Alone and frightened; The FDC fate

 

By Hudu Hussein, Lawyer and Deputy RDC, Buikwe District.

 

 

That young man, after the 2005 referendum hatched a mainly urban-based party - the FDC to compete in the 2006 elections and at about the same time in 2005, having been voted as the pioneer NRM Youth League National General Secretary, I followed and knew by my experience then how much of an urban celebrity that leader and party had become.

 

But of course, they lost the election because as we all know, Uganda is much more than a few towns here and there. Unfortunately, they learnt and forgot nothing.

 

Now, it is this FDC party which became the most relevant opposition party in the 2011 and the latest 2016 elections that is alone and frightened today.

 

We are witnessing the slow death of a party born with a congenital disease of dishonesty, bitterness, and selfishness which through the years it has tried to push under the bed. But time has caught up with the FDC and how sad that its demise is almost unavoidable.

 

The loneliness of the FDC was displayed at the launch of the Alliance for National Transformation where no representative of theirs was present. Mugisha Muntu, a former FDC president prior to the launch of his new party even said that with all other parties he can work but not FDC.

 

What signal does it send when a former party president says such a thing about the party? I doubt it's a good one.

 

And despite his statements, none of the other opposition stalwarts chose to identify with the withering-away party - FDC but rather left Besigye and company in the dark and chose to grace the new more appealing party for in this week.

 

Bobi Wine, DP, UPC, and the rest were clapping for Muntu while FDC was out there in the cold with no friend; alone and frightened.

 

But Muntu's distaste for FDC also speaks volumes about the kind of party that it is and may soon no more be. Muntu disagreed with the politics of intrigue and violence in FDC. He preferred a structure based party.

 

He realized that without real contact with the people through organization, no victory can be obtained in politics.

 

Little did he know that his NRM bred ideas were unwelcome in a party whose interest is centrally getting Besigye to power through manipulation and violence and not the nation.

 

So Muntu, it is on record has quit two political parties to now form his own. He left the first - NRM for as usual unclear reasons and left FDC for reasons to do with lack of party structures yet he left those same structures in NRM.

 

He, I must say has also demonstrated a clear sense of lack of direction and a tendency to make decisions without enough foresight required of a genuinely competent leader.

 

The lonely FDC has been betrayed by its a political father who now works aloof from the rest of the party in what he calls the people's government - something forged to counter Bobi's People power. Now FDC in form of a party realized that one greater in violence and more disorganized than it is in the form of people power needs a more disorganized people's government to at least share the show.

 

So, where does Besigye belong? Probably he has abandoned FDC, alone and frightened! He is now people's government. But just as the young Tanzanian lady MP Furaha rightly asserted at the launch of ANT, there is no people power without structures.

 

Does Bobi's thing have structures? Of course not. Where are the structures? Only in NRM. Then today, people power is only in NRM. This is reality and it's subject to proof.

 

Let's look at the ANC of South Africa whose party Constitution is fraternal in form and substance to the NRM's. In South Africa's ANC, like in the NRM, H.E Cyril Ramaphosa was elected through party structures to head the party instead of Zuma and won the election against Malema's EFF which almost like People power makes more noise than impact.

 

Juxtaposed to Uganda's NRM, the party chairman is Chosen by the Delegates conference made up of various leagues, and subjected to other party organs, including the CEC, the NEC, the Secretariat and the District grassroots structures which he must work with for the good of the party. He doesn't have an individual agenda like in FDC.

 

Similar to CCM of Tanzania, the party leaders of well nourished and established parties like ANC and NRM work around party organization, then front and base their strength on party ideology and structures instead of individual convictions which is the reason for their widespread support.

 

These structures create a political family, sharing values of the party and to which allegiance cannot be easily withdrawn. But this is not so with FDC and it's estranged relative in RED.

 

As national dialogue, good for the nation is being embraced by all parties, one party has decided to eschew the meetings. FDC though a member of IPOD decided to keep away from these well-intentioned meetings and guess what, only them are out there, alone and frightened while DP, UPC, NRM, and others go ahead with deliberations aimed at a brighter future.

 

Well, maybe FDC and those like people power are just showing us that they can't engage in discussions about the future because after all, they are likely to not be part of that future anyway.