FDC works will shut critics - Muntu

What you need to know:

Cleared. Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu says he does not want to go into argument with any but his works will shut up all those criticising his method of work

Kampala:
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Mugisha Muntu has ordered senior party officials not to respond to his rivals’ attacks on his leadership style because the volume of success the party will produce will “shut up” his critics.

In the FDC’s National Executive Committee meeting at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi on Wednesday, the retired Major General told senior party officials not to respond to growing ‘grumblings’ by party faithful about his lack of impact. He said such misgivings or disapproval of his leadership style are premature.

NEC chairperson Joyce Sebugwawo, vice president (western region) Amanya Mushega, secretary general Alice Alaso and the Leader of Opposition in Parliament Wafula Oguttu were the senior leaders present.

Supported Muntu
Ms Alaso has been leading a lone defence of Gen Muntu’s leadership style in the face of mounting skepticism that he has led the party to lose ground even with the ongoing power struggle in NRM.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Gen Muntu insisted his detractors, led by former Leader of Opposition in Parliament and former rival for party presidency Nandala Mafabi will be “shut up” by the progress the party will make after launching a roadmap to the 2016 elections which kicks off with a delegates conference next month.

“Nathan [Mafabi] has his legitimate right to say whatever he said [that is] if that is what he said. I do not want to engage in an argument. Time will resolve this. In this period [of the 2016 roadmap] what I have been saying is either going to be proved right or is going to be disapproved. There is nothing that somebody should argue about because it either happens or it does not. And if it does not, it is at that point when Nathan or anybody else can say Muntu was just telling stories,” Gen Muntu charged.

Laugh them out
“When it happens and we build momentum, then whoever has been saying the party is dead will simply be shut up by what will have happened. I am not the one who will have shut them up. It is the situation that would have evolved that will shut them up because if something is live and vibrant and the party is building momentum, nobody will come up and say the party is dead, everybody will laugh them out,” Muntu added.

The party has been rocked by on–and-off squabbles since Gen Muntu defeated Mr Mafabi to replace founding president Dr Kizza Besigye in an acrimonious contest in 2012.

Following a ruling by a party tribunal that rejected claims of election rigging by Mr Mafabi’s group and approved Muntu’s election, his critics have scoffed at his leadership style saying the party has lost vibrancy it boasted of during Dr Besigye’s reign which was marked by conventional activism.

The attacks
Last week, Mr Mafabi and Rukiga County MP Jack Sabiiti rejected the party offer to regain their positions as deputy treausurer and treasurer respectively. The duo further kicked up a storm by accusing Gen Muntu of “killing the party.”

Mr Sabiiti faulted Gen Muntu of betraying the founding ideals of FDC, drawing comparison of the renewal of the NEC tenure to President Museveni’s long stay at the helm of the ruling NRM party.

Asked about the disputed renewal of the NEC tenure, Gen Muntu said the party had to first deal with the fallout from the 2012 presidential race.

“How could we hold anything when we were trying to heal the internal wounds? How could we raise money when people were seeing the party fractured? And some of the colleagues were sitting on the fence saying the party is dead?” he wondered.

On Sabiiti and Nandala
Iam civil. They may attack me but I recognise their contribution and we will remain as a party open to their proposals in whatever they want us to do. We are not going to lock them out.
Everybody has their style. They have their methods by which they manage politics, I also have my methods.He advised residents to always report culprits to RDCs through making reports and direct contact or to report directly to him (Byaruhanga) for action.

REACTION
“When it happens and we build momentum, then whoever has been saying the party is dead will simply be shut up by what will have happened. I am not the one who will have shut them up,’
Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, fdc president

“I wish him good luck with whatever he is doing if he thinks it is taking us anywhere. You just don’t come out of the air and expect to do wonders in such a struggle of changing government,’
Mr Ondonga Otto-Aruu County MP

“We are not and have no reason to be bothered by where FDC is going. If he [Muntu] thinks he has anything new to offer, then we will meet in the field because NRM is already there,”
Ofwono Opondo, nrm deputy spokesperson.