Gen. Muntu says government behind FDC fights

Forum for Democratic Change president says there is a hand by the current regime to portray the opposition
as weak and disorganised.

Kampala

The Forum for Democratic Change president Maj. Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu yesterday warned of what he called an “invisible hand” that was bent to portray the opposition as hopeless. “The regime will constantly try to show that there is a fight in FDC between Muntu, Dr Besigye [the former party leader] and Mr Mafabi because President Museveni knows what a cohesive FDC means in the fight to hasten the exit of his kleptocracy,” he said.

Gen. Muntu added: “The invisible hand has not ceased to operate and will continue trying to show the population that
opposition cannot manage its own affairs. President Museveni will try to show that there is no stable political
foundation apart from himself.”

He was appearing before the committee investigating complaints related to last year’s FDC party presidential elections.
Gen. Muntu said he did not have the mandate to oversee the electoral commission (EC) in the run-up to the disputed poll
as doing so would interfere with the process. He told the committee that the party failed to source funds to procure a
photographic voter’s register, which would have decreased the possibilities of electoral malpractices.

“I wrote a letter proposing that candidates share the Shs38 million for the photographic register, but I did not get a
response. What I heard later, but could not verify, was that the candidates contributing would expose the elections to
manipulation,” he told the inquiry at the party headquarters in Najjanakumbi, a Kampala suburb.

The former army commander noted that the party’s EC held weekly meetings with candidates, and that their agents
participated in the voters’ register update.

Responding to allegations that the Kampala Woman MP and a member of his campaign team, Ms Nabilah Nagayi, made tribal comments about his close rival and Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Nandala Mafabi, he told the committee that he had failed to secure a recording with the alleged utterances. He however, apologised for failing to pursue the matter.
The FDC leader said he did not perceive referring to Mr Mafabi as a “platoon commander” as an abuse.

sarinaitwe@ug.nationmedia.com