Jackson Etwop, a resident of Aduku Sub County in Kwania district and lead petitioner, said they have so far collected more than 1,000 signatures in Lango.
A section of residents in Lango Sub-region have embarked on
collecting signatures to counter a petition to take President Yoweri Museveni
to International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
The
petition is being spearheaded by the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change
(FDC) and the mock “People’s Government.”
It
was launched two weeks ago and is aimed at asking the prosecutor at the ICC,
Justice Fatou Bensouda, to prosecute Museveni and his implicated officials on
crimes against humanity.
The group calling themselves, concerned but patriotic Ugandans in
Lango want to collect more than 10 million signatures.
Jackson Etwop, a resident
of Aduku Sub County in Kwania district and lead petitioner, said they have so
far collected more than 1,000 signatures in Lango.
Etwop adds that they have also extended the drive to other regions and they
expect to conclude within the shortest period possible before they can present
the petition to The ICC-Uganda secretariat.
“We are the citizens who are concerned that the duly elected President of
Uganda should not be dragged to the ICC, let history serve to remind the
petitioners that many African leaders have been killed by the West, there is no
more colonial masters, Uganda is an independent country, do not beg foreigners
to come and help you,” The petitioners argued.
//Cue in: “We are citizens …
Cue out: …. and help you,”//
The group further insists that solutions to Uganda’s political situation does
not lie in the hands of foreign countries, therefore, there is less need to
drag President Museveni to ICC adding that many African leaders have lost their
lives due to foreign interference.
//Cue in: “We would wish …
Cue out: .... our former colonialists,”//
Denis Okello, one of the mobilizers for the petitioners says local people are
not interested in the petition to ICC.
Okello says that the petition is intended to destabilize Uganda’s
stability and other NRM related achievements.
Bony Otyama Ogong, the FDC party chairperson for Lango Sub-region
described the counter-petition as fear by a group of NRM mobilizers.
