I am the legitimate President of Uganda, Besigye claims again

Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) strongman Dr. Kiiza Besigye has reiterated he won the 2016 elections and should be the legitimate President of Uganda, not Museveni.

Besigye made the statements while speaking at the FDC party headquarters in Najjanakumbi on Wednesday.

Besigye, who is a consistent contender against President Museveni garnered 35.4 percent of the vote while Museveni was declared the winner with 60.8 percent. Museveni’s victory was later upheld by the supreme court.

However, the FDC candidate would later declare himself President at a ceremony where he was sworn in. He was consequently arrested and charged with treason.

Speaking about the events again, Besigye on Wednesday claimed that he is the legitimate President of Uganda, having won the elections.

“The regime took over our machines here and for three weeks they occupied our offices to capture the evidence we had that we had won the elections, but they did not succeed,” Besigye said.

“I can assure you that the greatest number of forms are in our possessions, we can use them to demonstrate to anybody that we won the elections,” he added.

Besigye claimed that he put it to Museveni to allow an audit of the elections to determine who was the winner, but the latter developed cold feet.

https://nilepost.co.ug/2020/08/19/besigye-i-will-not-stand-in-2021/

“We wanted an audit of the elections, our friends the swedes offered help. We even signed a Mou to audit. Museveni chickened out of the audit after realizing he did not win,” Besigye said.

In 2018, President Museveni and Besigye signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing on five key issues to determine talks between the two.

The talks were supposed to be facilitated by Sweden’s State Secretary Annika Söde.

“Museveni is illegitimate as a leader of these nations. I was taken to jail for declaring to be a winner, I told the court to charge me,” Besigye reported

“It is now five years and we are going into another election, I have never been tried. I am still a prisoner of treason. They don’t want the truth to come out,” he added.

Besigye also claimed the Electoral Commission headed by Simon Byabakama is illegitimate and only a puppet of the President.

“The EC itself is illegitimate because it has been set up by an illegitimate man. And he continues to tamper with it. Museveni would not be on the ballot today,” he added.