Why FDC will miss Mwiru in Jinja East

Jinja Municipality East MP Paul Mwiru on Tuesday abdicated his position as Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) deputy spokesperson and member of the party’s national executive committee to join the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party.
Mr Mwiru told reporters that his decision was informed by “the need for stronger ethical values.”

It is now widely believed that Mr Mwiru leaving FDC is a huge blow to the party’s prospects in Jinja East constituency.

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Mwiru, Karuhanga join Gen Muntu’s ANT party

Mr Karuhanga joined parliament as an independent while Mr Mwiru was voted to the House on the ticket of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

His political prowess was demonstrated in the March 2018 by-election in which he defeated NRM’s Nathan Igeme Nabeta and six others.
In the build-up to that by-election, Mr Mwiru had fallen out with his chief campaigner and Jinja FDC chairperson Abubaker Maganda.

As a result, Mr Richard Nyanzi was given the FDC party card ahead of Mr Mwiru in the run-up to that by-election and it took the intervention of the party’s central executive committee (CEC) to bring Mr Mwiru on board. Mr Mwiru would later win the seat by garnering 6,654 votes against Mr Nabeta’s 5,043 votes.
Mr Maganda on Wednesday urged the people of Jinja East to shun Mr Mwiru whom he described as not being transparent.

Mr Mwiru could not be reached to respond to the allegations as his known telephone contacts were switched off by press time.
Now that he has joined ANT, speculation is rife that FDC might not field a capable candidate in Jinja East.
The FDC secretary for Jinja Central Division, Mr Umar Mutengu, said Mr Mwiru ‘fears competition’ within the party.