There was total confusion at the High Court in Kampala when the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) affiliated lawyers led by Erias Lukwago entered the courtroom claiming they were representing the party and its chairperson, Wasswa Birigwa.

Judge Esta Nambayo of the Civil Division of the High Court, was inquisitive on who exactly had been instructed to represent the party.

However, she later ruled that lawyer Julius Galisonga was the one authorised to represent the party by Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi.

Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Secretary General (Centre) accompanied by party members exiting the court. (Photo by Colleb Mugume)

“I have listened to submissions of the parties and I find that Galisonga has presented a letter dated September 13, 2023, instructing him to represent the party,” the judge ruled.

In the circumstances, Nambayo noted that Lukwago and Moses Tugume had no instructions to represent the FDC party as claimed.

“The two have to present formal instructions before being admitted as counsels in court,” she ruled.

The ruling by the judge prompted Lukwago, the FDC deputy president for Buganda, and Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the party spokesperson and Kira Municipality MP, to exit court with disappointment written all over their faces.

The scenes transpired on Monday, September 18, in a case where three aggrieved FDC members sued FDC, its president Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Mafabi, in the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala, seeking to block the extraordinary delegates’ conference, scheduled for tomorrow, September 19, 2023.

The aggrieved party members are Arafat Ntale Mwanja, Jamal Wante and Marlick Ssazi.

The judge said an interim order blocking an extraordinary national delegates’ conference which Birigwa summoned, remains in force, pending disposal of the main application.

However, the FDC party led by Amuriat and Mafabi have since disassociated themselves from the conference that is being organised by Birigwa. The duo said the conference was not planned and budgeted for by the party.

In a suit filed on Wednesday, the three aggrieved FDC members are seeking a court order to halt the national delegates’ conference on grounds that the FDC leadership is not complying with the law.

“The delegates’ conference slated for Tuesday, does not pass the test of compliance with the democratic principles enshrined in Article 71 and 72 of the Constitution,” Mwanja contended in his affidavit.

The trio argued that the delegates’ conference contravenes section 10 of the Political Parties and Other Organisations Act, 2005, and the provisions of the FDC constitution.

The applicants, therefore, want the conference halted until the appropriate organs and offices of FDC fully comply with the law.

“The delegates’ conference shall cause absurdity and a constitutional crisis. It is, therefore, fair, equitable and in the interest of justice, constitutionalism and the rule of law, that this application be allowed by this court,” Mwanja stated.

Mwanja, Wante and Ssazi contend that the notice calling the impugned extra-ordinary national delegates conference was illegally and irregularly issued.

“The responsible offices have been excluded from the preparations and organisation of the aforesaid conference,” Mwanja stated.

The trio averred that the clumsy manner in which the conference has been hurriedly fixed is in bad faith and meant to embarrass the party and subject it to irreparable damage and loss.

They say as interested members of FDC, the illegal resolutions that will inevitably arise from the delegates’ conference will violate their rights to assemble and associate, and destroy the party.

The aggrieved members said the register had not been updated after the new office-bearers were elected.

Some of the FDC party members carrying placards outside the Civil Court at Twed Towers in Kampala on Monday. (Photo by Colleb Mugume)

The trio also argued that they are members of FDC with a direct and sufficient interest in the affairs of the party and that their rights have been infringed upon by the conduct of the respondents in calling the delegates' conference.

“I am aggrieved by the manner in which the extraordinary delegates conference was called by the respondents via a notice dated August 15, that was published in the local newspapers on August 18,” Mwanja noted.

Background

The suit comes at a time when the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) is split into two factions, with one faction led by Patrick Amuriat and Nandala Mafabi on one side, and another led by the founding party president Kizza Besigye, Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.

Wasswa Birigwa is believed to have sided with the group led by Besigye, which accuses the Mafabi-Amuriat faction of receiving what they call “dirty state money”. The dirty money is alleged to have been used by the party in the 2021 general election.

The two factions have been trading accusations as they now battle for supremacy in FDC, which will be 20 years old in December next year.