When you find Gen. M7 in his free time and you remind him of walk to work, he Will hate you for life, this is the most political United campaign that has sofar pressed him.
It’s said that his personal jet was on the run and some of his family members had left the country in April 2011.
The Walk to Work protests commenced on 11th April 2011, as a reaction to the high cost of living.
The protests took place following a presidential sham election in February 2011, where Gen. Museveni rigged our victory.
The first Walk to Work protest took place on 11th April 2011, and was organised by the pressure group Activists for Change (A4C) with different political parties uniting under the same cause.
That included Democratic party of Hon. Nobert mao, the Forum for Democratic Change of president Kizza Besigye, consecutive party of Ken lukyamuzi the man, mps, many of our leader’s kigundu Suleiman (RIP) , Secretary General mafabi manjegere , Hon.
Harold Kaija
etc.
Thou many of the leaders later abandoned the campaign, living it for president kizza Besigye and other ordinary people.
Olara Ottunu walked twice when he was escorted from Nakawa to Uganda house and another time walking from Uganda to William Street and emerging from Bombo road.
Mugisha Muntu
walked once when he walked from kololo to parliament a memorable day when he was saluted by one of the officers on duty.
Mathias mpunga also participated once when he went to clock tower and had his suit torn by Nrm Police.
For Nobert Mao he participated few times, thou he stopped walking when he was imprisoned with President kizza Besigye in Nakasongola military prison where they spent Easter holiday.
And many mps that included odongo otto, Beatrice Anywar etc, with out forgetting the likes of Asuman Basalirwa and Sam Njuba who helped the campaign with legal aid as they traversed the Nation to provide free legal services to our fighters.
The 11th April protest called on workers to walk to work to highlight the increased cost of transport in our marginalized Uganda. In February 2011, our country’s inflation was running at 11%
The Walk to Work protest was organised in response to a comment by Gen. Museveni on the increased cost of fuel, which had risen by 50% between January and April 2011. He said
“What I call on the public to do is to use fuel sparingly. Don’t drive to bars.”
The 11th April protest was disrupted by police, who fired tear gas and arrested president kizza Besigye and Democratic Party leader Norbert Mao. The president was arrested as he attempted to leave our kasaganti state house.
In the course of the protest on the third day , president kizza Besigye was shot in the right arm by a rubber bullet. The regime arrogantly blamed the violence on protesters, with the bandage on his arm, the son of kifefe kept focused on the cause.
In response, on April 14th, the protests spread to other Ugandan cities, including, mbarara, Rukungiri, kampala, wakiso Gulu and Masaka, prompting further clashes between captives and the regime.
By 15th April, five people had been shot and killed by police, with dozens injured and hundreds arrested.
Further protests took place on 21st and 29th April, resulting in five further deaths, 100 injuries and 600 arrests. According to Human Rights Watch, none of those killed were actively involved in the protests.
walk towork protests kicked up dust
regime crackdown on protesters continued as president kizza Besigye vowed to continue demonstrating against spiralling prices.
The regime accused president kizza Besigye of using protests to try to make the country ungovernable, Being hauled up before courts and jailed just because you have chosen to walk to work as a form of protest is something unimaginable in many countries. But in Uganda it happened and it still happens.
President kizza Besigye, was arrested for a fourth time on 14th a day after he was freed on bail on condition that he does not stage more protests, had been given three options, To return to his house or be driven to work in a police vehicle or send for his personal car and drive to work, the defiant president chose none.
The tense stand off that ensued and resulted in when president kizza Besigye was shot in the right hand , supporters who were dispersed by police amid plumes of tear gas joined him showed no sign of easing and this led to more protests.
Sounding ever so defiant, president kizza Besigye in his hoarsed voice told a crowd of his energetic supporters shortly after his release that he would stage more walk to work protests.
On April 28th regime , the sad day when President kizza Besigye almost lost his life as forces led by the notrious crook Arinitwe Gilbert Bwana resumed their crackdown, smashing the windscreens of President kizza Besigye’s car at mulago roundabout as he drove into kampala.
The crook sprayed him and the crew inside with dangerous chemical substances before bundling them on pick up. ( I shed tears while watching Ntv news on that day , I felt like becoming a terrorist)
The president was blind for over 12 hours, he was brought to the courts, and given bail on conditions for furthertreatment. The president was defiantly airlifted to Kenya for treatment.( story for another day)
On 29th April, following the fake news that the president had died, after the brutal arrest on 28th, Kampala and some cities were on fire and the crackdown killed over ten people.
Including three in the northern town of Gulu and a two year-old girl Juliet Nalwanga of Masaka. ( I cant tell if the regime compensated her parents, but in 2016 the court had ordered the regime to pay them 30 million uganda shillings )
Ssemuga kanabi of Nakivubo market parkyard,Sam mufumbiro of owino market, Frank kizito of massajja , wilber mugalanzi , Bweyogerere , James mukibi Of Bwaise, Augustine Guwatudde of Namasumba.
We’re shot dead and 84 people taken to mulago Hospital with bullet wounds and 360 captives were arrested in kampala and mbale .
“We never knew the government is so threatened to the extent” of shooting innocent civilians, Salaamu Musumba, our vice-president Eastern region told Al Jazeera on that cold day .
The peaceful protesters we’re unarmed, no stone, but crookish Kale Kayihura, arrogantly said, president kizza Besigye was trying to use demonstrators to topple “a duly elected government”
Fellowcaptives, walk to work was a United platform that was started and structured by a United opposition, thou it shouldn’t be hidden that some of the leaders were compromised by the regime thus abandoning the cause.
It was put on halt on 28th April after the torture by the regime forces commanded by the crook Arinitwe Gilbert Bwana.
Upon the president,s return on 22nd may, he found Most of the FdC youth were compromised by the regime, they were given scholarships, pigs, 25M each, all this was done by Gen. M7 and managed by kale kayihura.
And obviously , the internal ideological fights in the FdC institution at a time led to it’s downfall to some extent, that’s the time when we had two camps that each believed in it’s own ideology, it was Defiance and compliance.
Fellow captives, we aren’t in the supremacy of political parties, we are in a struggle to subdue the Gun rule to people rule .
