The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Some of the founding members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) are pleading with Dr. Kiiza Besigye and others not to kill the twenty-year-old political party.
There is a feeling that if the Katonga faction feels that it no longer shares the aspirations of FDC, it should quit without abolishing FDC.
The Katonga faction of the FDC on Wednesday published a public notice in the Observer newspaper about the impending dissolution of the FDC party.
“Pursuant to the resolution of the national Delegates conference of 19th August 2024 notice to dissolve the Forum for Democratic Change is hereby issued in accordance with article 36 of the FDC constitution,” said the statement signed by Ambassador Waswa Birigwa.
The notice has attracted criticism from sections of the society including some of the founding members of the FDC. One of those is Betti Olive Kamya Turomwe, the Inspector General of Government. Kamya parted ways with the FDC in 2016 to form the Uganda Federal Alliance. She had been accused of spying on the FDC.
Beti Kamya Turomwe on Wednesday through her social media platform X wrote, “It’s a pity that FDC Katonga has decided to destroy FDC in the spirit of “if I can’t have it, you won’t have it either”. It is such a mean, destructive spirit! If people who really started FDC while Besigye was in exile like James Musinguzi, Augustine Ruzindana, Mugisha Muntu…”
Kamya was a vocal spokesperson for the Reform Agenda pressure group, which later morphed into FDC when Dr. Kiiza Besigye was in exile in South Africa.
As the debate on the Waswa Birigwa notice raged on, Beti Kamya said, she and others walked away when things were not going according to their expectations.
“How can Besigye allow the Johnnie-come-lately like Lukwago & Birigwa to destroy a 20-year investment?” asked Kamya who has in the past blamed Dr. Kiiza Besigye for creating confusion in FDC. Kamya in 2011 described Dr. Kiiza Besigye as a bad loser.
Dr. Kiiza Besigye was the founding President of the Forum For Democratic Change. He is now part of the Katonga faction that is seeking to be registered as the People’s Front for Freedom-PFF but also seeking to dissolve the FDC.
Beti Kamya’s replies to those contributing to her post, she the dissolution of the FDC debate, wrote, “Some of us contributed money to buy the FDC.. headquarters, but we left without claiming our investment because we believe that a strong opposition contributes to democracy. Such a destructive spirit is scary for a group that wishes to lead this country,” Kamya wrote.
Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, also FDC Vice President for Buganda shot back at Kamya that “It’s only a failed state that will condone such egregious abuse and desecration in issuing a repugnant statement of such nature!!!”
Kamya’s sentiments are not different from those of Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu. Katuntu was a vocal member of the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum and later the Reform Agenda and one of the founding members of FDC.
Katuntu quit the FDC in July 2020 after serving it for 15 years. He is one of the MPS in FDC who openly defied Dr. Kiiza Besigye’s defiance strategy saying one could influence government decisions by throwing stones at them.
Appearing on Capital Gang over the weekend, Katuntu said he quit the FDC after so many contradictions at the time.
“The contradictions became too much and we reached a position where some of us thought we were in the wrong company. Really a wrong company,” said Katuntu, also a Member of the Pan African Parliament.
He said some of the members of the Katonga faction while still working under the Najjanakumbi faction threw a lot of garbage at him and others that quit the FDC.
“They were together with Amuriat. There is no filth and garbage that these guys did not throw at us. Nothing. Every kitchen thing was thrown at us. Why? We had a difference of opinion on how that party should be run,” said Katuntu. “And the beauty about us is we put everything on the table. We never worked behind,” he added.
Katuntu explained that while they were not happy with the affairs in FDC, but they were not bitter.
“When we walked away, we didn’t return that filth, we didn’t return that garbage, and we didn’t return that kitchen thing. We never” stated Katuntu as he went on to explain that when a marriage is over, one does not need to go on throwing garbage.
He said they had reached a level of irretrievable breakdown.
“We had reached it and we walked away and we wished the well. Unfortunately, we know it would come. Actually, it came later. We thought it would come soon,” he said.
Katuntu said what the Katonga faction is doing is about bitterness. “You sound bitter. You think if it can be you you must break it. For us what we put in to have FDC…I have tens of millions of my own money which I contribute towards the purchase of that headquarters. Tens of millions and many of us did. We thought we were building a home, a party but we said we leave it to them,” Katuntu stated.
He urges the Katonga group to avoid the legalese because the founders of the FDC were not talking about legalese.
“We were talking about a political struggle and political brotherhood. Now that brotherhood has irretrievably broken down. Please move on. Forget about FDC. FDC is gone. Like indeed, we left it for you. Leave it for those who are there. And if you think they are all that bad, they will continue fighting”
Lydia Wanyoto Mutende, a former Member of the East African Legislative Assembly and Chair of the Women’s League in the ruling NRM Party suggests that the Katonga faction can leave but it should not kill the history.
“If you are worth it, it will die on its own. Why must you kill it? You leave it. If it grows, let it grow. If it dies, let it die on its own” she said. Wanyoto while expressing her personal opinion said the attempt to dissolve FDC out of vengeance does not bring out the needed leadership.
“We are not here to kill parties. We are here to build. You never know, the one you have left you will come back. It is like if you are in a marriage and the marriage has gone bad. You do not kill where you are coming from. You have invested so much. Just move on because you might look back one day”
Ofwono Opondo of the NRM has written indicating that Besigye and Lukwago who drive the Katonga road wagon are men who dwell more on their personal grievances to spread the dangerous narratives of the politics of fear and darkness.
Other founders of the FDC like John Butime, Amanya Mushega, David Pulkol, Mugisha Muntu, Alice Alaso, Winnie Kiiza, Ezati Kasiano Wadri, Augustine Ruzindana, Miria Matembe, Prof. Ogenga Latigo silently walked away but have not suggested the dissolution of the party which some say had become a formidable force against President Museveni’s administration.
It is not yet clear whether Waswa Birigwa and the group will succeed in dissolving FDC. The Najjanakumbi faction Secretary General, Nathan Nandala Magabi has stated that the Forum for Democratic Change party is a duly registered party with the Electoral Commission of Uganda.
“As by Law required, and returns of office bearers are duly filed with the Electoral Commission, of which none of the so-called “officers” of the party (Katonga faction) is an office bearer as they claim to be,” said Mafabi in a statement.
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URN
Isn’t this the problem with sentimental attachments? They seem to castigate the current leadership, but as well want to maintain “history” for something that is effectively dead. May be the move to resolve has more to do with flexing after all the current leadership has been acting macho, but they largely found something hard-fought for and established and now they’re busy swinging in chairs and usurping responsibilities. That’s where, instead of engaging in unending roads, they better all flex after resolving and then each faction present it’s ideology and face the music. Otherwise, some old guard are still riding on the history of something that’s already dead and now no one knows where it’s headed.