Dr Besigye faces many challenges

Jun 11, 2006

THE move by Eriya Kategaya to take up the appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister and minister in charge of the East African Community Affairs has generated a great deal of debate.

THE move by Eriya Kategaya to take up the appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister and minister in charge of the East African Community Affairs has generated a great deal of debate.
Kategaya was a strong critic of the amendment to the Constitution that scrapped the presidential two-term limit. It was therefore, surprising when Kategaya ditched his colleagues in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and took up the Cabinet post.
It appears to me that Kategaya’s move was due to the FDC internal politics and should be a warning signal of troubles inside the party. Kategaya has argued that he never took up his appointment as FDC ‘envoy’ because it did not make sense to him. It is notable that a number of other FDC heavy-weight such as Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu, James Musinguzi Garuga, Augustine Ruzindana and Richard Kaijuka have also conspicuously taken a low profile of late.
It is apparent that FDC is experiencing factionalism. Col. Dr Kizza Besigye faces a challenge to end this factionalism that could tear the party apart. Besigye also has a challenge to forge unity among the opposition political parties. The opposition will not achieve much as long as it remains divided.
Since FDC held its Delegates Conference, it has been experiencing some tremors. These tremors intensified with the election of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP) and the Opposition Chief Whip (OCW). The elections split the party largely into two rival factions. One faction included mainly the originals – people who were in the defunct Reform Agenda (RA). The second faction is largely composed of the people who were in the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (Pafo).
Hitherto, the RA faction has been the most influential in FDC. But the elections of the LOP and OCW have tilted the balance in favour of the Pafo faction. Prof. Ogenga Latigo who was elected the LOP and Kassiano Wadri the OCW were never in Reform Agenda. They defected to FDC from the Democratic Party (DP). They were both active in Pafo. Their election indicates that the influence of the original RA faction is waning. The RA faction had backed Sam Njuba for the post of LOP and Beti Kamya for the ocw. Kamya who contested against Kassiano and Alice Alaso only received three votes!
The Reform Agenda faction has hitherto been the FDC’s hardcore base. It also includes Besigye’s loyalists and the hard-line wing of the party. According to insiders, when Besigye was in Luzira Prison, there was a suggestion that the FDC should get another person to contest as presidential candidate. The suggestion was reportedly acceptable to the Pafo faction. The RA faction, however, led by Sam Njuba ruled out replacing Besigye as the party’s flag-bearer in the presidential elections. One of Besigye’s challenges now is to reconcile these two rival factions.
Besigye also faces a challenge of remaining in charge of the party from outside Parliament. Benedicto Kiwanuka faced similar challenge in the 1960s when the then DP Secretary General Basil Bataringaya tried to use his position of Leader of the Opposition in Parliament to take over overall party leadership. It is apparent some of the FDC MPs such as Odonga Otto are seeking to exert more control over the party affairs. Otto’s recent attacks on the party leaders who lost in the parliamentary elections and the way he snubbed party leaders who questioned his unilateral decision to walk out of the Parliamentary Appointments Committee signal trouble. Can Besigye rein in the likes of Otto? How can he avoid being a lame-duck opposition leader if he fails to rein-in such errant FDC members like Odonga?
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