20100411
ALL AFRICA

Kampala — PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has warned politicians against telling lies, saying this would cause them problems. Citing the case of the FDC president, Museveni said Kizza Besigye was attacked by people in Mpigi district because he was telling lies.

"Besigye was going around telling people that I sold Lake Kyoga. When he went to Gomba to tell those lies, he fell into problems. I hear some people attacked him because he is used to telling lies," he said.

The President was on Saturday speaking at the pass-out parade of over 500 cadre trainees at Mpunge in Mukono district.

They completed a two-month course in political and military science.

The course was organised by the Mukono deputy RDC, Namatovu Ssemakula.

Besigye was attacked during a political rally at Madu trading centre in Mpigi on Thursday evening.

The attacker, whom residents identified as John Bisasso, jumped onto his car and attempted to pull him down.

"I pushed him away. Some of our supporters jumped onto the car and pulled him as the other members of his group tried to protect him," Besigye told a press conference later.

The FDC president said he reiterated his earlier position that the Government had leased out lakes to foreign investors.

Museveni recently ordered the Police to investigate him over the remarks.

The Criminal Investigations Directorate yesterday summoned Besigye and he is expected to appear at the CID headquarters in Kibuli tomorrow at 10:00am.

The Police said Besigye made inciting and inflammatory remarks in three places, Amolatar and Arua districts and at Maddu in Mpigi district.

"We have dispatched a team to serve him with the summons," CID director Edward Ochom said yesterday in a telephone interview.

The Police said Besigye, on a tour of Amolatar, accused the Government of selling part of Lake Kyoga to a foreign investor.

In Arua he is quoted as having urged FDC supporters to break the thumbs of NRM supporters should they flash their thumbs-up symbol in public.

"We want him to come and help us with investigations over the remarks he allegedly made in those three areas," Ochom said.

Besigye could not be reached for comment but his campaign spokesperson, Sarah Eperu, said she had no knowledge of the summons.

The development comes days after a team of detective's quizzed residents of Amolatar over the matter before proceeding to Arua where they questioned more than 10 people in connection with the thumbs remarks.

Speaking at the pass-out parade on Saturday, Museveni said there was need to organise more patriotism courses to "immunise" the people against such lies.

He tasked the recruits to go out and preach the Movement gospel of improving household incomes and helping people know the significance of markets.

"We should first answer the question: of what significance is Uganda to one's life? If you look at yourself, what does Uganda mean to you?" he asked.

He said as a cattle keeper, he cannot sell his milk to fellow cattle keepers in Ankore or Rwakitura but he benefits from markets elsewhere. "If I was blocked from accessing other Ugandans, I would die of poverty because my tribesmen all produce their own milk and bananas. It is the Ugandans in Kampala who save me from poverty," he said.

He said 18 buses ply the roads from Lira to Kampala everyday to bring "riches" in terms of purchasing power to Kampala.

People in Kayunga had asked him for a ferry on Lake Kyoga and those in Arua wanted a road.

"What pulls all these people? The magnetism is the market in order to solve each others' problems. That's the right way to look at Uganda," he said.

Museveni lamented that the whites divided Africa along borders, hence the need for regional economic integration to remove the obstacles to trade.

"We have to work together with the people of Rwanda Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi to become one East African market," he added.