Former Forum for Democratic Change- FDC President, Col. Kiiza Besigye has asked the current party leaders to put the looming elections on hold until the ongoing controversies are resolved.
Besigye accompanied by some members of the FDC party made these please in a press conference held today at his offices on Katonga Road, Kampala.
The party has been grappling with internal disagreements, which have been making headlines for the past two days. Some senior party leaders have accused the current President, Patrick Amuriat Oboi, and Secretary General, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, of mismanaging the party.
On Monday, more than 100 members of the FDC National Council gathered at the Sharing Hall in Nsambya for a consultative meeting titled “Redirecting FDC to its Core Mission.” The meeting aimed to address the internal challenges the party is facing.
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During the gathering, FDC party spokesperson and Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, raised concerns about “mysterious” funds that the party received during the recent general elections. He expressed uncertainty about the source and amount of the money, but based on the significant expenditures made by some recipients, he suspected it could be in the billions.
Amidst these controversies, the party initially scheduled its internal elections for July 17th, 2023. However, this decision faced strong opposition from some party leaders, and eventually, the party agreed to postpone the elections to July 21st, 2023, which still encountered resistance.
For a while now, Semujju Nganda has been a vocal critic of the party’s Secretary General, Nandala Mafaabi, accusing him of having a secret relationship with President Museveni. The Kira Municipality legislator says that Mafaabi wants to use the elections as a tool to bring FDC closer to the National Resistance Movement (NRM), drawing parallels to a move the Democratic Party (DP) President made recently.
Now, addressing journalists, Col. Besigye advised party leaders to avoid elections while internal disputes remain unresolved. He urged party leaders to create time to address these contradictions and ensure a credible process that instills confidence in all members.
“I think it is important that all this grandstanding of elections must continue whatever, should be avoided, time should be created by the party leaders to avoid these contradictions and have a credible process in which all members are confident.”
Besigye, who has faced accusations of receiving at least 300 million shillings, part of the money received by Nandala and Amuriat, declined to comment on the allegations, stating that the matter is under investigation by party leaders, and he will respond once the report is released.
Regarding accusations of attempting to sell FDC to the National Unity Platform (NUP), Besigye clarified that he would collaborate with any political party sharing the vision of overthrowing the current regime.
Meanwhile, as Besigye was addressing journalists at his offices on Katonga Road, FDC President Patrick Amuriat Oboi and Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi held a separate press conference at the FDC Party Headquarters in Najanankumbi.
Nandala slummed all the allegations made against him claiming that he wants to sell the party to President Museveni in exchange for the Bank for Uganda’s governor position or minister of finance.
“Hon Ssemujju and others made allegations that I made a deal with President Museveni to deliver to him FDC in exchange for the Bank for Uganda’s governor position or minister of finance. Those allegations have been around since 2012. Who doubts my experience and expertise? I qualify for those positions but I’m not interested in working with Mr Museveni.” He said
On his part, Amuriat asked party members to keep calm noting that there are no intentions to sel the party as alleged by some of the members.
“We call for calm among our members. FDC is our party to which we dedicated all our youthful lives building. We shall never sell it to anybody at whatever billions of shillings,”
By M Fahad