FDC crisis: Amuriat ready to dialogue with Katonga faction

The ongoing sharp divisions in the once largest opposition political party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), could come to an end should the proposal by party president m to dialogue with the Katonga faction yield fruit.

Mr Amuriat, who was recently elected for the second term, told a weekly press briefing at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi near Kampala yesterday that they have set up a committee of elders to broker the dialogue.

“We are interested in dialogue but we can’t force anybody to dialogue with us. We are very straight as far as this is concerned. Dialogue is going to be between the willing,” Mr Amuriat said.

He added: “We are not going to go on a dialogue where somebody thinks they are above us and we are below them. We will not dialogue with anybody who continues to insult us and demean the leadership in Najjanankumbi.”

But responding to the dialogue proposal, the first in three months after the strife broke out, former party spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju, now a big ally of the split-away faction at Katonga Road, laughed it off, before asking Mr Amuriat to dialogue with President Museveni.

“Advise Amuriat to go into dialogue with Mr Museveni because he is his sponsor,”Mr Ssemujju said in a telephone interview last evening.

Further in his proposal, Mr Amuriat said their extension of the olive branch to their colleagues at Katonga Road should not be misinterpreted as a sign of feebleness.

He reasoned that their constitution demands for dialogue once a rift erupts in the party.
“Nobody should ever think we are going to dialogue from a point of weakness. That one from the point of start we are going to be clear, you hit us we hit back at you, that is our DNA,” Mr Amuriat said.
Article 8(e) of the FDC constitutions talks about peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The FDC divisionism started in July when Mr Ssemujju came out to accuse his then party leaders, Mr Amuriat and the party secretary general, Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi, of having received “dirty money” from President Museveni ahead of the 2021 polls.

The Amuriat led group has since denied the allegations. Mr Lawrence Serwambala, the executive director the Interparty Organization for Dialogue (IPOD), said the current memorandum of understanding (MoU) allows them to mediate internal party conflicts and that they are ready to mediate the divisionism in FDC if allowed to do so.

IPOD’s role
“In the current MoU, there is a conflict resolution committee and that committee basically, should do a conflict mapping across the country, especially conflicts that are within its domain and then work out a solution,” Mr Serwambala said in a telephone interview last evening. He added: “The provision at IPOD is that a member party will seek the support of IPOD in dealing with the conflict, so right now our assumption is that FDC is ably dealing with its conflict because they haven’t yet reached out to us.” However, he revealed  that as IPOD, they reached out to FDC party at the time when their conflict became public and advised them to use dialogue or seek their help.

However, the FDC party has not signed the current MoU and the party spokesperson, Mr John Kikonyogo, said they have no plans of signing it.

He added that the party has not sought their intervention, a move, he said, could be that they are able to resolve their internal conflict.

Recently, IPOD amended its MoU to include more committees that include those of business, research and policy, implementation, conflict resolution and mediation.

Speaking at the same media briefing, Mr Amuriat revealed that the FDC party has withdrawn their collaboration with the Peoples’ government headed by the founding party president, Dr Kizza Besigye.0

“After a period of reflection and through international discussions, the FDC National Executive committee (NEC) reached a consensus to recall the resolution that established the People’s government. with immediate effect,” he said.

“FDC will no longer participate in any activities associated with the Peoples’ government,” he added.
Mr Amuriat explained the party has faced challenges of managing two power centers, which he claimed have been a source of conflict since 2018.

He also warned the Katonga faction members to desist from using party symbols, emblem, flag, slogan and name, saying there is only one FDC party that sits at Najjanankumbi.