FDC nominations go ahead at Najjanankumbi 

A day after an extraordinary national delegates’ conference of the Forum for Democratic Change elected interim top leaders, nominations for the same positions went ahead at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi yesterday.

 With the nominations ongoing, it is likely now that the opposition party could end up in exactly the same leadership controversy that has bedevilled the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) since July 2015 when Lira Municipality MP Jimmy Akena conspired to topple the party president.
 At the time, former UN undersecretary general Olara Otunnu was the substantive UPC leader.

  At Najjanankumbi yesterday, one person was nominated to vie for party president, a position which was filled in interim capacity on Tuesday with the election of Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago to replace the embattled Patrick Oboi Amuriat.
 Nominations for various executive positions, which began on Monday, are set to conclude today, with Mr Amuriat indicating last night that he plans to be nominated today.

 “I am going tomorrow (today) for my nomination to become the president for the second and last term,” he told Monitor.
 “Despite the fact that some individuals announced themselves as party leaders in the Katonga office, nothing will stop us at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi from proceeding with our elections,” Mr Amuriat added.
 Among the three people who picked nomination forms for the position were Mr Moses Byamugisha and Mr Malcolm Masiko. Mr Byamugisha was nominated yesterday.

 Mr Byamugisha is a former FDC Youth League leader, while Mr Masiko is an ordinary party member. At the last election organised during the party’s 7th national delegates conference held on November 24, 2017, both men ran for president but lost to Mr Amuriat.
 The leadership crisis within the party deepened on Tuesday after the extraordinary national delegates conference called by the party chairman, Mr Wasswa Birigwa. A vote of no confidence and resolutions were carried to throw out Mr Amuriat and Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi as president and secretary general, respectively.

 Mr Geoffrey Ekanya and Mr Boniface Toterebuka Bamwenda were also kicked out as FDC treasurer general and elections chief, respectively.
 Mr Lukwago, who until Tuesday was deputy president for Central/Buganda region, was appointed by the delegates as interim party president. Deputy secretary general Harold Kaija was chosen as Mr Mafabi’s temporary replacement, while Mr Francis Mwijukye was picked as the stand-in treasurer general.
 They will hold these positions for six months. The party electoral body was disbanded and a new team announced, to be chaired by Mr Micheal Kabaziguruka.

 The Tuesday delegates’ conference convened despite orders from court and Uganda police blocking the meeting from proceeding.
 Last evening, Mr Amuriat said these resolutions would not stop the Najjanankumbi group from proceeding with their own planned elections on October 6.  “What [FDC founding leader Dr Kizza] Besigye and friends did was contempt of court and comedy. Their coup against us failed. If they want, let them come and participate in the forthcoming elections,” he said.