I’m still weighing my options on FDC presidency bid

FDC secretary general and Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi

What you need to know:

Non-committal. Uganda’s largest Opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), is scheduled to hold internal elections in November. One of the men said to be eying the party presidency is FDC secretary general and Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi. Isaac Mufumba sought him out for his views ahead of what is expected to be a potentially polarising affair.

Will you be contesting for the party presidency again?
All options are on the table. We are still doing some evaluation. We shall see how things evolve then make a decision.

It is rumoured that you and FDC president Gen Mugisha Muntu agreed that you would not stand against him until 2020. Could that be why you are cagey about the contest?
I have already come clean on that. There is still time before the decision can be made.

Was there such a meeting?
No. There was no such meeting.

Is there an agreement to that effect?
No. Rumours will always fly around. For example, when I was sacked as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament I decided to go and attend to my family and businesses. I had not been paying much attention to them since I joined politics, but it was rumoured that I had crossed to the NRM and that I was about to be named the governor of Bank of Uganda. That was, of course, not from the NRM, but my colleagues who want to bring me down in the party.
It was also rumoured that I had sold off my house in Ntinda and moved to Najjera, but I had at the same time been recently reinstalled as chairman of Bugisu Growers’ Cooperative Union, a post I had illegally been ejected from by the government, so I had to go and attend to farmers’ issues.
I also had to attend to my other work as an international financial consultant. By the way I am a tax expert.
At the same time there were some FDC members in eastern Uganda who felt aggrieved by the decision to sack me. They went on to form the Farmers’ Party. I had to engage some of them.

Some of your lead campaigners were at the forefront. Didn’t you really participate in the formation of that party?
I never participated. Those rumours came up to show that I had left FDC, but I am one of those who think that if you miss a target or a ship, you should take a step back, plan and aim again. That is why no wind could stop me when I declared that I would contest for the post of secretary general.

It was reported in sections of the media that you sanctioned a countrywide survey to assess your strength ahead of the FDC polls. Is that true?
No, I never did and I don’t know who carried out the survey.

But do you agree with some of the findings? You are, for example, said to be appearing stronger than Gen Muntu
Some of the findings don’t surprise me. I am an MP from a region that is predominantly FDC. I also have quite a following in the party.

Assuming that you contest, what is it that you hope to bring to FDC?
I think everybody knows what I am made of. Our aim as a party is to mobilise for purposes of taking power and I think I have so far proved that I can be a good mobiliser. While some FDC leaders have failed to mobilise for the party to take any elective positions in their areas of origin, the same cannot be said of me. Go to Bugisu and see.

Must you first be elected to the party presidency before you engage in the required kind of mobilisation?
Not really. When I first started mobilising in Bugisu I was neither an SG nor a party president. That shows you that I can mobilise even without being an office bearer.

FDC is currently fraught with all sorts of divisions. Elections always seem to exacerbate the problem. Will it not happen again?
I think that some of those divisions are imaginary. As a party we are strong. Any differences we have are put on the table, we discuss and we move on, but I am not so sure whether all of us are really FDC. Some are FDC on the face, but not on the inside. Others are spies. When I disagree with a colleague during a meeting they will take it out into the streets.

Divisions are real. How do you intend to deal with them?
If there are aggrieved people, I would need to meet them and hear them out, but as I have said, you might discover that it is a small thing or even nothing.

You alluded to spies. It is apparent that the NRM has infiltrated different parties and factions in the Opposition as seen from the defections including that of your former planner, Mr Rubaramira Ruranga. How do you intend to deal with that?
Maj Rubaramira was the chairman of my campaign team in 2012. It was a project. He did a fantastic job, finished it and we went our separate ways. Whatever he does with his life is up to him. You cannot tie down a person.
But look at it this way, in 1980 I never voted, but Museveni voted. Did he vote NRM? In 1980 did Gen Muntu, Dr Besigye and chairman Biriggwa vote for FDC? Stanley Bayole (former LCIII chairman of Mayuge Town Council), was a lead person in the campaign of Gen Muntu. Where is he? Hon Anita Among, was a lead person in Gen Muntu’s campaign, but where is she? People have rights. Somebody says I now cannot continue with this and he goes where he wants. This is a long journey for us in the Opposition. While we are walking some will drop off others will join.

One of the accusations against you is that you have not delivered on some of the promises that you made ahead of previous internal elections. What do you have to say about that?
People are not being sincere. I don’t want us to confuse two campaigns. When I was a candidate for the party presidency I told the delegates that if they voted me I would mobilise to ensure that offices are operational, have computers and are connected to the Internet.
I also promised to avail each branch with a motorcycle. That would have required about Shs300 million. I also promised to help form Saccos, including those for women and the youth from which they could borrow and do business. I lost the election. It means they did not buy it. That manifesto cannot be implemented.
When I contested for SG, I promised to pay the offices and ensure that there is communication with the headquarters. Immediately after the elections I handed over mobile phones to all the district secretaries general. I have also ensured that offices are paid for.

What is your relationship with Gen Muntu like?
I think I relate with Gen Muntu well because I tell him what I am thinking. I don’t hide. I am predictable. I tell you my mind. If I don’t agree with you I will tell you that, “No. I think we have done it wrongly here” and it ends there. You will never find me out there discussing something that we could have disagreed on during an internal meeting.

So why is it that your apparent disagreement over the Eala candidates got out there?
Well, I wasn’t in the country. It was my deputy who was around, but I think we need to make the facts clear. We sent two candidates. That was agreed. There is a minute to that effect. So when the party president moved to withdraw one, which would not have even been right and I guess that is why Parliament rejected his move, he should have kept the SG in the loop because it is the SG who nominates.

It is believed that the recent appointments at the headquarters saw Muntu loyalists being brought in to muscle you out. What is your take?
They can’t muscle me out. If anybody thinks he is coming to do so he is making a big mistake. A person who comes to Parliament as an ex-officio cannot be more powerful than a directly elected MP.

Qn: There is the feeling that FDC is suffering the effects of having had a strongman at the top – that the disarray is a result of Dr Besigye’s departure
Ans: No. The party doesn’t have any strongmen or strongwomen. Dr Besigye is in the hearts of Ugandans. That is why he is called the people’s president. They love him and go out to meet him wherever he goes. That is why the police curtail his movements. Such a person cannot be said to be a strongman and the party is not suffering because of his departure.