Controversial Journalist and media owner Andrew Mwenda has said that Uganda’s three-decade president Yoweri Museveni and his four-time challenger Dr Kizza Besigye are not any different.

Mwenda used two newspaper front page headlines to support his statement.

One, published by The Daily Monitor, reads: “I will not Stand in 2016 – Besigye”. The other, published by The New Vision, reads: “I’ll retire in 2006 – M7”.

Besigye has since stood to more times and lost to Museveni. Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party MPs went on to remove the presidential term limit clause in the constitution.

Museveni could also stand again if the age limit clause that bars him from standing for president beyond the age of 75 is removed in a parliamentary amendment.

It is not clear whether Besigye will stand against Museveni (if the age limit clause is removed) when Uganda next goes to the polls in 2021.

ANDREW MWENDA WRITES:

The problems of Uganda are best reflected in the article below. Besigye fights Museveni yet he is not any different from his adversary. Museveni promised to rule for only four years. When it ended, Besigye drafted resolution to extend Museveni’s rule for another six years without elections. Museveni has since been amending the constitution every time it stands in his way.

So in 2001, Besigye promised not to run again, but he did in 2006. In 2008 he made it clear he will not run again but did it in 2011. Between 2011 and 2015 he promised times without number that he would not run again but ran again in 2016. Besigye will of course run in 2021. Why should anyone trust him as being any different from Museveni?