FDC Najjanankumbi scoffs at Besigye’s consultative meetings
Mr John Kikonyogo addresses journalists at FDC offices in Najjanankumbi on April 08, 2024. Photo | Jane Nafula
What you need to know:
- Mr John Kikonyogo, the FDC party’s spokesperson told journalists that members are free to quit but in a manner that does not leave the party in shambles.
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) members at Najjanankumbi have said the consultations meetings that the founding president, Dr Kizza Besigye is holding, should not be done in a way that destroys the party.
Mr John Kikonyogo, the FDC party’s spokesperson told journalists during a weekly press conference at Najjanankumbi on Monday that members are free to quit but in a manner that does not leave the party in shambles.
“They have the right to consult, they have a right to even start a party if they find it fit and they believe they cannot operate from Najjanankumbi. We never founded FDC to go and oppose our own and lose the target. Why do you want to destroy the party first and then start another one?” he questioned.
“This party is not for individuals. It is for all of us. It hurts some of us when some people want to destroy it for reasons best known to them. Our brothers and sisters are trying to demean everybody here. If you are at Najjanankumbi, you are labelled Museveni’s person,” he added.
Dr Besigye is currently holding consultation meetings on whether to form a new party following widening divisions among the founders of FDC, which was once the largest opposition political party in Uganda.
The Katonga faction which broke away from Najjanankumbi, is manned by the former FDC President Dr Kizza Besigye and Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago.
Mr Kikonyogo said members who intend to quit or form their party should emulate the former FDC president, Gen Mugisha Muntu, and the current president of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).
“After Namboole, he (Muntu) came here, met the president-elect, Patrick Amuriat and told him he was going to consult his people and if they tell him to depart, he would form a party. He went out, consulted, and brought a report and handed it over to Amuriat. They did not fight each other like our sisters and brothers are doing,” he said.
Gen Muntu quit FDC in 2018 because of what he described as irreconcilable differences with the party president, Mr Patrick Amuriat.
Mr Kikonyogo however, said doors are still open for some party members who are still pacing between Najjanankumbi and Katonga and seem not to know where they belong.
He said FDC‘s goal remains, to change the status quo and remove President Museveni from power and take over.
Mr Harold Kaija, the Secretary General of the Katonga faction said: “We have nothing to respond to that group, we minding our own business.”
Mr Kaija said the first phase of consultations went well and that people are in support of forming a new party based on what is going on in the party.
“We are done with the first lap. We visited Kampala, Wakiso Mukono, Busoga, Kabale, Rukungiri, Bushenyi and Kasese. We shall soon announce our next routes,” he said.
