Members of FDC Katonga faction during their delegates conference on August 19.
The decision by the breakaway faction of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to form a new political party has been received with mixed reactions by a section of political players and experts.
While some have described the move as a development born out of selfishness, the party promoters say this was the only option of saving their democratic future.
The FDC Katonga faction on Tuesday kicked off a six-month process of registering a new political party, People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), which promoters say will deliver the long-awaited change.
But a day after 12 members of the newly formed party led by former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Wafula Ogutu, presented their slogan, symbol, colour, and name, political players and experts described it as a failed move.
Ms Charity Ahimbisibwe, the executive director of the Electoral Law and Governance Institute said the formation of the party does not guarantee the Katonga faction’s support.
“The success of the new party will depend on their mobilisation strategy; despite the fact that some of the founding members of FDC are part of it, we have seen them of recent having less people on their rallies while the FDC in Najjanankumbi have been seen pulling crowds in Kasese, Mbale and Soroti without them on board,” Ms Ahimbisibwe said.
She noted that the new party promoters led by the four-time presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, should know that the political landscape has changed and now citizens are relating with parties that align with their beliefs, ideologies, principles, and values.
However, Ms Ingrid Turinawe, one of the promoters of the new party, said she will deploy her 20-year mobilisation experience to convince masses and win their support.
FDC party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat predicted doom to the new party. “That political party has been formed by a group of selfish people who think that they must always lead others but what I can say is that it’s doomed because the reasons for its establishment are generally bad. It faces an early collapse,” he said.
Mr Jimmy Akena, the president of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), advised the promoters of the party to stick to the cardinal principles of liberating Uganda.
“Parties are like marriages; you come in but where things are not working, instead of hurting each other, one has to leave. I hope that the promoters of the new party look beyond small wars with their rivals and look at a big picture of liberating Ugandans,” he said.
The spokesperson of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, Mr Emmanuel Dombo, said establishing a new party while killing the old one sounds reckless and useless.
“If they disagree with the previous members, do they have to kill the party? Like the previous people who left FDC, they moved on and formed other parties and FDC has remained with their vibrancy,” he said.
He added: “So I will advise the Katonga group that they don’t need to kill the baby. They produce other babies. They can produce other babies. You are not killing the one they did first.”
Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, the secretary general of the National Unity Platform party, said what is happening to FDC is an important lesson to them.
The decision to dissolve the party was received with anger by Ms Beti Kamya, the former member who in 2011 broke away and formed the Uganda Federal Alliance party before joining the NRM where she now serves as the Inspector General of Government.
“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’s such a mean, destructive spirit! If people who really started FDC while Besigye was in exile like James Musinguzi, Augustine Ruzindana, Mugisha Muntu, Winnie Byanyima, Yours Truly and others just walked away when things were not going according to our expectations, how can Besigye allow the Johnny-come-latelies like Lukwago and Birigwa to destroy a 20-year investment?” she posted on X, formerly Twitter.
In response to this tweet, Dr Besigye said: “It would be wrong to allow the 20-year investment causing “Democratic Change” to be taken over by NRM/M7 Junta and turned against its original mission. It was Ok for you, as an individual, to defect and join the Museveni you castigated for 20 years, it is different when the party is betrayed by its leaders to go against its mission.”
Mr Ibrahim SSemujju Nganda, the acting spokesperson of FDC Katonga, when contacted said they were changing the political vehicle but not the beliefs and ideologies.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a different ideology because of this new party, it is still with the same policies and objectives. Is it a different Besigye or a different Ssemujju? No. We all want to remove the dictator and moralise democracy,” he said.
He added: “The possession of these several opposition parties can never decline its defence, many countries, even the USA have many of them. That is not an issue.”
Background
A total of 804 delegates subscribing to FDC Katonga on August 19 met at the National Delegates conference where they unanimously resolved to dissolve the party and form a new one. The decision followed a series of activities that had been made by the leaders since September when they broke away from FDC after Dr Besigye accused Mr Amuriat and Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi of bringing ‘dirty’ money from NRM into the party during the 2021 polls, accusations the latter denied.
Compiled by: Martha Namono, David Walugembe, Sylvia Namagembe, Maria Jacinta Kannyange, and Busein Samilu
