5 Lango MPs sign pact with FDC
Apr 06, 2008
FIVE Independent MPs and three LC5 chairpersons in Lango have agreed to work with the main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
By Patrick Okino
and Robert Okodia
FIVE Independent MPs and three LC5 chairpersons in Lango have agreed to work with the main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
The politicians, who once belonged to the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party, signed a pact after meeting top FDC leaders at the Catholic mission in Dokolo district on Saturday. Another 960 independent voters crossed to the FDC at the meeting.
The MPs are Ben Wacha (Oyam North), Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman), Charles Angiro Gutomoi (Erute North), B’Leo Ojok (Kioga) and Rebecca Amuge Otengo (Lira Woman).
The district chairpersons who entered the pact are Franco Ojur (Lira) John Baptist Okello Okello (Dokolo) and Alfred Adoli Ogwok (Amolatar).
The MPs, who contested as independents after claiming that they were rigged out during UPC primaries in 2005, said FDC was progressive.
“It is time to join a party that has an agenda of capturing power, not one that doesn’t go beyond Karuma Bridge, said Cecilia Ogwal, who headed the group.
“UPC has become a village party,†Ogwal added, attracting applause from delegates drawn from Bata, Kangai, Kwera, Agwata and Dokolo sub-counties.
The defectors were received by Prof. Ogenga Latigo, the FDC vice-president for the northern region, Mugisha Muntu, the party’s secretary for mobilisation and Jack Sabiiti, the treasurer.
Muntu said: “It is a day of joy in the FDC. It marks a long distance in advancing the struggle to oust the National Resistance Movement Government.â€
He said the process to woo the MPs started three years ago after they participated in writing the FDC constitution.
“They have been collaborating with us right from the time FDC was born. But they told us that they would first consult their electorate.â€
Muntu urged all opposition parties to form a coalition if they were to oust President Yoweri Museveni in 2011.
Latigo said the MPs would officially join the FDC in 2011.
He added scenarios like in Kenya and Zimbabwe, where the opposition parties took majority seats in parliament, would happen in Uganda in 2011.
and Robert Okodia
FIVE Independent MPs and three LC5 chairpersons in Lango have agreed to work with the main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
The politicians, who once belonged to the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party, signed a pact after meeting top FDC leaders at the Catholic mission in Dokolo district on Saturday. Another 960 independent voters crossed to the FDC at the meeting.
The MPs are Ben Wacha (Oyam North), Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman), Charles Angiro Gutomoi (Erute North), B’Leo Ojok (Kioga) and Rebecca Amuge Otengo (Lira Woman).
The district chairpersons who entered the pact are Franco Ojur (Lira) John Baptist Okello Okello (Dokolo) and Alfred Adoli Ogwok (Amolatar).
The MPs, who contested as independents after claiming that they were rigged out during UPC primaries in 2005, said FDC was progressive.
“It is time to join a party that has an agenda of capturing power, not one that doesn’t go beyond Karuma Bridge, said Cecilia Ogwal, who headed the group.
“UPC has become a village party,†Ogwal added, attracting applause from delegates drawn from Bata, Kangai, Kwera, Agwata and Dokolo sub-counties.
The defectors were received by Prof. Ogenga Latigo, the FDC vice-president for the northern region, Mugisha Muntu, the party’s secretary for mobilisation and Jack Sabiiti, the treasurer.
Muntu said: “It is a day of joy in the FDC. It marks a long distance in advancing the struggle to oust the National Resistance Movement Government.â€
He said the process to woo the MPs started three years ago after they participated in writing the FDC constitution.
“They have been collaborating with us right from the time FDC was born. But they told us that they would first consult their electorate.â€
Muntu urged all opposition parties to form a coalition if they were to oust President Yoweri Museveni in 2011.
Latigo said the MPs would officially join the FDC in 2011.
He added scenarios like in Kenya and Zimbabwe, where the opposition parties took majority seats in parliament, would happen in Uganda in 2011.