I was branded spy on day one in FDC- Nabillah

POLITICS|SPYING|ELECTIONSKAMPALA - "I became a spy immediately when I joined Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) in 2006 and it became my brand from day one to date," Kampala Woman MP Nabillah Naggayi Sempala has said.

Nabillah made the revelation while addressing the media about her plans ahead of the 2021 general elections at Uganda Journalist Association (UJA) offices in Kawempe, a city suburb yesterday.

Nabillah however vowed never to leave the party despite the fact that she is going to run as independent for the position of Lord Mayor in the upcoming 2021 general elections.

"Much as my ideology appears different from my party, I do not believe in the ideal of crossing from one political party to another.  I am going to run independently for the Lord Mayor seat but I remain FDC," Nabillah said.

She added, "I am like a single mother in FDC, who is going to run as an independent candidate for the position of the Lord Mayor."

 Asked why she never picked nomination forms for the seat when her party reopened the process, she said, "I could not subject myself to domestic violence. They had already embarrassed me and I could not go back to them."

In July, FDC party electoral commission rejected Nabillah's nomination forms for the seat on ground that time had lapsed.

The party later reopened the process after the incumbent Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago joined the party.

Nabillah revealed that she has decided to go for the Lord Mayor seat because she wants to become the first female Lord Mayor.

"I am not standing for the woman MP seat again. I want to become the first female Lord Mayor and I am going to win it because I was born a winner," Nabillah said.

 Nabillah disclosed that she had refused to join FDC but Makerere University law don Yusuf Nsibambi and late Dr Sulaiman Kiggundu head sourced her.

"I had refused to join FDC because I did not know its ideology and I had also formed my own political party of Social Democratic Party (SDP) but it is Yusuf Nsibambi and late Dr Sulaiman Kiggundu who head sourced me to join FDC on grounds that it had formidable people like Dr Kizza Besigye and his wife Winnie Byanyima among others but when I won Kampala Woman seat, many FDC members branded me a spy," Nabillah said.

Nabillah also said that the incumbent Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago joined FDC to retain his seat but he is likely to leave the party.

"I have monitored him very well whenever he goes to FDC party headquarters, but he does not appear committed to the party," she said.

Nabillah also wants Dr Kizza Besigye to face the party disciplinary committee for establishing a parallel political formation without leaving FDC.

Nabillah's political career

Nabillah's political career can be traced from 2001 when she was elected a councilor at Wakiso district.

In 2006, she miserably defeated Margaret Nantongo Zziwa to become a Kampala woman MP, a position she holds to date.