Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) secretary general Nandala Mafabi’s latest letter to Parliament over the continued stay of their chief whip, Ibrahim Ssemujju, has provoked a backlash from some party leaders.

In his August 17 letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, Mafabi said as FDC, they are not removing Ssemujju from the post of chief whip as an MP but rather removing him from the assignment they gave him as a party on May 26, 2021.

He said the FDC cabinet, which is the working committee of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), took that decision under Article 22 of their constitution.

Mafabi still insisted that Ssemujju, who is also the FDC spokesperson and Kira Municipality MP, was legally dropped as the party’s chief whip in Parliament on August 7 and immediately replaced with Mawokota South MP Yusuf Nsibambi.

However, this letter has provoked a further row in the party that will make 20 years in December 2024.

“So, these days the working committee takes decisions on behalf of FDC. Nandala indeed has no sense of shame!” Doreen Nyanjura, the FDC NEC member and deputy Kampala Lord Mayor, said while reacting to the news of the working committee dismissing Ssemujju via her X (formerly Twitter) page.

Francis Mwijukye, the Buhweju County MP who led eight of his colleagues in Parliament to petition the Speaker against the sacking of Ssemujju also had no kind words for Mafabi and the party president, Patrick Amuriat.

“Hon. Mafabi and Hon. Amuriat think they can run FDC like a kiosk. Their impunity won’t be allowed,” he said, hailing the Speaker for rejecting FDC’s move to drop Ssemujju.

However, Nsibambi, a seasoned lawyer, said Mafabi’s argument holds water. 

He accused politicians of turning politics into an income-generating project, saying FDC’s working committee is the one that appointed both Ssemujju and him. 

Nsibambi argued that Mafabi has the mandate to write to the Speaker and expressed hope about having the matter resolved in days.

In her August 16 letter to Mafabi, Among said she was unable to effect his communication until the matters raised by the petitioners had been resolved and a communication made to that effect to avoid legal consequences of the same and the disruption of parliamentary business.

She informed Mafabi that she had received a petition against Ssemujju's removal from that post, dated August 14, 2023.

In that petition, the nine FDC MPs argued that the move to drop Ssemujju was a violation of their party's internal rules and procedures.

“The secretary-general (Mafabi) has no constitutional mandate whatsoever to decide such a matter as his role is only limited to communicating a decision or position reached at by the National Executive Committee, National Council or National Delegates Conference of the party, which was not the case in this matter,” the MPs argued.

They, therefore, noted that the decision to replace Ssemujju “is devoid of the requisite legal foundation and was communicated by a person who had no locus whatsoever”.

The Speaker told Mafabi that while these are internal party matters, they affect the harmony, cohesion, and operation of Parliament.