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FDC founders call for reconciliation as mystery deepens
Col (Rtd) Kizza Besigye (right) talks to Mr Wasswa Birigwa, the former FDC national chairman, during their national delegates conference on August 19, 2024. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- ANT party was founded in 2018 by a section of FDC members led by the former president Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu.
A section of founding members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party have called upon the two warring factions to reconcile.
On Monday, the Katonga faction of FDC through the National Delegates Conference, resolved to dissolve the party and have its assets transferred to another entity, a decision which has been quashed by their Najjanankumbi counterparts.
Speaking to the Monitor yesterday, some of the original founders, who gathered on August 7, 2004 and merged three formations including; the Reform Agenda pressure group, Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) and National Democratic Forum into one party called FDC, said it will be unfortunate to see a party they toiled to found ending like this.
“We founded FDC as an embodiment of our aspirations and sacrifices, both personal and financial. It is unfortunate that the current leadership has failed to hold us together and advance our aspirations,” Ms Alice Alaso, a founding member, who is now the National Coordinator of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party, said yesterday.
ANT party was founded in 2018 by a section of FDC members led by the former president Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu.
She added: “If I were in the leadership of FDC now, I would have deployed our conflict resolution mechanisms which were tried and tested and they worked because there were attempts to shake FDC to the marrow but we saved the party like four times. Leadership is not all about winning all the time.”
Another founding member, who asked not to be named, said it is paramount for the two sides to come together, reconcile and save the party.
“I [oversaw] the founding of FDC but these wrangles have been here for the last 10 years. I decided to stay away from them. These warring factions should sit and agree and work together towards developing the party,” said the founder.
Another founder said: “Divisions won’t take this party forward. I urge the warring sides to come out and agree and save the party.”
Reactions
Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the spokesperson of the FDC Katonga faction, said: “That is not possible. This is not the issue of individuals now, the National Delegates Conference sat and took a decision which must be recalled by the same. So anything other than that is impossible.”
Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the president of the party, said: “We have gone beyond reconciliation at least that one I can authoritatively say. Those people are not members of FDC in fact they want to dissolve the party and it is what we are eagerly waiting for. We are going on with our party activities as usual, no one is stopping us.”
