Money wars threaten fresh split within FDC

All is not well in the camp of the opposition political party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

Senior leaders are accusing party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat and secretary general Nathan Nandala-Mafabi of obtaining an unknown sum of money from questionable sources and also mismanaging the party.

According to four reliable sources who spoke to The Observer on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the subject, trouble started in 2020 when two senior members of the party were allegedly given money by President Museveni that was partly used to run the presidential campaign and that was also partly divided among some senior members.

The Observer in 2021 published a story that Museveni had offered billions of shillings to senior FDC members which was used to run their presidential campaign. When Dr Besigye got wind of this information, he decided to stay away from campaigning
for Amuriat.

Since then, the rift between him on one side, and Nandala and Amuriat on the other, has grown so wide that he and other senior leaders are said to be involved in plans to defeat them in the forthcoming party elections that were scheduled to kick off on Monday this week.

However, one of our sources told us that the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that sat last week voted to postpone the election at least for another four weeks as the party tries to bridge the differences.

There is fear that if the party goes ahead with the election, it might be headed for another split like the one that took place in 2017 when Gen Mugisha Muntu and his supporters left the party to found the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).

“Nandala got a lot of money that FDC used for campaigns. Do you remember those brand-new cars that were used in the campaigns? That is what part of that money was used for and another part was shared among themselves. We have asked him how much money he got, but he doesn’t say. We asked him to explain who was the source of that money, but he kept changing stories. He first said someone lent us the money but when we asked him to disclose the person, he refused, saying that that person asked to be anonymous. Then he turned around and said that person had forgiven us the debt,” one source said.

According to another source who was also granted anonymity to speak freely, party members are also dismayed with the way Nandala is managing other party funds.

“We receive close to Shs 2 billion from the Electoral Commission every year. We don’t know how that money is used. During Maj Gen Muntu’s tenure, even to spend Shs 5 million, he had to first convene a meeting. But Nandala has overrun everything. He recruited Amuriat into his camp because of his financial vulnerability and now they spend party money as they wish,” the source said.

The source added that the duo has also chased from the party headquarters all those with whom they disagree.

“This week we were supposed to have a NEC meeting at the party headquarters but we arrived there when it was surrounded
by kanyamas. We spent several hours before we could be allowed to enter. We asked Nandala since when has it been that we first have to ask permission before entering our own headquarters?” a source said.

Eventually, when the meeting was allowed to take place, the Nandala group objected to the postponement of the election. Nandala said those who disagree with them should use the coming elections to defeat them.

“We are not postponing this election even for a single day. If you don’t want me, then defeat me in the election; if you can’t defeat me, then shoot me,” Nandala is quoted by another source who attended the contentious NEC meeting.

NABWISO COMMITTEE

In a previous NEC meeting, it was agreed to form a committee to try and bring the party together before it heads to another divisive election. The committee headed by former Kagoma MP Dr Frank Nabwiso was supposed to get to the bottom of the conflict, which was the source and expenditure of the 2020 campaign money.

Our source, who attended the meeting, told us that Nandala denied ever getting money from Museveni and instead insisted that the party borrowed the money. He, however, refused to disclose who the lender was, how much money it was, or how it was spent.

He told the committee that he was a rich man who has more than 100 petrol stations in and outside Uganda and that he couldn’t seek to get Museveni’s money. He, however, said the biggest problem for FDC was Dr Kizza Besigye and those he sits with at his Katonga road office.

“Until Besigye stops meddling in the running of the affairs of FDC with his Katonga group, we shall not have peace,” a source quotes Nandala as saying.

On why Nandala and group insist on moving ahead with the elections, the source said they have made it impossible for other candidates to win in the current circumstances.

“They are moving across the country, recruiting people who will vote for them when the elections are held. At the same time, they have refused to issue party cards, which are crucial in the elections. I think it’s going to be very difficult to dislodge these guys from the party leadership. FDC is going to be like DP, where a significant section of the members doesn’t want Norbert Mao, but because of his relationship with the state, they can’t defeat him. I think that is where we are headed,” the source said.

In Nandala’s camp are Amuriat, Jack Sabiti, the former Finance secretary for FDC, Geoffrey Ekanya, the current secretary for Finance and former MP Hassan Fungaroo, among others.

LUKWAGO, SSEMUJJU, MUSUMBA LINED UP

The group that is seeking to rescue the party from the Nandala group is headed by Dr Besigye; Erias Lukwago, the lord mayor who is also the FDC vice president for Buganda; Harold Kaija, the deputy secretary general; Proscovia Salaamu Musumba, the vice chairperson for Eastern; Ann Adeke, the Woman MP for Soroti city; former Kawempe South MP Mubaraka Munyagwa; Kira MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda; and Wafula Oguttu, the former leader of opposition.

A source told us that a number of meetings have been held either at Dr Besigye’s home in Kasangati or at his office on Katongoa road. Musumba, Lukwago, and Ssemujju are said to be the ones the group is considering to run for party president.

However, it’s only Musumba who seems willing to take on the fight. When contacted, neither Dr Besigye nor Nandala responded to our phone calls or messages to their known numbers. But in our previous story, Besigye denied that Museveni financed FDC campaigns.

However, he admitted that Museveni has in the past recruited senior party members; therefore, he wouldn’t be surprised if he tried doing it again.

“That’s how we lost senior leaders like Alex Onzima, John Butime, Beatrice Anywar, Christopher Kibanzanga, Anita Among, Michael Ocula, Jackson Kafuuzi, Agnes Akiror Eginyu, Francis Atugonza, Bernard Atiku, etc. These leaders are attracted by short-term personal gains, which most of them regret in the end,” Besigye said.

In the current cabinet, President Yoweri Museveni also appointed former FDC vice president for Buganda Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, who is now serving as the state minister for Information and National Guidance.

MUSUMBA CRIES OUT

For her part, Musumba said they can’t look on when a party they sacrificed so much to form is being waylaid by selfish individuals.

“We set up a party; I know what we were interested in. We were learning from hindsight, but we were also looking ahead to what kind of political infrastructure this country needed to have, and so, at some point when Dr Besigye opted out and Gen Muntu became the president, we were seeing things differently, and so at that point we said, “No, if we don’t change course, we wouldn’t be viable and so, that feeling then, is the feeling now. We need to find internal energy to face the way we’re going, and that’s the discomfort you hear,” Musumba said.

She added that together with colleagues, they are discomforted by the deception, the lack of space to discuss what needs to be discussed, the obstruction, the growing disinterest in having a functional structure, and the feeling of party capture by the current leadership.

Asked about whether money and its source are part of this capture, Musumba said it’s largely the work methods of the party leaders, which she said are not tenable, and the lack of willingness to resolve these misunderstandings. On whether she will be challenging Amuriat for the party leadership, Musumba said this is not her preoccupation.

“I can offer myself for anything, and being party president is not alien, but it’s not that I want to be president; I only want to be part of a team that understands what needs to be done and is willing to offer that quality leadership.”

For his part, Amuriat told The Observer that he wouldn’t want to go into discussing the matter because there is already a party-appointed committee tasked with investigating all the claims with a view to finding a lasting solution.

“There is an ongoing investigation by an Elders’ Reconciliation Committee appointed by the National Council on the matter of disharmony in the party. Anyone with useful information has the liberty to approach the committee. The FDC leadership has chosen not to respond to heresy. We want the committee to do its work without their decision being pre-empted by media scrutiny. My leadership will implement the committee recommendations,” Amuriat said.

Efforts to speak to the chairperson of the reconciliation committee, Dr Nabwiso, were futile as his known telephone number remained switched off by press time.

mmkakembo@gmail.com