Speaker accepts replacement of MP Ssemujju with Nsibambi as new FDC whip
Combo: Mawokota South MP Yusuf Nsibambi (L) and Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju (R). PHOTOS/ FILE
What you need to know:
- Until the 2021 vote, the FDC was Uganda’s largest Opposition party.
The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among has accepted the appointment of Mawokota South MP, Yusuf Nsibambi as the new opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party whip in Parliament.
This comes after Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju was sacked by the opposition party’s Secretary General, Nathan Nandala Mafabi.
The Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa during Wednesday’s plenary sitting read a letter to MPs from Ms Among honouring the change in FDC leadership.
"The Secretary General has vide his letter on October 7, 2023 written to me communicating, confirming the decision of the FDC delegates’ conference appointing Yusuf Nsibambi as FDC Party Whip in Parliament. In the circumstances therefore, I do accept the designation of Nsibambi as FDC Party Whip," Ms Among’s letter reads in part.
Mr Nsibambi pledged to work with all members to address issues that affect society.
"I take this appointment from my party as a very big challenge. You can tell and see what is going on, so, it is my duty to galvanize the Party and also bring some sense of decency in the debates we are making in Parliament as FDC. I promise to work with all members and my whipping isn’t like I am a supervisor but I will try to ensure that we have common positions, meet or address issues that affect society than playing to the gallery," Mr Nsibambi said on the floor of the House.
Until the 2021 vote, the FDC was Uganda’s largest Opposition party.
However, claims made first by its four-time presidential flag bearer, Dr Kizza Besigye, that its President Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Secretary General Nandala Mafabi received “dirty money” ahead of the poll to sell the party out to President Museveni, prompted his believers to break ranks.
The dissenters, among them National Chairman Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa and spokesman Ssemujju, found home at Dr Besigye’s private office on Katonga Road in Kampala from where they claimed leadership of the party, and convened a splinter delegates’ conference which re-elected them.
