Muntu faces revolt in FDC

Long stay in Luzira

Locked away in Luzira, Besigye is unable to galvanise support and mount pressure against the government over the manner in which he is being treated.

Otto has always been cantankerous and his colleagues say that he usually throws tantrums whenever he does not get his way. But insiders say his current views are shared by many in the extremist fringe of the party, who feel that the party should throw all its weight behind Besigye as he battles the state.

In shows of solidarity, senior party officials including party President Muntu and current LoP Winnie Kizza, have visited Besigye in prison. Many have attended the numerous court sessions and castigated government in the media over his incarceration.

On several occasions legislators have protested by raising placards calling for Besigye’s release at functions where President Museveni is presiding.

But Muntu is being flayed for allegedly not doing enough. Meanwhile, away from directly targeting Besigye, the state has intensified the war on the businesses of his supporters including firms of lawyers that support him.

Besigye supporters targeted

One of the victims told The Independent that it was so frustrating that they have committed resources to the party “but officials there seem to be involved in their own things”.

“Some of our business are nearly closing, we cannot get clients because we have been targeted by the state for supporting Besigye yet it seems those in the party’s administration are involved in different things all together,” the official said on conditions of anonymity. Muntu appears to be cognizant of the challenges as he muddles through and fights to hold the party together and his future in the party is shaken as never before.

When Muntu was appointing the Leader of Opposition recently, he appears to have attempted to alley Otto-like charges. He appointed someone who is loyal to him; Kasese WomanMP, Winnie Kizza. But he also appointed party spokesperson, Ibrahim Ssemuju Nganda as the party’s chief whip and Cecilia Ogwal as parliamentary commissioner.

But his successor Muntu has struggled partly because Besigye did not quite anoint him as his successor and because Muntu’s laidback approach is not as inspirational to the bulk of FDC diehards.

Muntu’s choice of Kizza and Nganda were particularly strategic as many including hardliners have struggled to criticise them. Although Kizza was Muntu’s national mobiliser, she comes from Kasese, which overwhelmingly voted Besigye and also happens to be the first woman LoP. As party spokesman, Nganda on the other hand, is also respected by the hardliners.

In a way, Muntu is attempting to deal with the situation the same way he dealt with the Nandala situation. After winning the election in 2012, he removed Nandala who was the LoP at the time and replaced him with Wafula Oguttu who also happened to be Nandala’s lead campaigner.

But Muntu’s troubles got out of hand with the announcement of the entire shadow cabinet and leaders in parliament. Some 18 FDC party members, 7 Democratic Party DP members and 5 independents make up the list presented to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) by Muntu and the new LoP.

Other new appointees include; Bugweri County’s Abdu Katuntu, who was also Muntu’s key campaigner and nominated him for the FDC presidential flag bearer race, as the head of the parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises.

Muntu also appointed Bukedea woman MP, Anita Among as Katuntu’s deputy. Among was also a key Muntu campaigner.

Then he handed the docket of the influential Public Accounts Committee to Soroti womanMPAngeline Osegge, who was also his key campaigner. The other key appointee is Aswa MP, Regan Okumu, a Muntu loyalist, who was appointed as chairperson of the Local Government Accounts Committee.

Agago North’s Latigo, was also appointed to the Pan African Parliament. He is also a renowned Muntu supporter.

However, Mbale Municipality MP Jack Wamai Wamanga was appointed to the Afro Caribbean parliament and Hassan Kaps Fungaroo was appointed to head the committee on Government Assurances. The two are not Muntu supporters.

Muntu critics were not happy that he picked Ogwal to replace Okupa. The likes of Ingrid Turinawe, the party mobiliser, were particularly critical of the move of appointing cabinet before Besigye is released.

But Besigye’s loyalists who also happen to make up the core of the party’s hardlining streak did not have a lot of ballast for their criticism of Muntu’s cabinet. So they fell back to accusing him of failing the defiance campaign and insisting that Muntu should not have appointed the LoP and the shadow cabinet when Besigye is still being held.

Divisions have long existed in Uganda’s biggest opposition political party especially between hardliners and moderates. When Besigye was still party president, he had managed to keep this controlled as he reigns supreme over the party owing to his two decade long war to oust Museveni.

But his successor Muntu has struggled partly because Besigye did not quite anoint him as his successor and because Muntu’s laidback approach is not as inspirational to the bulk of FDC diehards.

In 2012, Muntu managed to trounce Nandala Mafabi to the post of party president because many felt that a different approach from Besigye’s would grow the party’s subscriber base. Nandala is seen as a hardliner.

That election was too divisive that many threatened to quit the party. But somehow Muntu managed to muddle through hoping to lead the party into the poll. But the return of Besigye in 2015 meant that Muntu would have to wait a little longer. Muntu threw all his weight behind Besigye in the presidential campaigns and many said that he had showed a true spirit of the party.

However, with the continued detention of Besigye, Muntu finds himself the centre of criticism over not doing enough to pressure the government into releasing Besigye and this might have far reaching implications for his political future in FDC.