent camp that killed him, because Makerere has porous boundaries and anyone with evil intentions can easily access the university premises,” Ssenyonyi advised.
Partial results of the security probe into the matter were released on Mo by Uganda Police, in which it was indicated that the diceased succumbed to a haemorrhagic shock as a result of a broken glass heavy blow on his head.
Not only did the deadly fighting which broke out between NUP and FDC camps at Makerere University rugby grounds leave one dead, but also left scores fatally maimed, which prompted the university council to suspend guild elections indefinitely.
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