Stick with other leaders, FDC elder tells Dr Besigye

A top figure on the Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) Special Elders Committee has advised the founding party leader to be more accepting of the views of Opposition colleagues as they all strive for political change in Uganda.

In an exclusive interview yesterday, Dr Frank Nabwiso said while retired colonel Dr Kizza Besigye’s preference for a more aggressive form of political activism -- characterised by “defiance politics” -- is valid, he should not work in isolation.

“Dr Besigye should work hand-in-hand with [other] political parties as before in order to promote it (defiance),” Dr Nabwiso said.

He spoke against the backdrop of the ongoing strife inside FDC, pitting the party’s secretary general, Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi and the president, Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat, against fellow leaders.

It is unclear if his views on Dr Besigye’s political posture will form part of the findings of the Special Elders Committee’s investigation. The usually measured former Kagoma County MP was appointed chairperson of the committee which canvassed views from members countrywide.

Their brief, among other contentious issues, was to inquire into allegations that Mr Mafabi and Mr Amuriat were compromised by the ruling party leadership to undermine FDC.

A week ago, Dr Besigye, who recently announced that he is coming out of a self-imposed break from active politics, told journalists at his Katonga Road office in Kampala that the warring party leaders ought to agree to a cooling off period.

“I think without the leaders stepping back and taking a break to calm down, the crisis will escalate and I can’t predict where the party will end, but quite likely where others have ended. That is a likely trajectory,” he said.

“. . .That escalation is likely to continue if leaders don’t step back, take a breath and reconsider what all this means.”

Indeed, a day after he spoke, there was a violent physical confrontation at FDC’s Najjanankumbi headquarters. Party chairman Wasswa Birigwa was forcefully blocked from addressing a press conference by a gang of thugs, who reportedly held him against his will. The same gang assaulted and robbed journalists of their phones and other personal effects.

Denouncing what happened, Mr Birigwa later told Daily Monitor that he suspected the Nandala-Amuriat axis were responsible for the outrageous developments at Najjanankumbi, although the two men have since denied this suspicion.

Also a believer in the defiance philosophy, Dr Nabwiso yesterday said the political change -- to which all Uganda’s Opposition groups ought to aspire -- would be better served if everyone worked together. 

“Alliances of this sort have achieved success elsewhere,” he said..
“By promoting defiance alone, Dr Besigye will be promoting division, which is failing Opposition groups,” Dr Nabwiso observed.

However, contrary to Dr Nabwiso’s fears, FDC’s founding president has been quoted saying he is not opposed to alliances in principle, having backed cooperation between all Opposition political groups in the past. But he last week echoed the conviction that a change of strategy is necessary given the hostile Ugandan political environment -- where “state capture” by the ruling party’s leadership has rendered electioneering an ineffective driver for change on its own.

“At the end of the day, what will liberate Uganda is to have a linkage of all who are in captivity regardless of their parties…,” he said, urging like-minded politicians thus: “We must focus on a resistance struggle. Resistance, activism and defiance has removed many dictators, including here in Africa”.

He also urged FDC to defer scheduled grassroots electoral processes to choose leaders of party organs ahead of the national delegates conference planned for November. 

“I hope there will be a sense prevailing to halt the electoral processes until at least the next national council [meeting],” Dr Besigye said. He hoped that by then, a solution to the ongoing troubles would have been agreed. 

That national council meeting is planned for Friday this week. It is expected that the Special Elders Committee will table its report during the said meeting.

Throughout last week, both Mr Mafabi and Mr Amuriat insisted that the grassroots elections must take place as scheduled, beginning on July 21. They argued that it is from these elections that party leaders will be picked countrywide to form the body of delegates to choose FDC’s national leadership in November.

However, their insistence appears not to have swayed the grassroots. Many FDC district officials told this newspaper over the weekend that they never held the first round of those elections as expected on Friday, July 21. 

Monitor learned that the majority view among many of the regional officials was to wait until after the national council meeting.

Party spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda had on Thursday, July 20, called for an outright boycott. 

A day earlier, FDC vice president for Buganda, Mr Erias Lukwago (also Kampala Lord Mayor) had joined Mr Ssemujju and other party members at an impromptu ‘national consultative meeting’ in Nsambya, Kampala, to discuss what they suggested is a leadership crisis in FDC. They used the same ‘consultation meeting’ to mobilise support for the poll boycott until solutions to the prevailing internal strife are found.

In yesterday’s interview, Dr Nabwiso disagreed with the Ssemjju-Lukwago-Besigye proposition, noting as he did that any suspension of party structure elections can only be ordered by FDC’s electoral organs.

In that light, with 48 hours left to the July 28 national council meeting, a lot of mutual suspicion persists inside the FDC. Mr Lukwago has cast doubt upon the expected elders’ report, telling a nighttime television political talkshow last Thursday that the report has been “doctored” to suit particular interests. 

He also cited the resignation of Mr Stanley Katembeya from the elders committee in protest of how the inquiry was carried out as proof of bad faith. Nonetheless, Dr Nabwiso refuted Lukwago’s claims, saying nobody can corrupt him into giving wrong information.

“In 2005, I stood firm in Parliament to reject the lifting of the presidential term limits despite the money that was changing hands. Therefore, my report cannot be influenced by anybody,” the former Kagoma MP said, confirming the elders’ report is ready for submission on Friday.

By press time last night, party sources indicated that a re-alignment of forces is underway in the FDC -- with Friday’s national council meeting expected to be a defining moment in the party’s future plans.