Uganda Peoples Congress

Uganda Peoples Congress
National Secretariat
Plot 8-10 Kampala Road, Uganda House,
P. O. Box 9206, Kampala
phone/Fax:+256-41-236748

LET US MOBILISE AND IMPEACH PRESIDENT MUSEVENI

Press Release

22 Apr 2009

  1. The ongoing saga surrounding the unconstitutional re-appointment of Justice Faith Mwonda as the Inspector General of Government (IGG) is only the latest of General Museveni’s many actions of abuse of office, willful violation of his oath of allegiance and presidential oath and of the Constitution all amounting to gross misconduct by a leader who is supposed to be the fountain of honour in Uganda.
  2. However, Yoweri Museveni’s abuse of the Constitution and his wanton disregard of the Constitutional order is not surprising or a new phenomenon. It is the very embodiment of his political life. In 1980, Yoweri Museveni consented the multiparty general elections as the leader of the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM). He miserably lost the elections including in his own Nyabushozi Constituency (to Sam Kutesa, a member of the Democratic Party then). Instead of challenging the election results in the Courts of law as provided for in the Constitution, Yoweri Museveni just as he had planned since 1965, took up arms and today the Luwero triangle that he created is still littered with unburied skulls in testimony to his military but unconstitutional exploits. Northern and Eastern Uganda have seen similar exploits.
  3. When Yoweri Museveni through the barrel of the gun took over power on 25/1/1986, he suspended parts of the 1967 Constitution through the infamous Legal Notice No. 1 of 1986. Worse still, even the parts of the Constitution that agreed to preserve, including the bill of rights that guaranteed the freedom of association, were routinely abused.
  4. Having illegally banned political parties from operating and contesting the 1993 Constituent Assembly elections, Yoweri Museveni through the largely Movement Constituent Assembly wrote the 1995 Constitution which included such detestable articles like the infamous article 169 that constitutionalised the ban on free political party activity. The 1995 Constitution is accordingly, Yoweri Museveni’s baby. When it suited him, he amended it in 2005.
  5. To all rational and well meaning people, Yoweri Museveni should have been the last person to violate his own Constitution but true to his legacy, he has only obeyed the commands of the Constitution by accident.
  6. If one attempted to list all the violations of the Constitutional order perpetuated by General Museveni, one would write entire series of books. The list would include for sample purposes the following:
  7. The routine violation of people’s rights and freedoms including illegal detention in safe houses, torture and extra judicial killings.
  8. The deployment of the UPDF in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (twice), and Sudan without the authority of Parliament.
  9. The attacks on the Courts of law including the infamous black mamba’s rape of the High Court.
  10. The grant of loans, guarantees and outright bailouts to so called investors like Basajjabalaba, Tristar and several others without the authority of Parliament.
  11. The directives to the otherwise independent Uganda Land Commission to give away public land to investors like in the cases of UTV land, Shimoni school land, Kitante School land and the attempted Mabira forest give away.
  12. The routine and corrupt mismanagement of the economy and running down of public infrastructure and social services.
  13. The illegal expropriation of private property including ranches and the protection of trespassers on private land.
  14. The recent appointment of Major General J. J. Odongo a serving UPDF officer to cabinet.
  15. The illegal re-appointment of Justice Faith Mwonda as IGG.
  16. If these wanton constitutional abuses are compared to the defilement of a baby, then we have a pathetic and desperate situation of defilement not by a rabid stranger, but by the very father of the baby!
  17. The UPC has warned not once or twice but as a routine, that General Museveni can no longer be trusted to lead Uganda except to a catastrophic disintegration. Time is now overdue for the people of Uganda to organize and mobilize through Parliament to invoke the provisions of article 107 of the Constitution to remove General Museveni from the high office of President on grounds of abuse of office, willful violation of his oath of office and above all the Constitution.
  18. The Uganda Peoples Congress is consulting widely to sort out the modalities of embarking on this impeachment action of last resort. We call upon all Ugandans of goodwill to join this patriotic effort.

For God and my Country

Miria Kalule Obote

Party President