Politics in 2018 through the eyes of LoP Betty Aol Acan

You took over the Leader of Opposition docket at a time when FDC is said to be literally depreciating. Is FDC capable of sustaining the situation and also revamp?

It is true I came in when a lot was happening in the system but I believe that the party has not gone weak at all, it is moving on well. For example, in western Uganda, we never had support, but right now things are much better.
FDC’s impact of recent in western Uganda alone prompted the regional police authorities in Ankole region to ban us from holding any political rallies there because a lot of people are exiting the NRM and other parties to join us. You go wrong when you look at FDC’s representation in Parliament alone because we are concentrating on building our fortress from the grassroots.
Some members left and there are also others that have remained bodily but with hearts elsewhere. However, all their actions show that they no longer belong to FDC.

The citizens seem to have lost most of their trust in Parliament and its powers because they think the executives and President Museveni push through it whatever they desire. Is Parliament still valid?
If someone stays long in power, people get tired because they have lost validity and credibility. This is what has happened to Mr Museveni and NRM in regards to how they use Parliament in dictatorial ways.
At the beginning, he (Museveni) said the problem of Africa was presidents who cling to power, now he has lasted more than any other person and you think people cannot lose trust in him and his systems?

Dictatorship is there whether you like it or not. It is you and me to stand up and fight dictatorship, hands have to come together to combat it. I always questioned President Museveni’s clinging to power. Now that he has removed all the laws in the Constitution that would ensure he relinquishes power, he can manipulate Parliament as he wishes.

Critics say that the departure of Gen Mugisha Muntu was probably the last nail to FDC’s casket, what do you think?
First of all, it is someone’s right of to belong to or denounce a particular group as far as politics is concerned. It is true that Gen Muntu exited but so many people with equal worth have joined us.
His exit does not make FDC weak at all, it is his right and nobody can force him to remain. Gen Muntu thought he never had the platform to be fronted as a presidential candidate under FDC party and if that was his opinion, why would we sit on that right of his?

Recently, FDC pulled out of the Inter –Party Organisation for Dialogue. Does FDC party have a role to play in this proposed national dialogue process?
We knew of the summit (IPOD) but decided not to attend. It is a very high level meeting not just ordinary. However, it couldn’t and can’t yield fruits with the absence of FDC because we had and have most of the agenda to put forward such as the chaos at Parliament, and the inhumane acts of police. So going for IPOD meant adequate preparation with well filtered documents so that we air the interests of the party.
However, FDC also had a lot of issues at hand such as the Muntu split, changes in FDC leadership which required us to reorganise hence no time to spare. The summit needed to have been postponed to give us time to scrutinise the shared documents, especially that of NRM.

What are the some of the worst incidents in your 2018 memo?
Generally, 2018 has not gone down well with all Ugandans. There was the removal of age limits and that brought a lot of chaos and fights inside and outside Parliament.
We also witnessed the controversial passing of tax on mobile money and social media (OTT) tax. That was negative because majority of our youth depend on internet and mobile money to survive in this regime where there are a lot of job scarcity.

Brutality by armed forces (police and the UPDF) on civilians in several parts of the country. It climaxed at a time when I was hardly a week into this position and a lot of our people were tortured and arrested and we struggled, running around hospitals, police, prison and court. Even Members of Parliament were severely brutalised and produced in courts for no reasons.
Recently, we went to the western Uganda for political rallies and were completely blocked. Later on, shamelessly and with impunity, the regional police commander west came to ban FDC from holding rallies from Ankole region as if FDC is not a legitimate political party in this country.

Is NRM sowing seeds of discord among opposition parties?
Government (NRM) will always want to see other parties or groupings disorganised because the more disorganised we are, the better for them. That also means we would need them more. In order for us to be with them (government), they are constantly creating avenues to disorganise us. However, I am not very sure if government has a hand in disorganising us.
Right now, I don’t lead only one party, I am leader of Opposition but my appeal to the parties and members under me is; let us not look at our parties but at issues affecting our people.