President of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change has appealed to government and opposition leaders to work together for a peaceful change of power — which he said is inevitable —  without doing a lot of damage to the country’s peace.

The former Army Commander expressed fear while speaking to press in Mbarara this morning, that Ugandan and her neighboring Kenya, owing to the recently unpleasant political scenes there, might deteriorate into the situation in Somalia.

Citing yesterday’s standoff between residents of Rukungiri and Police who had deployed to stop a meeting that was duly sanctioned by the speaker of parliament, Muntu said political change in Uganda may come with severe ramifications to the country if it is not mutually managed.

“This should be a lesson for us,” said Muntu. “Uganda and Kenya should be striving in such a way that we don’t become what Somalia is.”

“If we are people who want to take responsibility, more so people in leadership, we should be learning from Somalia, because there was a time when Somalia was stable. Well, there was no justice or democracy there but they reached a tipping point where they blew up into violence. We should avoid that stage.”

Muntu said Uganda at one point will have to welcome a new leader and that this is inevitable.

“You can see signs all over the place,” he said. “What we should be doing; the people in government and we in opposition as well as those who  are not part of the two but who want change; we need to work out ways where we can manage this change responsibly and in away where those who are in power leave but the country remains stable.”

Muntu condemned Police’s use of excessive force yesterday which led to the death of one person and left several severely injured.

He said police should not be trying to stop members of parliament from escorting their colleagues to consult their constituents because this does not break any law.

“What speaker ordered, (that MPs should consult on the age limit) is the right thing and it breaks no law,” he said.

“It is unwise to therefore to go against it. Their role as police should be to keep peace at the rallies. Why are they scared?”