Govt has failed to respect multi-party politics – Bishop

Rt Rev Dan Zoreka. COURTESY PHOTO. By Agencies The Bishop of Kinkizi diocese, Rt Rev Dan Zoreka, has said all Ugandans must be concerned about what is happening...

Rt Rev Dan Zoreka. COURTESY PHOTO.

By Agencies

The Bishop of Kinkizi diocese, Rt Rev Dan Zoreka, has said all Ugandans must be concerned about what is happening in the country.

Bishop Zoreka who blamed Arua incident on government’s failure to respect multi-party politics, said the ruling party (NRM) has is starting to feel the strength of the opposition.

“All Ugandans are concerned about what we are seeing happening in the country mostly the violence that happened in Arua, as people are being witch-hunted by government. Most Ugandans are not happy but they are keeping quiet because of fear for their lives,’’ said Bishop Zoreka in an interview with Daily Monitor on Sunday.

Bishop Zoreka who has not been so silent most especially when he sees something is not right, said the NRM government is worried about the strength of the opposition, the reason why they are failing to maintain best practices under multi-party system.

“What they are doing shows that NRM government is panicking, thinking that other parties are overtaking them. Every person has a right to support a political party or individual he wants but when you see a candidate like Kasiano Wadri and team being arrested just because they have a different political view, then we are not in multi-party system,” said Bishop Zoreka.

He added that Ugandans must love one another and learn to accommodate each person’s ideas or ideologies, “because at the end we must all fight for peace and tranquility in our country.”
Bishop Zorekaa condemned the arrest of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagolanyi and others over what he termed as fabricated story.

“We must all be concerned about what happened in Arua especially the arrest of MPs like Francis Zzake, Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), Kasiano Wdri, among others. It is something that must be condemned because it should not be happening in this era. If it is true that some people throw stones at the presidential convoy we also condemn it, but if it is a fabricated story, we must condemn it in very strongly because when people are falsely accused, it is not democracy,” he said

Bishop Zoreka said government is mandated to protect its citizens but not killing them urging that those torturing suspects should as well face the law.

The state minister for lands, housing and urban development, Dr Chris Baryamunsi also condemned the acts of torture on suspects, but blamed Arua by-election violence to indiscipline by opposition supporters.

“What I condemn is torture of individuals, but whoever is found on the wrong side of the law should be punished accordingly whether an MP or a minister,” said Dr Baryomunsi.

He added: “All we need is descent politics, we opened up multi-party dispensation where political parties compete for political power and we would want to exercise maximum discipline while canvassing for votes. It was very unfortunate that some of the players in Arua engaged in acts of indiscipline.”

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