Winifred Kiiza and FDC’s next five years
Ms Winifred Kiiza was last week named Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Kasese Woman MP Winfred Kiiza was last week named the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP) by her Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
The FDC is the main Opposition party in Uganda, in terms of the number of elected MPs and other national political office bearers.
The FDC faces an awkward situation that it has still not yet resolved in its 10 years in existence.
It takes part in every general election and by-election that is called. Top FDC leaders, activists and district operatives have been harassed in varying degrees since late 2005 and the party insists that the last three presidential elections were rigged and should have been won by the party candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye.
However, the FDC does entirely suffer persecution and nothing but persecution. The party enjoys a great deal of public affection and a near-fanatical following across the country, especially in the urban centres.
Several FDC members and MPs, including Abdu Katuntu, Godber Tumushabe, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Sarah Eperu and others are regular guests and panellists on radio and television talk shows.
Digital support
In the media and on the Internet’s social media platforms where Opposition voices dominate, it is worthwhile to belong to parties such as the FDC.
During the 40 days he was held under detention at his Kasangati home, delegation after delegation, including religious leaders, university students and foreign diplomats visited Dr Besigye and the joke in the country was that State House was now at Kasangati.
By virtual of becoming the first ever female LoP, that will bring additional special prestige to Ms Kiiza.
Several more FDC officials are often invited by foreign governments to attend conferences or observe elections in those countries.
On the day of polling, February 18, 2016, the government suspended mobile money services, citing security, but that was not before the public learnt that the FDC had prepared to send more than Shs500 million to its polling agents.
That sum of money indicated that the party is not exactly financially struggling.
During those times when the party and its leaders and activists are not engaged in direct street clashes with the state, the FDC’s members live a relatively peaceful life in society.
The awkwardness that faces the FDC is what to do about this reality. On one hand, there clearly is widespread rigging at every election and many neutral observers find it difficult to believe that Dr Besigye has not won at least one of the four presidential elections in which he has participated.
On the other, apart from the disputed elections and the encounters with the police, the party members lead a fairly normal life in Uganda.
The rigged or disputed elections are too unjust and stir up too much bitterness among the public for the FDC and its supporters to simply keep quiet about them.
However, there are too many advantages and even privileges that come with being a Member of Parliament and a well-known FDC official to pass up.
One reason this awkward situation remains unresolved is because the FDC and other Opposition parties in much of Africa have not yet created the administrative structures and activities that can keep them engaged and remunerated in the years between general elections.
These parties mostly get active in the months leading up to general elections and then slip into dormancy thereafter.
Sometimes it is beyond the FDC’s control. The party has applied for a radio licence for several years now but every time the Uganda Communications Commission and other government bodies turn down the application.
It is not clear if the party has tried to start a newspaper or other such business. Most of its financial resources seem to be directed or available during general election campaigns.
If the FDC and other parties had ongoing activities, perhaps that would keep its leaders and activists occupied and paid and increase the incentive to boycott Parliament.
Although Uganda is supposed to have privatised the economy starting in 1990 and there is an appearance of private business running the economy, in truth, the government is still the main engine of economic activity, not just in making policy and collecting taxes but also as the largest consumer in the economy.
There is very little economic activity outside Kampala that does not involve the state. The situation is made all the more difficult for the Opposition in that they are labeled “anti-government” and sometimes it feels as if to belong to the Opposition is treason in the eyes of the government.
That is partly why calls to boycott Parliament rarely receive unanimous support from their rank and file and senior members.
A similar situation arose after the election when the FDC asked its members and sympathisers to boycott work every Thursday as a statement of protest at the outcome of the February 18 election.
Many of the FDC’s supporters would gladly do that but find themselves in circumstances that make it impossible to act on it.
Most run small neighbourhood kiosks, hair salons, boda boda, stationary and other small businesses whose lifeblood is their daily cash flow. These cannot afford even two days without running.
The repeat: there is little real economic life in Uganda outside the state and secondly, for the vast majority of people, the daily bread they earn is essential to their sustenance.
The FDC should by now know all these realities about the political-economy of Uganda before some of its leaders call for a boycott of Parliament.
Calls for the boycott of Parliament and calls for a Thursday boycott show that the party does not think through some of its policy positions before it announces them.
The second major issue that faces the FDC over the next five years is what to do with Dr Besigye. His continued nationwide popularity and visibility creates the image of a party that depends on the person of Dr Besigye for its relevance.
The reason the party that was formed in October 2005, could in the February 2006 general election rise so suddenly to become Uganda’s main Opposition party and by that displace the Uganda Peoples Congress and the Democratic Party that were founded in 1960 and 1954, respectively, was due almost entirely to the charismatic personality and appeal of Dr Besigye.
Most ordinary Ugandans identify the FDC with Dr Besigye the person and most FDC candidates who win parliamentary seats and local government offices do so largely because they are perceived to be aides or allies of Dr Besigye.
The way the FDC president, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, is often overshadowed by Dr Besigye is the same way Ms Kiiza will be overshadowed by Dr Besigye over the next five years.
As it is with President Yoweri Museveni and the NRM and the UPC and Milton Obote, the FDC has not yet come up with the formula to create a brand and image for itself as an organisation that can flourish with or without the personality of its founding leader.
It will have to be the work of Ms Kiiza to lead the tactical, day-to-day Opposition oversight of government business as brought before Parliament and the world of Gen Muntu to direct the longer-term effort, if any, to create an image of the FDC as an enduring party that can thrive outside of elections and beyond Dr Besigye.
Profile
Winifred Kiiza, Kasese Woman MP
Age. 46
Background. Born November 26, 1970, the Kasese Woman legislator is the current FDC Women’s League leader. She has served on the parliamentary committee of Local government Accounts, Gender,Labour and Social Development and the Business Committee. Ms Kiiza has been in Parliament since 2006. She has previously served as an Opposition Chief Whip. Before joining Parliament, Ms Kiiza was a district councillor (1998 – 2005).
Education. She holds a Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies from Makerere University, a Bachelors of Procurement and Logistics Management from Kyambogo University and Diploma in Stores Management from Makerere University Business School.
