The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A section of senior Forum for Democratic Change-FDC party leaders have accused the party President Patrick Amuriat Oboi and Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi of mismanaging the party. Over 100 members of the FDC National Council convened at the Sharing Hall in Nsambya for a consultative meeting under the theme “Redirecting FDC to its Core Mission” to discuss the internal challenges the party is facing.
The convener of the meeting, the FDC party spokesperson and Kira Municipality Member of Parliament Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda started off by telling members about the accountability gaps in the party and the planned internal elections. On accountability, Semujju talked about the “mysterious” money the party received during the recent general elections. He says the source and amount of the money are not known but based on the huge expenditures made by the recipients, the money should have been in billions.
Ssemujju says the money was brought to the party by Nandala and that one of the recipients was the party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat. He says the suspicious money was used to buy among others new cars from Cooper Motors.
The allegations regarding the mysterious funding led the FDC National Executive Committee-NEC to establish a committee led by former Kagoma MP Dr. Frank Nabwiso to investigate the matter. As the members await a report on the money, the party announced that they would conduct their internal elections on July 17th, 2023. But Semujju and others including the Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, Buhweju MP Francis Mwejukye, and others opposed the process.
When they contested the move, the elections were postponed to July 21st, 2023. But Semujju and other members of the National Executive Committee are still opposed to the process. In fact, the party’s National Chairman, Wasswa Biriggwa on July 14th, 2023 wrote to the party president, the Secretary-General, the national council, and all other organs of the party suspending the elections until the National Council sits and resolves issues regarding the electoral roadmap, a report from the party electoral commission on the readiness to conduct a free and fair election and a report from the Nabwiso commission.
The National Council is scheduled to sit next week on July 28th, 2023 at the party headquarters at Najjanankumbi. Semujju says the elections should be properly organized not be held as a ceremony. He says the proponents of the elections want to conduct an election without voters registering something that has no precedent in the party.
Nandala Mafabi and Amuriat are being accused of masterminding the accountability gaps and the disorganized elections they want to hold. For his part, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago says that when the NEC met to discuss matters of accountability and elections, goons were brought to the party headquarters as though to scare the members present. Lukwago said there are members who want to deliver the party to President Yoweri Museveni just like some party members in the Democratic Party and the Uganda People’s Congress did.
For Francis Mwijukye, it was important for them to break the silence about the issues that have for long burdened them about how the party is run by just two members. For long, he says there have been accountability issues in the party that have gone unaddressed. Mwijukye who is also the party deputy treasurer says that he has no idea how money the party receives from the Electoral Commission is spent. Annually, all parties with representation in Parliament share 35 billion shillings based on numerical strength.
For his part, Wycliffe Bakandonda, one of the FDC founding members said the party is on a negative trajectory and needs to be rescued immediately. He said when they founded the party in 2004, they envisioned a force to deliver democratic change to Uganda not a body to sleep with a dictator. It is still unclear on whether the elections shall be conducted on the 21st of July 2023 or the suspension of the same by the party Chairman shall take precedent.
****
URN
