EASTER MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA

Fellow Ugandans, I send you warmly Easter Holiday greetings from the
leadership and members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). May the
good Lord keep everybody safe and reward each one of us abundantly and we
do everything possible to give glory to his name.
Easter Holiday is an important holiday in our country honored and celebrated
by all faith and therefore an opportunity to reflect on our shared destiny as one
people.
During this week of Lent, three important things happened through which we
should reflect on our future as a country.
Here at home, we lost one of our own Ms. Joan Kagezi to yet another senseless
murder on our streets. As Ugandans now know from all accounts, Ms. Kagezi has
served our country with utmost dedication and distinction. Our hearts and minds
go to her young children who have been brutally deprived of their most
important and valuable asset that a child can have.
As we celebrate this Easter holiday, lets use this as an opportunity to reflect on
the apparently increasing lawlessness. In a lawless society, each one of us is a
potential victim. It is therefore important to recommit ourselves to fully resource
our law enforcement agencies and for us as political leaders to confront the issue
of safety on the streets of our capital, urban centers and all rural areas across the
country with the highest level of bipartisanship should the current regime have
the sense and the care for the population to lead in doing that.
Close by in Kenya, we saw yet again the ugly face of terrorism as harmless and
unarmed children are murdered in their school campus where they had gone to
look for a future that never was. Targeting civilians, later on our young people
seeking an education, who unarmed and defenseless is perhaps the most
cowardly act that anybody can claim to justify such acts of terror.
Our hearts and minds go to our Kenyan brothers and sisters and the families of
the deceased.
The Garissa University College tragedy, happening on a Holy Thursday, yet
again reminds us of the perilous nature of our region and the need to redouble
our efforts in countering terrorism and other related threats. Easter holiday
celebrations should be an opportunity for all us to rededicate ourselves to
condemning all forms of terrorism including those that may be driven by
religious motivations.

Further away in Nigeria, we witnessed yet again that triumph of democracy as

Nigerians voted to elect a new Government. We applaud outgoing President
Goodluck Johnson and Present Elect Buhari for running a peaceful and wellfought campaign and showing leadership in accepting the results of the
elections.
More importantly, we congratulate our Nigerian brothers and sisters for defying
the shadow that Boko Haram had cast on the elections. Terrorism is a tool of
cowardly terrorists who use it to instill fear in the population so that we can
change our ways of life. Some governments also use terrorism as a justification to
legislate against personal liberties and to curtail individual democratic freedoms.
The Nigerian electoral results and the leadership of the contenders demonstrate
yet again that courage is not just the absence of fear, but triumph over it. The
brave men and women are not those who do not feel afraid but those who
conquer that fear.
Finally, we are celebrating Easter when the electoral commission has just
published a road map to the 2016 elections. Government has for its five-year
term of office failed to address fundamental reform issues that go at the root of
the credibility of our electoral system. We reiterate the message of the
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections that the Executive and Parliament have
the primary responsibility to ensure that the appropriate reforms are delivered
expeditiously to restore citizens confidence in the electoral process.
This Easter Weekend that brings together all of us is an opportunity to reflect
why Government continues to delay the reform process and to pray that those
who bear the responsibility to lead the country see the futility of the continued
delays to table, debate and deliver on these reforms.
God bless you all.
For God and My Country

Maj Gen. (Rtd) Mugisha Muntu

PARTY PRESIDENT, FDC
FDC Villas, Najjanankumbi
Kampala, April 3, 2015