Prime
Fill missing links in ‘dirty money’ trail, Nyanjura tells FDC elders
Ms Doreen Nyanjura Omutatina
What you need to know:
- Ms Nyanjura says the report shows that the party leadership bought vehicles but doesn’t show which amount of money was used to acquire them.
Elders of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party have been put to task to be transparent, especially on the trail of the ‘dirty money’ that has thrown the party into an abyss of chaos.
The call was made by Doreen Nyanjura, the Deputy Lord Mayor, saying that after going through the report tabled by the elders to the National Council on July 28, she realized there are many loopholes and inconsistencies.
“The 19-paged FDC elders report showed uncoordinated mathematics on the amount of money paid by Dr Kizza Besigye, the founder of the FDC party and the money the party still owes him, arguing that without proper amounts, the report should not have reached the National council in the first place,” she said.
Ms Nyanjura says the report shows that the party leadership bought vehicles but doesn’t show which amount of money was used to acquire them.
“To date, an exhaustive list of all recipients of the ‘dirty money’ remains unknown to all the party members except Mr Nandala Mafabi, the party secretary general. Without digging further to establish the truth about the source and spending of the dirty money, the committee failed in its assignment ab initio,” she said in a statement released on Sunday.
Ms Nyanjura further pointed out that there is a failure to observe the laws of natural justice (not giving Dr Besigye a hearing about the ‘dirty money’ before the committee meeting), ignoring to include the reasons for the resignation of the party’s Vice Chairman Tugume Stanley Katembeya, and showing no proof of investigation on the expenditure of the ‘dirty money’ among other things.
She tasked elders to embark on wide consultations with the membership of the party while imploring the dodgy leaders to do thorough soul-searching.
“It does not matter how far you have travelled in the wrong direction, as long as you realise it and retrace your steps and move in the right direction,” she said.
Report
FDC elders committee, tasked with investigating allegations of top party officials receiving 'dirty' money from President Museveni, cleared the FDC Secretary General, Mr Nandala Mafabi, and Mr Patrick Amuriat, the party president, of the accusations.
The committee found that Dr Kizza Besigye, the FDC founding president and whistleblower, failed to present sufficient evidence to support the allegations.
According to the report presented to the National Council on July 28, Dr Besigye expressed concern about money kept at his home by Mr Mafabi in September 2021. However, the FDC is within its rights not to disclose the source of its finances, as provided in the party constitution and practices.
