Uneasiness in FDC and what it suggests about our politics
From the outside, it appears FDC, Uganda’s largest Opposition party, is on the verge of civil war. This is surprising, kind of, because the party strenuously strives to present itself as a model Opposition entity. Of course, in contrast to that other party — the undemocratic, corrupt, and duplicitous NRM.
It turns out the only significant difference between FDC and NRM is that one party is outside government, the other in.
Like President Museveni has with NRM, Dr Kizza Besigye, through cunning and charisma, maintains a stranglehold on FDC. These political entities are personal property, damn all else.
Like NRM, FDC treats intra-party political opponents as enemies.
If a Wilfred Niwagaba challenges his party’s reckless move to establish a life presidency for Mr Museveni, he is a parasite. If Gen Mugisha Muntu pooh-poohs Dr Besigye’s defiance agenda, he is a government mole out to destroy the party.
FDC, however, seems to have gone one better since 2012: the fight for party presidency is a zero-sum matter. It is an approach that forecloses possibility for compromise, middle positions. If this destroys the party, so be it. This is the stuff of suicide missions.
After Gen Muntu defeated Mr Nandala Mafabi in the 2012 FDC presidential contest, the losing side actively hamstrung the new president’s moves and actions.
Dr Besigye says he defeated President Museveni in the 2016 presidential election and his victory was stolen. We can, however, still ask: could Dr Besigye and FDC generally have performed even much better if the party were united and reading from the same computer screen?
Like all counterfactuals, this speaks to what might have been. It appears, however, that there is no introspection in FDC. All there is, at least to the defiance wing now fully ascendant in the party, is to keep charging forward, backward, and all over —steamrolling everything and everyone in the way.
FDC risks coming off as the angry party — in fact, NRM has already characterised Dr Besigye as angry. Now that moniker could be slapped on the entire party. This fury threatens to devour party members. Stories are surfacing of how some of Gen Muntu’s campaign team members were roughed up after their man lost his re-election bid last month to ‘defiantist’ Patrick Oboi Amuriat. This is mindless rage.
I am not sure it is a winning strategy to expand membership and grow the party enough to withstand Mr Museveni’s ruthless juggernaut and protect any victory that FDC will claim to have won in a future election.
This strategy of alienation means the contending defiance view and party structure-building view cannot co-exist. What happens to the losing side? The moment of reckoning on this question and for FDC is approaching fast.
It will be a pity for FDC to split on the basis of disagreement on strategy and tactics, not on serious policy. It is worrisome that FDC appears incapable of operating on multiple levels simultaneously by allowing those more suited to storming the barricades to do so, and those interested to work the nuts and bolts to build the organisational capacity of the party to do their thing as well.
The rather persistent unprincipled and petty fights suggest that FDC would struggle once in government. It would possibly more than struggle. Uganda could rise one morning and find yet another autocrat in charge. You see, if you can’t manage differences, you resort to imposing your will on the rest simply because you can.
This tunnel does not seem to lead to light the other end. Scary. Of course, the better if FDC emerges stronger. We wait.
Bernard Tabaire is a media trainer and commentator on public affairs based in Kampala.
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Twitter:@btabaire
