Former Parliament Leader of Opposition Prof. Ogenga Latigo has advised the leadership of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to reconcile.

The move, according to him, will mend the fracture in the Opposition party.

Latigo says the current crisis in FDC is fast deepening due to a lack of the will by leaders to accept their mistakes and reconcile. The agricultural professor adds that there are no other shortcuts to the party's reunion apart from reconciliation.

"The only remedy for FDC is reconciliation. There are no more shortcuts to mending the now-wounded party," Latigo said.

He noted that the former FDC presidential flag-bearer, Dr Kizza Besigye should let other internal grievances go, and instead concentrate efforts on ensuring the reconciliation of party leaders.

Latigo observed that the current power struggles within the party are common to several opposition parties across the globe, noting that elsewhere they occurred, reunion and reconciliation have been the most reliable healers.

"Last time, I saw Besigye weeping; of course, weeping is normal, but we would want to see Besigye shed tears of joy and not anguish," Latigo said.

The former FDC strongman was appearing on Urban TV's weekend show Press Wall hosted by senior multimedia journalist Umar Kashaka, on Saturday, August 12, 2023.

Background

Recent media reports have been awash with counter-accusations from current and former party leaders over what has since been dubbed 'dirty money' allegedly from the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

In a special national council meeting that was conducted by the party chairperson Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa and FDC district chairpersons, the elders found out that money from hostile sources was a sensitive issue and responsible for the dispute between former party president Kiiza Besigye and current secretary general Nandala Mafabi.

Besigye has since accused the elders' council of doing little to establish the facts surrounding the source of shillings seven billion that was allegedly received by Mafabi and Amuriat.

However, in his rebuttal, chairperson of the select elders' committee Dr Frank Nabwiso said: “Why did Besigye accept to keep dirty money at his Kasangati home when he is not the treasurer general?"

The elders laughed off Besigye rubbishing their report saying even World Bank reports are not 100% accurate as they are criticised by the experts and, therefore, theirs would also attract criticism which in the elders' view was normal.

Nabwiso instead advised Besigye to be mindful of his legacy or else his reputation would go down the drain.

He criticised Besigye for not producing any evidence about the dirty money saying the elders wanted to know the source of information from the four-time former presidential candidate so that the person would be interviewed.