Beti Kamya to block FDC elections
Dec 20, 2008
LUBAGA North Member of Parliament Beti Kamya has vowed to block the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) national delegates’ conference slated for January 12. Elections will be held during the conference to fill all party leadership positions.
By Angel Lubowa and James Kabengwa
LUBAGA North Member of Parliament Beti Kamya has vowed to block the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) national delegates’ conference slated for January 12. Elections will be held during the conference to fill all party leadership positions.
Kamya said the timing is intended to sideline her and other party members not loyal to Col. Kiiza Besigye.
She argued that she and other suspended party members would not be able to win party leadership positions if the delegates’ conference took place before the disciplinary committee handles their case.“They are deliberately failing to summon to the disciplinary committee because they want to fail us. The FDC’s ultimate goal is to weaken the Baganda in that party,†Kamya said in an exclusive interview at Mengo on Thursday night.
She is planning a court injunction blocking the conference. “FDC has suspended me from conducting party activities in Lubaga North, accusing me of collaborating with rebels in Kiboga. They have suspended 20 FDC chairmen in my constituency, how then will they have free and fair elections?†Kamya asked.
Kamya described FDC leader Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye as an incompetent leader who has failed to learn from the past. “I cannot let Besigye treat some of us like he was treated by President Yoweri Museveni in 2006,†Kamya said. “President Museveni wrote to the electoral commission seeking to block Besigye’s candidature and we fought it in court. Why do they (FDC) organise an elections when our hands are tied?†Kamya asked.
However, FDC spokesperson Wafula Oguttu dismissed Kamya’s threat, saying nothing would stop the delegates’ conference. He said whereas Kamya has a right to go to court, she has no grounds to block the delegates’ conference.
A Kampala lawyer, Peter Walubiri, said it is possible for a party member to block a delegates’ conference, but cautioned that it would be a difficult case for Kamya. “Look at it using a company. If the Board of Directors had been elected and a member wants to block it from holding a meeting, he or she must have a strong case,†he said.
Wafula dismissed Kamya as a politician who had lost national appeal and is now hanging on tribal sentiments.
He said the suspension did not bar Kamya from standing for party positions. He said she is making wild allegations to damage the party as she leaves it.
He said the MP is hanging on to FDC only because she is in Parliament on the party ticket. “She has said in 2011, she wants to stand for Buganda and sell the vote to whoever agrees with her. That is not what FDC stands for.â€
Kamya on July 30, resigned from her post as special envoy to the party president, accusing the party of marginalising Baganda. Party members from Buganda were fronting Kamya to replace the late chairperson Dr. Sulaiman Kiggundu, who died in June. However, the party National Executive Committee, on July 26, decided that party Vice Chairperson John Butiime acts in Kiggundu’s position until the Delegates’ Conference is held. This did not go well with Kamya who felt that she, coming from the central region, should have been given the opportunity.
On August 15, FDC warned Kamya against “indisciplineâ€, saying they would isolate her if she did not stop misleading the public. In mid October, Kamya warned party officials against fighting her, saying if she hit back, the party would suffer. Weeks later she met Besigye in Masaka and asked him not to believe stories in the press.
Additional reporting by Carol Natukunda
LUBAGA North Member of Parliament Beti Kamya has vowed to block the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) national delegates’ conference slated for January 12. Elections will be held during the conference to fill all party leadership positions.
Kamya said the timing is intended to sideline her and other party members not loyal to Col. Kiiza Besigye.
She argued that she and other suspended party members would not be able to win party leadership positions if the delegates’ conference took place before the disciplinary committee handles their case.“They are deliberately failing to summon to the disciplinary committee because they want to fail us. The FDC’s ultimate goal is to weaken the Baganda in that party,†Kamya said in an exclusive interview at Mengo on Thursday night.
She is planning a court injunction blocking the conference. “FDC has suspended me from conducting party activities in Lubaga North, accusing me of collaborating with rebels in Kiboga. They have suspended 20 FDC chairmen in my constituency, how then will they have free and fair elections?†Kamya asked.
Kamya described FDC leader Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye as an incompetent leader who has failed to learn from the past. “I cannot let Besigye treat some of us like he was treated by President Yoweri Museveni in 2006,†Kamya said. “President Museveni wrote to the electoral commission seeking to block Besigye’s candidature and we fought it in court. Why do they (FDC) organise an elections when our hands are tied?†Kamya asked.
However, FDC spokesperson Wafula Oguttu dismissed Kamya’s threat, saying nothing would stop the delegates’ conference. He said whereas Kamya has a right to go to court, she has no grounds to block the delegates’ conference.
A Kampala lawyer, Peter Walubiri, said it is possible for a party member to block a delegates’ conference, but cautioned that it would be a difficult case for Kamya. “Look at it using a company. If the Board of Directors had been elected and a member wants to block it from holding a meeting, he or she must have a strong case,†he said.
Wafula dismissed Kamya as a politician who had lost national appeal and is now hanging on tribal sentiments.
He said the suspension did not bar Kamya from standing for party positions. He said she is making wild allegations to damage the party as she leaves it.
He said the MP is hanging on to FDC only because she is in Parliament on the party ticket. “She has said in 2011, she wants to stand for Buganda and sell the vote to whoever agrees with her. That is not what FDC stands for.â€
Kamya on July 30, resigned from her post as special envoy to the party president, accusing the party of marginalising Baganda. Party members from Buganda were fronting Kamya to replace the late chairperson Dr. Sulaiman Kiggundu, who died in June. However, the party National Executive Committee, on July 26, decided that party Vice Chairperson John Butiime acts in Kiggundu’s position until the Delegates’ Conference is held. This did not go well with Kamya who felt that she, coming from the central region, should have been given the opportunity.
On August 15, FDC warned Kamya against “indisciplineâ€, saying they would isolate her if she did not stop misleading the public. In mid October, Kamya warned party officials against fighting her, saying if she hit back, the party would suffer. Weeks later she met Besigye in Masaka and asked him not to believe stories in the press.
Additional reporting by Carol Natukunda