People have called me mad, insane, a lunatic, mentally ill and confused because I have refused to forget about the recent murder of the university student of law who was murdered in the most recent election campaigns for the guild president at Makerere University. I am being gagged by mothers of sons, fathers paying tuition fees for their children, and siblings of students; Ugandans who are all working hard to silence my questioning about the stabbing that led to Bewatte’s death.
When I called out NUP’s leaders for selectively uniting with the FDC in Soroti, but abandoning Bewatte’s dead body to the point of failing to attend his burial, the gags said I am bitter for losing an election. When I questioned the absence of a single member of the NUP Institutions at Bewatte’s funeral, I was told I am bitter because my lover dumped me for a woman in the NUP. When I asked about the absence of all the NUP contestants and campaigners at the funeral, I was called a confused woman seeking attention and political relevance.
Well, here are some facts.
1) The student leaders of the NUP Institutions fled from Kampala for their lives when the police arrested four suspects responsible for transporting Bewatte’s bleeding body to the hospital where he died shortly thereafter.
2) When lists of suspects to be interrogated were circulated, all the names belonged to members of NUP - some of whom are not registered students at Makerere University. (Campaigns at the university bring in all sorts of participants.)
3) The listed members of NUP who were fugitives hiding in remote areas of Uganda, crossed the borders into neighbouring countries where they lay low for a few weeks. While some received monetary aid from the NUP Secretary General, some others struggled with applying for protection grants from human rights organisations which mainly rejected them.
4) As financial resources dwindle, the NUP fugitives and cross-border immigrants are slowly returning home - one fugitive at a time. They were reassured that if they returned home, they would be arrested, charged with a petty offense, and then shortly released on either police bond or bail from court.
Amidst all of this suspicious behaviour in the face of the unjust violent murder of a young man studying law at university, the NUP leadership postures at unity with the FDC. Who is fooling who? Why unite around a farcical by-election, yet you abandoned us while we were grieving for Bewatte? Why unite with us at mass gatherings to canvass for votes, yet you never stood with us as we grieved for our murdered comrade who participated in elections involving own candidates as well?
If unity is in fact a shared goal, why silence me when I am asking the important questions about who murdered Bewatte Betungura? What is unity without justice? What is unity without free expression? What is unity when a mother must fall mad before her questions about the murder of a young student are entertained?
Again: NUP, who murdered Bewatte?
Again: NUP, why did you abandon Bewatte’s funeral?
Again: NUP, why are your student leaders associated with Makerere University fugitives in hiding?
Again: NUP, what is the glitz and glamour of Soroti, when you all ran far away from Bewatte’s funeral?
The bible says that the guilty run when no one is chasing them!
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