Parallel press conferences and top impropriety secrets as FDC fight rages.

BY URN AND MUSASIZI ISAAC

KAMPALA-UGANDA/NEWSDAY: Two parallel press conferences are due to sit with each side expected to spill secrets of how the other is tearing the party.

At Najjanankumbi, the Forum for Democratic Change-FDC Secretary General, Nathan Nandala Mafabi and President Patrick Amuriat Oboi will present what they call evidence on how a faction by Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju are allegedly attempting to merge FDC with the National Unity Platform, now the leading opposition political party.

Rtd Col Kiiza Besigye has also entered the stage calling a press conference at the same hour Nandala will be addressing his.

Former Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa already indicated that Besigye is coming public with a cache of facts implicating the Nandala Mafabi side on how they have been in bed with the NRM.

The FDC party spokesperson and Kira Municipality Member of Parliament Ibrahim Semujju Nganda accuses Nandala and the FDC party President Patrick Amuriat Oboi of trying to sell FDC to the ruling National Resistance Movement under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

According to Ssemujju, Nandala, and the company brought billions of shillings into the party during the 2021 elections and refused to disclose its source. He said it was the money that was used to make large purchases including cars from Cooper Motors that were used in the 2021 general elections.

“The party president and the secretary general have not explained to the satisfaction of their known loyalists and new subscribers the source of the money. But unfortunately for them, FDC is made up of many people, they all must be satisfied that the money didn’t come from Museveni like it is believed,” said Semujju on Monday at a consultative meeting at Nsambya Sharing Hall attended by over 100 senior party leaders from across the country.

However, speaking to Uganda Radio Network on Tuesday morning on the phone from Kenya’s capital Nairobi, Nandala said Semujju and others like Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago want to sink the party by causing such brawls. Nandala said during the recently concluded elections, the duo did not campaign for FDC candidates because they had an understanding of NUP.

Nandala also wondered why Ssemujju is making a fuss over the funding for the 2021 campaigns since he has been funding previous FDC elections without any queries. He wondered why they are rising now when someone other than the four-time presidential candidate Dr. Kiiza Besigye is holding the FDC flag. He also said that even the said vehicles were paid for over some time not by single deposit as alleged.

Nandala said that if anything, it is Semujju and Lukwago who should be questioned on the source of their funds arguing that the duo used a lot of money for their re-election in 2021 yet they don’t have any known successful businesses. He says that the two could be the real wrong agents getting money from the state.

The controversial money, although its source is not known, is said to have come from President Museveni to lure the FDC to join the NRM. Semujju further accused Nandala and the party president Eng. Patrick Amuriat Oboi of pushing for an election before fulfilling preceding processes such as updating the voter’s register.

Semujju said that he’s aware that agents of the NRM are currently compiling dubious registers of delegates such that when the delegates’ conference sits, the people loyal to the NRM are voted into power.  However, in reaction, Nandala said that if he were to sell FDC to Museveni, he would have done it even now before the elections because he still holds a position in the party.

He however added that no one can take with them the structures of the party even if they crossed to NRM or another party they would go alone. He referred to the example of former FDC Vice Chairman Central Joyce Sebuggwwo whose departure to the NRM didn’t affect the structure and operations of the FDC not even in Buganda.

Our efforts to speak to Amuriat were futile as he didn’t return calls and messages to his known number. However, in a recent interview about the same matter, he told The Observer newspaper that he wouldn’t want to go into discussing the matter because there is already a party-appointed committee tasked with investigating all the claims to find a lasting solution.

“There is an ongoing investigation by an Elders’ Reconciliation Committee appointed by the National Council on the matter of disharmony in the party. Anyone with useful information has the liberty to approach the committee. The FDC leadership has chosen not to respond to heresy. We want the committee to do its work without its decision being pre-empted by media scrutiny. My leadership will implement the committee recommendations,” Amuriat said.

Party leaders are also questioning how Nandala spends the money that FDC receives from the government courtesy of its members of parliament. Of the 35 billion Shillings that the Electoral Commission gives parties with representation in parliament, FDC receives close to 2 billion Shillings every year.