FDC is not sorry for fighting DP and UPC

DP and UPC accuse FDC of working to destroy other opposition parties by fielding rival candidates in DP and UPC strongholds or campaigning against their candidates where FDC has none, thereby boosting the NRM candidates. Hamis Kaheru and John Odyek interviewed FDC vice-president Salaamu Musumba on these allegations

QUESTION: Why is FDC bent on killing other opposition parties?
ANSWER: We are not bent on killing any party. Democracy is about competition. We believe in competition which is healthy, not undercutting. Whenever we go for elections we want the operating environment to give a fair chance of winning to everybody. The choice remains with the electorate. It is not about killing anybody.

QUESTION: Why field a candidate where DP has a comparative advantage?
- Because there is no framework of fielding one candidate. That framework did exist under the G8. DP was first to opt out, in writing, and UPC did in writing. That opportunity was undermined by the very people who are complaining. Why do they want different results for actions or inactions that they were responsible for?

They say that the G6 was to see that multiparty politics returns and that after that was achieved, a new framework should be created.
So where is it? We in FDC realised that if the G6 framework was not tenable under the post-election circumstances, we could still work within another arrangement. But they did it unilaterally. We did not dissolve the G6. They just walked out of it.

QUESTION: Shouldn’t there be a common front?
- Everybody knows that. That is why in Parliament we co-opted other people in the shadow Cabinet. It was an executive decision of FDC that we work together in Parliament. But we could not transform that to elsewhere. Such a framework does not exist outside Parliament. I did attend a meeting before that invitation to State House to advise each other on how best to deal with that situation. Our stand was that we should not attend that ad hoc meeting, that instead we should reinforce the National Consultative Forum which is provided for in the law. They said no and went against our advice. I was the secretary of that meeting. It was chaired by Ebil Ottoo (DP). We went ahead to provide that we need to establish a forum under the leadership of DP to advise each other. We have never had another meeting.

QUESTION: So DP should not be complaining?
- It is not because of FDC that there was no free and fair elections in Kalungu and Kamuli. It was on account of an Electoral Commission that is partisan and incompetent. It is not on account of 100 votes of FDC candidate in Kalungu East. My friend Mbidde would have won even with his brother Kayemba of FDC if there were free and fair elections.

QUESTION: What about in Oyam North where Prof. Latigo campaigned for an independent against UPC?
- We had an understanding with the late Okullo Epak. Nobody can deny that. We had a special relationship with the independents in Lango and so we owed it to them to support the candidate they brought to us.

QUESTION: In Oyam the EC was not biased, that is why UPC defeated NRM?
- We win by luck, not because those guys are efficient. There is overwhelming protest against the system in some areas. They cheat but they can never change the outcome.

QUESTION: UPC’s complaint was that FDC did not declare its interest.
- We do not have anybody to declare to. For Oyam North there was a decision of NEC and the steering committee of FDC. It was not that Prof. Latigo woke up and drove because he has fuel. He was implementing a decision of the party. Whatever the outcome, it was our decision. If it was a bad decision, it was ours.

QUESTION: Are you saying you are sorry?
- We are not sorry for anything. We took a decision as sane people. There are minutes of the meeting.

QUESTION: The candidates you supported in Kalungu and Oyam lost.
- We are not like President Museveni and NRM. We go to an election knowing that there are two options, to win and to lose, and we respect both. Unless you are a dictator not to know that you go in a contest with two options. That is what democracy is. If you don’t win you go and do other things. If you have a problem with it you go to court.

QUESTION: FDC could have gauged the mood and supported Mbidde or stayed out.
- That is true. But DP should have come to FDC and said, “Pull out your guy, Kayemba is going nowhere. Lend us your support.” Politics is about negotiation. It is not about quarrels or beating yourselves to death. We would have reached a memorandum of understanding. We don’t want to do haphazard things. We are not at war with DP or UPC.

QUESTION: You are fighting for parliamentary seats.
- No. Those are bye-elections. People want soft options. You can’t say that you FDC should pull out on your own. We also want to get out decently. We don’t want to surrender. Which party ever surrenders? The onus is on DP to request us. They knew they could do it without us. It is only when it did not happen that they realise we were a factor. We are not open for surrender. You cannot surrender a territory even if you are going to fail. If in Kamuli there had been a DP candidate, I would have come to DP and negotiated. That is what makes me a politician. How can I sit there and hope that people are going to work out things for me? That is a lazy mentality. When you are a leader, you lead at every stage — even in a crisis.

QUESTION: Why did Dr. Kiiza Besigye talk negatively about DP in Kalungu?
- My party president did not talk anything bad. He spoke the truth. How can the truth be bad? “Truth and justice” is the motto of DP. Are they able to test themselves on it?

QUESTION: Dr. Besigye should not have gone to Kalungu because the outcome has exposed him to be weak?
- Dr. Besigye was not contesting in Kalungu. He only exercised and executed his responsibility to support the candidate the party structures endorsed in Masaka and who requested for that support from the party.

QUESTION: Why didn’t Besigye go to Kamuli?
- I refused. I asked him not to come because I could handle.

QUESTION: You feared he would spoil your little votes?
- Little votes? There were no little votes in Kamuli. I did not want it to be a contest between Museveni and Besigye. I did not want it to divert attention from the issues of Busoga. This is a Busoga matter.

QUESTION: He would have been willing to come?
- Why not? People from Kampala wanted to come to Kamuli. I said “No, don’t come, I will sort this one out.” The subject matter was me, not Besigye. It was me contesting.

QUESTION: So you are on good terms?
- Perfect. Any time I call him and say we go to Kamuli, he will go. Why did he give me his personal money if he did not want me to win? Why would he check on me every evening? He wanted me to win and he knew I was good for Kamuli. He still believes I am. I don’t want to win or lose because of Besigye. I want to win because the people of Busoga believe I can lead them.
President Museveni camped there for 10 days. He knew that would attract Besigye. I said “Besigye don’t come; let me deal with him alone. Let us show the people of Busoga that this man fights even women.” What makes you think that I need an anchor in order to make it or to lose? We want Busoga to stand on its own and provide leaders to the national grid. We believe in ourselves that we are good enough, and our master cards only comes when we need it.

QUESTION: Is it going to be survival for the fittest among the opposition?
- We are not asking DP to surrender its sovereignty or political space. Neither is DP asking us to surrender our political space. We are not even asking UPC to surrender. We are trading policies, plans and programmes. That is what is in our kiosks. It is like competition between Kakira sugar, Lugazi and Kinyara.

QUESTION: So it is survival for the fittest?
- It is pure politics. Voters should just exercise their choice. That is the bottom line. If we present to them a candidate they don’t like, they go for the one they like. What has ever been wrong with choice? The voters of Kalungu chose Mbidde overwhelmingly, why should we have a problem with it?
At this time our calling is to negotiate within and between opposition parties. Let DP stop hoping for negotiations. Let them work for it because it does not happen on its own. If we did not achieve that last time, we will seek to achieve it in the subsequent bye-elections. The space is open for that. If it does not happen we will go on.