FDC delegates to elect party president today

By Moses Mulondo

Forum for Democratic Change party delegates today assemble at Namboole Stadium to elect a party president who will succeed Dr. Kizza Besigye.

Party publicist Wafula Oguttu said 855 delegates, who are to attend the one-day delegates conference, will participate in the election.

The conference will be attended by the National Executive Council members, leaders of management committees, three delegates from each district and two from each constituency.

There are three candidates: Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu (former army commander), Nathan Nandala Mafabi (leader of opposition in Parliament) and Geoffrey Ekanya (Tororo County MP).

Wafula on Tuesday said the voting will begin at 11:00am.

“Unlike the NRM meetings, ours will be open to the press from the beginning to the end. Each candidate will be given 10 minutes to explain why he thinks he is the best before the voting starts,” he said.

Towards the end of last year, Besigye declared that he would step down. He said the reason he cut short his tenure, which was supposed to end in 2014, was to create enough time for the next leader to prepare for the 2016 general elections.

Although there are three candidates in the race, the election is a two-horse race between Mafabi and Muntu. Whereas Muntu and Mafabi seem to have an equal number of MPs supporting each of them, most of the popular FDC MPs are backing Muntu.

Wafula said according to their programme, Besigye, Alice Alaso (secretary general), Sam Njuba (national chairman) and Jack Sabiti (treasurer) will all give speeches about the state of the party and future plans to enable the party take power.

He said the party has also invited diplomats, leaders of all opposition parties and civil society organisations to witness the exercise.

According to inside sources, party heavyweights like Prof. Ogenga Latigo (party vice-president for the northern region), Alaso, Cecelia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman MP), Beatrice Anywar (Kitgum Woman MP), Nabilah Naggayi Ssempala (Kampala Woman MP), Odonga Otto (Aruu County MP), Francis Epetait (Ngora County MP) and Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri County MP) have thrown their weight behind Muntu.

Some of the heavy- weights behind Mafabi include Wafula Oguttu (party spokesperson), Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda (Kyadondo North MP), Jack Sabiti (Rukiga County MP), Kaps Fungaroo (Obongi County MP), Odo Tayebwa (Ishaka Municipality MP), Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga (electoral commission boss) and Wamai Wamanga (Mbale Municipality MP).

But as the party elects a new president, it is still sharply divided on whether to front Dr. Besigye in the national presidential elections, since he is the most popular opposition politician in the country.

A poll released by Research World International in August showed that 46.9% of delegates would choose Muntu, while 25.7% would choose Mafabi. Only 0.6% said they would vote for Ekanya.

On Monday, the candidates participated in a live televised debate.

Muntu said his corrupt-free track record, character, democratic credentials and a history of fighting bad governance from as early as the age of 23 makes him the best person to steer the party to power.

“You cannot give what you don’t have. Uganda’s major problem is a crisis of leadership. You need incorruptible leaders in power to successfully fight corruption,” he said.

Mafabi said turning his home district (Sironko) into an FDC stronghold shows he has the capacity to turn the entire nation towards the party.

“Even if you gave FDC sh100b, it cannot win an election in its current state. You need a leadership that will enable the electorate embrace the cause the party stands for. That will be my focus and experience shows that I can,” he said.

Ekanya said being young (41) and the ability to win his constituency thrice shows he can lead FDC to power.

“Ugandans are losing hope in the opposition. Since 2006, the popularity curve of FDC has been going down. FDC needs to be rebranded to make Ugandans own it,” he said.