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JINJA

Former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Dr Kizza Besigye has cautioned members of the Opposition against infighting, saying this only weakens them as the ‘enemy’ gains more ground.

Besigye who says the wave of instability sweeping through Opposition political parties, is engineered by the state, stresses that efforts must be directed towards liberating Ugandans from what he has called state capture.

“Our struggle is not with the Najjanankumbi (FDC) group, I do not even think or talk about them. Abo ekyabwe kyaggwa (they are finished),” he says.

“The enemy uses tricks to create confusion among us as opposition and whenever we fight each other, he sits cross-legged and celebrates,” Besigye, the founding president of FDC and four time presidential candidate, says.

According to him, such was done to the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), Democratic Party (DP), FDC and most recently to the National Unity Platform (NUP), which is the largest Opposition party.

“When they heard we were teaming up with NUP, they became restless,” Besigye said on Saturday while addressing party members attached to the Katonga faction during a consultative meeting at Mpumudde Estate Primary School in Jinja city.

Seated (L-R)) Harold Kaijja, Besigye, Wasswa Biriggwa and Salaamu Musumba. (Photo by Charles Kakamwa)

Government believes in functioning democracy

However, information minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi has severally refuted claims that the NRM government sponsors conflicts within political parties, arguing that the NRM believes in a functioning democracy and democratic space which accommodates the growth and functioning of political parties.

“It cannot be the same NRM party, with President Yoweri Museveni as the chair and president, or the NRM in general to wish for the demise of any other party,” he said recently.

Nothing new

Besigye, who was part of the 1981-86 guerilla war that brought the NRM to power, said what is happening in FDC is not new because even the NRM begun as a liberation movement but once in power, it lost focus.

Besigye, who said Uganda has never tasted freedom since inception, wondered why some FDC members betrayed the struggle after only 20 years.

“Our forefathers fought for independence for 62 years, they never gave up despite lack of proper communication channels and infrastructure. They triumphed and the whites left in 1962, you cannot fight for only 20 years and give up,” he said.

FDC vice chairperson for eastern region Proscovia Salaamu Musumba said since its formation in 2004, FDC has always been a people-centred organisation, a reason they decided to engage grassroots members on the way forward.

The Busoga consultative meeting was the second after the first in Kira municipality, Wakiso district. Musumba said next the team will head to Mbarara, Bushenyi, Kabale and then northern Uganda.

After all regions are covered, she said a team at the headquarters will sit and scrutinise the people’s views and the one with overwhelming support from across the regions, shall be chosen.

The members, she said were given options to pick from, which included attacking FDC party headquarters at Najjanankumbi, rescuing the party through legal means, reconciliation talks, joining any other political party or formation of a new party.

For Busoga, all the 12 districts unanimously supported the formation of a new political party. 

The Katonga Road-based FDC faction on March 11, 2024, started a consultative process, which could see it break away and form a new political party or pressure group ahead of the 2026 general election. The development in its power struggle with its Najjanankumbi-based rival faction within the FDC came during its meeting in Kireka in Kira municipality.