Mafabi fires back at Ssemujju and Lukwago

The under-fire secretary general of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change Nathan Nandala Mafabi yesterday hit back at accusations that he is plotting to sell the party to President Museveni with a counter allegation of his own, claiming that his accusers are not clean themselves.

Mr Mafabi is facing stiff opposition inside the party from quarters which believe he was bribed to “hand FDC over to the ruling party’s chairman, President Museveni, as happened to UPC and DP”. 

But in a phone interview with Monitor, Mr Nandala was livid, denouncing his detractors as “tribalists”. He said that contrary to popular belief that his accusers are clean, they have actually done more to keep the president’s National Resistance Movement in State House through their own “selfishness”.

His reaction comes during a week in which FDC is weathering another internal storm. Observers see money and entrenched differences of opinion over how to lead FDC ahead of the 2026 general elections as fuelling what could lead to a second split.  

Those who suspect that the secretary general is corrupt, and has been compromised, convened for a ‘national consultative meeting’ held at Nsambya Sharing Hall in Kampala where members were urged to stand firm against attempts to kill their party.  

Party spokesman, Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and the vice president representing Buganda, Mr Erias Lukwago declared to their audience that this was a fight to “save the soul” of FDC.

Across town in Najjanankumbi, the party’s electoral commission was addressing the press on the roadmap for the grassroots elections for party structures – an exercise the Ssemujju-Lukwago axis want delayed until after the National Council meets next week for an emergency meeting.  

Holding elections now, they said, will play into Mr Mafabi’s hands.

Interested observers, meanwhile, say that what transpired yesterday morning mirrors the 2018 events preceding the bitter split that saw former party president, Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, break-away to form the Alliance for National Transition.  Maj Gen Muntu was  booted out as party president in a controversial election.

They also see in these events an enduring narrative in Uganda where founding fathers want to remain perpetual key players within.

Ms Cecilia Ogwal, a veteran of the post-1986 fight for the return to political pluralism amidst an intense and miltarised opposition from Mr Museveni’s government, yesterday said this is true of most of the political parties.

“… We have the founding members who still hang around the ownership of the parties and if we don’t shake that off, it will continue to affect how these parties operate. I am not pointing at a particular person, but offering my general opinion on what is happening,” she said.

Ms Ogwal, however, said what sets FDC, where she is a senior member, apart is its internal democracy which other political parties are struggling to emulate.

“FDC has excelled in conducting regular free and fair elections to determine the party leadership which is very good. They have never shown intent of over-staying in power by one particular person,” she said. 

“What the party is going through is a challenge which many others also go through as you mature. You have seen that with NRM where the founding person is carrying the ownership, you have seen it in UPC and FDC where the founding persons carry the ownership”. 

“The only party where I have not seen that is the Democratic Party where the founding members and their families are not involved and NUP is yet too young to judge,” she said.

2018 allegations
Even then, as in 2018 unproven allegations were made to paint Maj Gen Muntu, a former army commander, as a mole working for Mr Museveni. 

Similarly, Mr Mafabi now finds himself being labelled a Museveni plant – an accusation which leaves the Budadiri West MP in a strange position. He was on the other side in 2018. 

Now, it is alleged that he has pocketed billions of shillings to advance President Museveni’s wishes to dismantle all organised political opposition in line with a 2016 declaration.

But like the retired two star General, Mr Mafabi stoutly denies this allegation, turning the tables on his accusers whom he claims, but without providing particular proof, are the ones playing a dangerous double game.

“These are people who are hiding under tribal lines (sic). I have now discovered why people never voted for him in Parliament as Speaker and I died with him alone because people have now discovered that Ssemujju is a very selfish person,” Mr Mafabi said. 

Adding: “I can say, he talks, but what he does behind closed doors is very dangerous. In fact, I don’t want to say that he is one of those most compromised political leaders in opposition.”

Mr Mafabi alluded to how Mr Ssemujju has allegedly abused his position, dominating travel on foreign trips offered to FDC through Parliament. 

“He is the one who takes them all and even goes extra and when you travel as a member of parliament, they pay $720 per day. So, if you want to know people who are eating Museveni money, let Ssemujju bring (sic) how many times he has travelled out of this country and how much he has been paid for the travels,” he said. 

He also asked pointed questions about the source of the Kira Municipality MP’s wealth.  “Check in Kampala, where did Ssemujju campaign for Amuriat? Did you see him anywhere? But he had the largest billboards, in fact his advertising was more than a billion shillings. Where is Ssemujju’s kiosk which can raise a billion shillings? It shows you that these are people who are already compromised but they want to cause chaos,” he said. 

“At least me I have kiosk which sells fuel, but for him, nothing. He came to Parliament as a journalist with nothing, but now you see, he is one of the richest guys around. If you compute his income, where did he get it from? You will realise that these are people who got money in the wrong way, most likely they are the people who get money from State House to come and fight us. I want to tell the people of Uganda that I have never got moneyfrom State House,” he said. 
 
Besigye factor
As either camp traded insults or counter-accusations, the name of founding party president, Col. (rtd) Dr Kizza Besigye was dragged in.

Mr Mafabi said the retired colonel is the real force behind the Ssemujju-Lukwago front, fomenting discord inside FDC.

“We have been running campaigns in FDC and every election period we fund elections. Nothing has ever happened because Besigye was always the leader, but now Besigye discovered that he is not, he is now the one fearing that because he never campaigned for Amuriat [in 2021],” he said, referring to current leader, Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat.

“Even Ssemujju and Lukwago you saw when we were in campaigns, they never campaigned for the FDC party candidate. They were campaigning for themselves because they feared antagonising NUP, so they are the most selfish group of people you can think about,” he added. 

The question of money from unclear sources in the run-up to the 2021 national polls was described as a motivation for whatever is being done to FDC. But Mr Mafabi maintained his innocence, only stoppingd short of disclosing where the money came from.

“There was money we got for nomination of our candidates and the sources are very clean, not from State House and they have been accounted for,” he said.

“The party account and our accountabilities are with the national electoral commission and if Ssemujju is really the party spokesperson and a member of the executive committee, he saw the accountabilities. If he can come in public and deny it, then it shows that that is a person you should not trust. Lukwago’s car was not bought by KCCA, but was bought by the State House budget. Ask him who bought the car he is driving because there was a freeze on buying cars but just see the car he is driving,” he said. 

Most of Uganda’s political parties are grappling with the question of ownership. Almost all are in the grip of founding members. The ruling NRM party is firmly under President Museveni who has held the leadership long before he took over power. 

Uganda Peoples Congress, one of the country’s oldest parties, has been in the grip of the family of founding father, the late Dr Apollo Milton Obote. His son, Mr Jimmy Akena unceremoniously kicked out Dr Olara Otunnu with the help of the police. Partly for this reason and his unexpected alliance with NRM led to condemnation that he had sold off UPC.

With the ongoing re-alignment of forces inside FDC, it would appear that Dr Besigye’s influence remains a factor. 

In the National Unity Platform, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi’s word almost goes for policy, according to some. It is only in the Democratic Party where long-deceased founding members no longer play a role although some of their ideological descendants were said to have driven Mr Norbert Mao into an “unholy alliance” with President Museveni.

The Monday events have set the stage for what could turn out to be an intense internal self-examination of Mr Mafabi’s claims that “they are hating us because we come from a region which they think must not be in leadership, but we are here because the party leaders voted us, so there was no need for national consultative meeting”. 

“They are fearing internal elections… The national council directed that there should be elections and the elections that are there are a normal exercise. These ones who are fearing the elections believe that the best way is to come and talk ill about others,” he said. 

“For us we believe in democracy. One of the things I did was I stood in 2012 [for] FDC party president, I lost elections and I never went away, but stayed around,” he said.