Opposition Forum for Democratic Change, FDC party has criticized the manner in which members of the party were arrested and paraded before media by the Internal Security organization, ISO head Col (retired) Bagyenda Frank Kaka.
FDC President Patrick Oboi Amuriat told a media briefing this morning that the individuals were paraded before media under duress to make confessions intended to place opposition leaders and membership at a crime scene.
In a statement released over the weekend, POA said that even if the party is involved in activities intended to educate and empower its membership, it has never funded panga wielding people that have been terrorizing the country in the recent past.
“We would like to strongly disassociate ourselves from the claim that we are the perpetrators or promoters of the killings by machete wielding people who have caused insecurity in the recent past. We advise this state to do their work better in respect of this matter” the party president wrote.
Suspects include John Kasera the FDC mobilize for Busia district and his friends who were interviewed live on TV. The party wants these people produced before courts of law so that they may exercise their right to defend themselves.
“If Kaka claims he has evidence, he should put evidence before a judge or magistrate, but holding people in safe houses is something that equates Mr. Museveni’s regime to a dictatorship that is now becoming absolute. Our call is that the suspects should be brought to court expeditiously so that they can defend themselves” he said.
Adding that; “I want to say to those who choose to take that path that they are merely wasting time, the FDC will not be intimidated. We will continue mobilizing in the country, knowing very well that we are a registered political party given the authority under the laws of this country, to carry a duty assigned to political partices under the constitution” Amuriat said.
He further called for justice to be served in relation to Kasera and his friends’ case. The group is said to have been held for over three weeks without access to their families.
