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FDC Katonga set for village polls as Najja recruits new members
The interim electoral commission chairperson for the Katonga faction, Mr Michael Kabaziguruka. addresses journalists in Kampala on December 4, 2023. PHOTO/FRANK BAGUMA
What you need to know:
- The Katonga faction has announced elections of new leaders at village level come December 9 while their counterparts at Najjanankumbi are on a nationwide mobilisation drive to recruit new party members.
The two rival factions of the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party have announced separate mobilisation events as each bids to garner nationwide support ahead of the 2026 General Election.
The Katonga faction has announced elections of new leaders at village level come December 9 while their counterparts at Najjanankumbi are on a nationwide mobilisation drive to recruit new party members.
Mr Michael Kabaziguruka, the interim electoral commission chairperson for the Katonga faction, revealed yesterday that the elections are targeting new local leaders from 36,000 villages countrywide.
Mr Kabaziguruka noted that the election materials had been dispatched to all the villages across the country.
The village elections will be followed by those at the parish, sub-county, constituency and district levels, and will be crowned with a national delegates conference slated for March 15 next year as per the roadmap.
Mr Kabaziguruka explained that they are guided by the resolutions passed by the September 19 delegates’ conference.
“I call upon all FDC faithful supporters countrywide to mobilise and turn up in huge numbers for the grassroots elections this Saturday, December 9,” Mr Kabaziguruka said during a press briefing held at their offices on Katonga Road in Kampala yesterday.
He urged their supporters to ignore all the demobilisation efforts against their electoral process by the Najjanankumbi team.
“We are aware that there are efforts by the suspended members, Patrick Oboi Amuriat [FDC president] and Nandala Mafabi [party secretary general], to sabotage the elections. We assure our supporters that we are in charge and they should participate in the elections,” Mr Kabaziguruka added.
He also asked all party members who were suspended by the Najjanankumbi group such as Ms Ingrid Turinawe to return, saying FDC is for all its members.
The FDC Katonga faction delegates’ conference held on September 19 presided over by the party National Chairperson, Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa, unanimously suspended Mr Amuriat, Mr Mafabi and Treasurer Geoffrey Ekanya. They then appointed an interim committee headed by Mr Erias Lukwago.
Meanwhile, Najjanankumbi leaders yesterday noted that the mobilisation exercise is aimed at strengthening the party ahead of the 2026 General Election.
“We have embarked on sub-regional conferences. We want to equip our leaders with mobilisation skills and even ask them to recruit members and future candidates,” the party spokesperson, Mr John Kikonyogo, told journalists at the party headquarters.
“We are going to all regions in Uganda and when we finish them, we shall sit at our headquarters to analyse what will come out of them and we move forward,” he said.
The party is also gearing up for the National Council meeting, the first of its kind after the controversial election that saw Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi retain their seats and party president and secretary general, respectively.
Mr Kikonyogo revealed that the meeting, due to December 15, is aimed at discussing the current state of the party.
Background
The current wave that hit the FDC party has left the once big opposition political party weak following the accusation that party president Patrick Oboi and secretary general Nathan Nandala Mafabi brought in “dirty money’’ from State House during the 2021 General Election, which the duo has since denied. Party members have since divided themselves into two factions.
